. . . OMG – Gelitin digging up CONEY Island – how did we miss this !!!
As part of the CREATIVE TIME PROJECT – ‘SIX ACTIONS FOR NEW YORK CITY’ – GELITIN dug and refilled a hole on Coney Island each day for 7 days –
in this . . . “durational performance piece” that ran from May 7 -13, 2007.
c0-curated by MARK BEASLEY and DAVID PLATZKER
PHOTO: COURTESY: CREATIVE TIME
luckily there’s some great pix on the CREATIVE TIME website:
http://creativetime.org/programs/archive/2007/performance/html
www.gelitin.net/mambo/index.php
~GELITIN on CONEY IS/Creative Time |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 15th, 2007, 9:00pm
(posted on the artlovers homepage week of: May 8, 2007)
Ai Gallery
~A Kind of Love/Ai Gallery/Chicago |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 15th, 2007, 7:21pm
* Shirt Off Your Back *
ART EXHIBITION & AUCTION to BENEFIT: MercyCorps
PRESENTED BY AMPERSAND
Featured Artists include: Ron English, Nathan Fox, Yuko Shimizu, Tristan Eaton,
Matt Eaton, Filth & more . .
SUNDAY MAY 13th, 2007 – 6pm – 12am
LIT LOUNGE/FUSE GALLERY – 93 2nd Avenue, East Village
FUSE GALLERY
~SHIRT OFF YOUR BACK/FUSE/PARTY/Sunday |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 12th, 2007, 11:04am
R. CRUMB opens at DAVID ZWIRNER, to-nite: FRI, MAY 11, 6-8pm
the show runs from May 11 through June 16, 2007
DAVID ZWIRNER – 533 West 19th Street
. . . in case you’re interested, the ballpark figure on the drawings is rumored to be $20,000 a piece.
DAVID ZWIRNER
~R. CRUMB/ZWIRNER/FRI |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 11th, 2007, 3:05pm
(from left)
TAIYO MATSUMOTO, the original manga creator, Director MICHAEL ARIAS, and ANTHONY WEINTRAUB – the film’s screenwriter – these are the guys that brought TEKKONKINKREET to
life, and well, . . as White says so poetically – “PLANET EARTH, this is Agent White, I’ve just kept peace in the world,
. . for one more day !”
PHOTO: courtesy to artlovers, from the TEKKONKINKREET production crew.
~MICHAEL ARIAS,TAIYO MATSUMOTO, ANTHONY WEINTRAUB/TEKKONKINKREET |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 11th, 2007, 2:37pm
TEKKONKINKREET Director, MICHAEL ARIAS, arrives at the MoMA theatre for the Sunday
April 29th, 2007 – premiere screening. that’s ASHER WEINTRAUB catching a ride through the streets of midtown Manhattan. Asher is the son of the TEKKONKINKREET screenwriter, ANTHONY WEINTRAUB.
Photo: Nancy Smith
. . a few new miscellaneous notes on the film.
1. apparently the film will have a limited engagement here in New York in mid-July.
2. the DVD was supposed to be coming out in the Fall, but apparently got moved forward to June.
3. when we threw a few questions at him, while taking the photo, Arias told us, that no NECKFACE wasn’t a conscious inspiration for the gangster clan caricatures – but he did say that – quote – . . . “NECKFACE . . is ALL over Japan.”
4. the movie artwork is inspired (in part) by UKIYE-O (18th C Japanese woodblock prints) – and Arias pointed out that the line drawing details in the film are done in brown ink, as opposed to black ink – and that, in turn, helps create the overall ‘tone’ of flatness – and sure enough in the 2nd viewing, we are able to catch the beautiful brown ink line work. we came away from the first viewing, actually thinking there was no shading in the film – but there is – watch out for it – it’s just so subtly done. so non-Western hemisphere. .
5. TEKKONKINKREET is true animation – over 80,000 cells were produced !
6. The remarkable sound design, an animated ‘sound’ experience in itself, was done by – MITCH OSIAS.
7. the background technique that was used is called “perspective mapping” as opposed to “multiplane camera work” – and its best described as parts or elements of the background come forward – like parts of a puzzle – that suddenly become individually empowered as 3D pieces. check out the “5 o’clock” squeeze play on the rooftops in the beginning of the film.
8. there’s also a few “hommages” in the movie, here’s just a few: – you can see a nod to DISNEY , DUMBO the ELEPHANT, . . . somehow there are a lot of animated elephants worked into this Japanese urban gangsta narrative; some of the mayhem is reminiscent of the really over-the-top scary scenes in BATMAN I, – & – I thought I saw a red & white graphic in the distance, a sign in the skyscape that was a “rhino” – ala MARC ECKO ?
. . . there’s even a funny take-off on the eaten apple “APPLE” logo – the ‘STOP’ or, is it a ‘PLANT’/RE-NEW’ sign ? . . . in fact, the cityscape graphics: including billboards, banners & signs that fly by continuously, are a total rush.
9. on the term – anime: MICHAEL ARIAS writes: ” ‘Anime’ is something of an artifical construct
outside of Japan. In Japan when we say ‘anime’ we mean simply ‘animation’. We might be specific and say ‘Disney anime’ or ‘Ghibli anime’ or ‘children’s anime’, but it’s a pretty general term and not specific to Japanese output . . . so by ‘anime’ do we really mean ‘Japanese animation’ (that is, ‘animation from Japan’)? . . . There’s such a great variety of animation coming from Japan it seems a disservice to try and group it all together.”
~MICHAEL ARIAS/MoMA |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 11th, 2007, 2:25pm
MICHAEL ARIAS, attends the premiere screening of TEKKONKINKREET,
The Museum of Modern Art, New York City, March 31, 2007.
behind him is:
SOL LeWITT, American (1978-2007), ‘Wall Drawing#1144’ (2004),
synthetic polymer paint on wall, Given anonymously, 2004
lobby of the Ronald S. and Jo Carole Lauder Building of
The Museum of Modern Art.
Photo: Nancy Smith
with thanks to BARBARA LONDON,
Associate Curator, Department of Media,
The Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
~MICHAEL ARIAS/MoMA |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 10th, 2007, 12:50pm
the following posts first appeared on the artlovers home page:
the week of APRIL 20TH, 2007
~JAN ALBERT, our movie reviewer wrote:
“Michael Arias’s labor of love, his first full length animation feature, which was produced in Japan, has its American debut at the Museum of Modern Art, Wednesday, April 25th and runs for a week. DON’T MISS IT –
it is an absolute stunner and a must-see for artists, animation, and movie fans,
of all ages.”
~READ JAN ALBERT’S REVIEW
~ . . . upon seeing that statement, artlovers jumped up and caught the last 2 premiere screenings at MoMA, and was also able to score a few photos of the film’s director, MICHAEL ARIAS.
(with the absolutely divine intervention of fate – happening to cross paths with BARBARA LONDON, the very next night, at the 27TH STREET CHELSEA gallery openings – who in turn, set up the photo shoot.)
BARBARA LONDON is the Associate Curator, Department of Media, MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art) and, the person responsible for bringing this remarkable film to
MoMA’s premiere series.
~artlovers posted the following – on the home page/MONDAY APRIL 30TH, 2007.
“If you like your ‘anime’ – Japanese style: straight up, totally poetic & cutthroat, all at the same time; visually stunning, and uniquely animated,
(just to note a few instances: . . really liked how the characters were set in motion at their ‘feet’ points; loved the dirty rain moisture on the abandoned car window, as it was rolled down; the apocalyptic ‘inner Minataur’ scene was a pure visual free-for-all, and I tumbled with it; . . and there were some striking ‘DICK TRACY’ – ‘NECKFACE’ type drawing flourishes on some of the bad guys . .. )
with a fast paced ‘street smart’ narrative and pinpoint sound effects – not to mention great music by PLAID – then, drop everything!! and get to MoMA – TONIGHT – MONDAY APRIL 30TH for the last advance screening (8:30pm) – otherwise, sorry to tell you, your next chance to view this artist-ruled MICHAEL ARIAS helmed feature will be the limited engagement commercial run – tentatively scheduled for mid-summer . . . and . . . if you’ve ever been called a “borderline autustic artist/savant” to your face – then WHITE is your BOY!.
“PLANET EARTH, this is Agent White: TRANSFORM!!”
” . . with TEKKONKINKREET, his first feature length animation –
DIRECTOR MICHAEL ARIAS translates the unconventional work of popular “underground” manga artist TAIYO MATSUMOTO into
a graphically detailed, amazing to watch – fast paced film of – real
entertainment art.
“. . the flawless screenwriting by ANTHONY WEINTRAUB – shoots along at the same speed as the animation, yet captures all the poetic undertow of the characters – moving the storyline forward with absolutely the minimum amount of dialog, while catching the “TREASURE TOWN” street vibe – right on.”
~UP-DATE: POSTED – TUES MAY 1, 2007:
“the last screening: – the MoMA theater was packed with young professionals of all genres. the energy was intense & exciting and there was a wave of spontaneous clapping at the film’s conclusion.
BRENDAN O’CONNOR, a 3rd Year animation student at SVA (School of Visual Arts, NYC) whom, we meet as we left the screening – told us among other things, . . . 1. that TEKKONKINKREET wasn’t quote unquote “strictly anime” – (although anime seems to be evolving into a term more and more commonly used to describe all animation coming out of Japan), but a full-on true animation production; 2. that MICHAEL ARIAS wrote TOON SHADERS – his favorite animation code, in the MAYA system, and, 3. that he had seen the more commercially tooted PAPRIKA, also an animation feature just released out of Japan, and, in his opinion TEKKONKINKREET was the better film! ” . . .
Up-DATE: MAY 10, 2007:
the official website says the DVD will be released soon – !! – JUNE 27th !!!
the: TEKKONKINKREET OFFICIAL WEBSITE
. . . okay okay, artlovers being essentially paparazzi . . . . we couldn’t resist just one furtive shot at one of the screenings –
and surprise surprise we caught a frame right on – and its so ironic because it is one of the most fleeting and rare images in the entire movie – the love scene – between a gangster & his newly pregnant wife – and its. LITERALLY ! – the only 2 seconds of a female presence, any female presence – in what is, otherwise an entirely all male cast of characters. . her most poignant line; spoken just as her young husband gets blown away; and, in response to his telling her what to name the baby . . with his last dying breath, apparently a boy’s name – is: ” I would …. never have a boy.”
. . . “I’M SO TOUCHED YOU’RE CONCERNED ABOUT MY HEALTH”,
TEKKONKINKREET, Museum of Modern Art, NYC premiere screening,
MARCH 31, 2007
PHOTO: Nancy Smith
THE MUSEUM of MODERN ART: www.moma.org
TEKKONKINKREET OFFICIAL WEBSITE: www.tekkon.net
~MICHAEL ARIAS/TEKKONKINKREET/MoMA |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 10th, 2007, 9:37am
. . . if you’re in JAPAN, you can catch the last weekend of:
‘Blood Bath & Beyond’, starring CHRISTIAN HOLSTAD, RYAN SCHAEFER, and
CLAUDE WAMPLER.
HIROMI YOSHII Gallery, TOKYO.
APRIL 13 – MAY 12, 2007
. . and while you’re there, send us some digital pix, better yet, use your cellphone . . . we’re dying to see work from a show with this kind of upbeat title – esp. Christian’s work – seems, Hiromi doesn’t believe in posting images on his website.
(image: courtesy HIROMI YOSHII website – it’s the only one posted for the show – it seems to be the poster for the show – perhaps by Christian Holstad himself ? there’s no accreditation for the image – pretty funny for a gallery that’s so protective of its intellectual property!)
UP-DATE: MAY 15, 2007
CHRISTIAN HOLSTAD was kind enough to clue us in . . .
he says .. ” the exhibition is a collaboration with CLAUDE WAMPLER and RYAN SCHAEFER.
its a fairly complicated show. an installation in which the viewer enters into a refrigerator
door in a butter colored waiting room. they are met by their guide who takes them through
the maze of rooms. the show’s theme is our mutual feelings of horror in regards to
contemporary culture and what contemporary culture finds horrifying.
Jennifer Anniston meets a disorder called B.I.I.D.
this is it in a nutshell.
the second part of the show is a video bus tour to a traditional Japanese house in
Kamakura. this takes place at the ending of the show.”
.
PHOTOS: COURTESY CHRISTIAN HOLSTAD
Christian Holstad
Hiromi Yoshii Gallery
Daniel Reich Gallery
~CHRISTIAN HOLSTAD/HIROMI YOSHII/last weekend |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 8th, 2007, 8:06pm
KIKI SMITH in 1992 – PHOTO BY MARK ENGER.
“A private pistol shooting lesson with KIKI at her schoolhouse in upstate NY, 1992.”
~KIKI SMITH/Photo by MARK ENGER |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 8th, 2007, 7:49pm
