CricketToes

Robots of Brixton: Art + Message = WOW

As many creative types know from painful experience, a marriage of art and social commentary can yield results that are less than stellar. Very often the art is swallowed up by the maw of excruciating earnestness and smothered by loads of goody-goody intent.

Every once in while, however, a work emerges that perfectly balances both art and message, stopping us in our tracks long enough to say, "Wow. Just wow."

Robots of Brixton is one of those works:

 

Wow, right? Right on!

A collaborative effort by director/animator Kibwe Tavares of Factory Fifteen, photographer David Hoffman, sound designer Mourad Bennacer, and mixologist DJ Hiatus, Robots of Brixton not only speaks to the city's social and economic unrest in 1981 but to the Arab Spring uprisings and Occupy movement of this past year. And any work that transcends time and place is definitely worth our attention.

Link (via @GeorgeJirasek and @cdmblogs)

Related:
Jump-Start Your Weekend A Little Light Polish Animation
Humanity's Last Best Hope To Save Itself From Itself: Cartoons!

Chipstone Encourages Artists/Museumgoers To Say "What A Tool"

Last March, Milwaukee's own decorative arts foundation, Chipstone, issued a challenge to a cadre of established artists in the UK and the US: Take a peek into your box o' creative instruments, choose one that grabs your usually splintered attention and make a work of art using just that one gadget. In addition, the artisans must shoot a video documenting their process and explaining to the rest of us just how easy/difficult it was to accomplish this formidable mission.

The means by which the artists were invited to participate in this project and subsequent exhibition curated by Ethan Lasser at the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) was through visual demonstration—a sweet short video by filmmaker Nicola Probert:

 

Okay, first of all, I absolutely love the fact that there are missing pixels in the footage—a quirky problem common among older cameras—which can be clearly seen in the shots taken prior to the lens cap being removed. Second of all, it is truly amazing that the camera continues to shoot so far into the dismantling process, clearly telling us all that there can still be life in something that's had its attractive outer skin stripped. Third of all, Probert's haphazard manicure—at the beginning of the video one hand has chipped red polish and the other blue—shows us her punky little hands, proving that she's a full-on artist who's completely immersed in the task and isn't aiming for a shallow yet far more lucrative gig as a hand model.

In the end, sixteen artists accepted Chipstone's invitation to participate in the The Tool at Hand and their works + videos are on display in the Decorative Arts Gallery at MAM, starting today and running through April 1, 2012. To get you more than interested, view some of the artist's videos here.

If you happen to be free tonight and you're looking to cram some learnin' into your brain, there's a gallery talk at 6:15PM. Also, they've scheduled a super fun event called Tool Weekend from March 16-18, complete with artist talks, demonstrations, competitions, and performances, giving you the opportunity to express en masse what's sure to become the exhibit's catchphrase, "What a tool."

(Thanks, Claudia!)

Related:
Meta-Craft At MAM: Welcome To The Future!
Breaking: Green Lives In Winter

RAM Boldly Announces New Fellowships

In these bleak times of diminishing financial breaks in the artsy world, the Racine Art Museum (RAM) has just announced a brand spankin' new fellowship opportunity, called--surprise!--the RAM Artist Fellowship program. Well, whoot and hooray!

Open to visual artists livin' and slavin' away in the Racine/Kenosha urban corridor--that's east of I-94 for those of you who can still afford the luxury of automobile upkeep and use its concrete pathways for geographic reference--the program will hand out four $2,500 fellowships in 2012. Beyond the much needed dough, fellows will get their work exhibited at RAM's Wustum Museum of Fine Arts from August 31 through November 30, 2013.

According to the press release,

"These competitive fellowships will recognize artists, at all stages of their careers, who are creating outstanding work in all media, including painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, bookmaking, sculpture, installation, film/video, fibers, glass, metals, wood and ceramics."

Gotta say, that's a rather broad and bold statement--what with the two very prominent "alls" within it. One hopes that the good folks at RAM and the generous program sponsor, the Osborne and Scekic Family Foundation, will live up to their brave words.

The fellowship prospectus will be available in July at the RAM website for all you Racine/Kenosha visual artists bold enough to apply.

Related:
The Macro-Good Of Micro-Funding

The Art Tim Hetherington & Chris Hondros Left Behind

Very few of us in the industrialized western world know or understand what it's actually like to live day to day in a war zone, and even fewer of us can truly comprehend the courage it takes to leave our loved ones and creature comforts to head straight into the deadly conflicts of foreign, often poverty stricken lands. Sadly, those who do gain that knowledge sometimes pay for it with their lives.

Such was the case for photographer/filmmaker Tim Hetherington and photographer Chris Hondros, who were killed on April 20, 2011, while covering the upheaval in Libya. In the wake of their tragic deaths, both men have left stirring and evocative images that reach beyond journalism and come to rest within the realm of art.

In 2010 Hetherington made an experimental short film entitled Diary, an extraordinary examination of the physiological turmoil he experienced as he moved from peace to war to peace and back again to war:

 

For Hondros' part, his photography speaks powerfully of the human condition that we all share and we all suffer.

While we should never hold the value of the lives of some over others, for the people who die everyday around the globe without recognition deserve our full and deepest respect, the art Hetherington and Hondros left behind serves as much as a legacy for those they encountered as it does for them.

MAM's Semi-Wacky Educational Video Teaches Museum Manners

When you think of the variously yawn and vomit inducing educational films of your child-, tween- and teen-hood, the ones that most stand out are no doubt those that included two essential elements: A foreign accented narrator--preferably English or French--and a groovy, keyboard-heavy tune straight from a bad 1960's flick, right? Right.

Well, good news, folks! The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) uploaded just such a video to the Tubes o' You last month designed to teach us all the do's and don'ts we should follow during our visit there:

 

Not bad, I must admit. Of course, I'm particularly partial to the semi-wacky moments--the kid with the extra long arms, first and foremost--and it does largely manage to pull off the kind of really-we're-not-that-stuck-up attitude that most smart museums are aiming to show these days.

There's just one thing that keeps this video from achieving its goal: The credits include only the names of the featured artworks and artisans, failing to show due respect to the security guards, which the fancy English accented lady so highly praised mere seconds before. It's true that they're "... some of the friendliest and most knowledgeable people in the museum," but we're not gonna give 'em credit 'cause that might make 'em uppity. Ha!

Related:
Meta-Craft At MAM: Welcome To The Future!

Jump-Start Your Weekend A Little Light Polish Animation

I stubbled across this incredible 2005 animated short by Polish director Tomek Baginski on--where else?--the Tube o' You that I haven't seen in years and just knew it was the perfect happy-go-lucky video to start your weekend too:

 

So macabre--and that ain't no joke--and yet so beautiful, no? Yes! The detail and care simply cannot be denied, peeps. Also, no matter how much time passes, when you're dealing with art from the former Eastern Bloc, political and social commentary is always on the house.

Related:
What You Get When Ya Put A Dragon In Blender: Gorgeous 3D Animation
The Higher Purpose Of HD: Achingly Exquisite Animation

Short Film Proves Artists' Greatest Unifier Is Disunity

I'm a bit late in bringing this quirky little film to your attention, but part of the beauty/horror of The Internets™ is that once somethin' is posted it gains a virtual immortal life completely resistant to all methods of extinguishment. Any booze lovin', camera muggin' fool can tell ya that.

Anyhoo, seems one Mark Cherek--with assistance from Scott Radtke and Jeremy Mews--recently cobbled together a short called The Last Laugh (this is not an art film), featuring the humble pontifications of a range of local artists who exhibited their work in Luckystar Studio's show of the same name at the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) on September 24, 2010.

Let's take a peek at Part 1, shall we?

   

And with that we have certifiable proof of what we've known all along: No two artists approach the work or process of creation in the same manner, nor do they even come close to a consensus on the reasons why they do it or the best way to go about it, thereby demonstrating the basis of their perfect union as disunion. Whoa, now that's deep and true, people!

To see more of this powerful short documentary that's sure to wake the world from its slumbering coma and change all of our basic notions of democracy, go to Luckystar's blog or YouTube channel.

Also, just in case you missed it, Luckystar Studio has grandly reopened its gallery, now on the 3rd floor of the Marshall building, 207 E. Buffalo Street, in Milwaukee's Third Ward. By my count, that makes it number three for these kids--third time's the charm!

(Thanks, Kev & Dave!)

Related:
UPDATE: Straight from LuckyStar's Satellite of Truth
Luckystar Studio Gallery Goes Bye-Bye--Again

Philosophers & Anthropologists Get Field Work In The Parking Lot

So last night Kev and I had the serendipitous pleasure of stumbling upon and watching The Parking Lot Movie, presented on PBS' Independent Lens. It's a supremely HIlarious and brainy look at the existential and anthropological ponderings of parking attendants in Charlesville, Virginia, and absotootly essential viewing for anyone out there who has never had to work in the service industry.

Here's the trailer to get ya pumped up for the full feature:

 

You don't have to wait 'til it comes on teevee--watch it right now on PBS Video!

UPDATE: PBS Video has taken the full version of The Parking Lot Movie down--Boo!--but you can buy it at the official website and, of course, get it on iTunes.

Related:
Review: People Who Do Noise Is/Are Fun to Watch!

What You Get When Ya Put A Dragon In Blender: Gorgeous 3D Animation

Independent animation artists, illustrators and designers know that most 3D content creation suites are so expensive they normally have to put their major organs and/or first born up for collateral just to own a copy. Well, the Dutch non-prof Blender Foundation wants to make sure that such extreme sacrifices will never have to be made again by offering its open source suite for free--and the animation peeps say, "Whoot!"

As an example of just how magnificently powerful Blender is, witness Sintel:

Holy 3D, that is simply gorgeous, no? Yes!

Make your own animation magic and keep your body/family intact by downloading Blender here.

(via feliciaday)

Related:
The Higher Purpose Of HD: Achingly Exquisite Animation
Humanity's Last Best Hope To Save Itself From Itself: Cartoons!

Looks Like Milwaukee Film Got Itself A Big Fat Raise: UPDATED

The 2010 Milwaukee Film Festival ad trailer is up and, my oh my, it's somethin' to behold. Production valuewise, it's definitely a step-up from last year's, um, effort. I'm just wonderin' how much this little beauty cost:

Well, if ya wanna run with the big dogs--New York, Ann Arbor and the hallowed--cue echo and reverb--Sundance--ya gotta spend a bit o' cash, right? I'd be interested to see what actually ate most of the budget. My bet's on the gold lamé outfit--hehe!

UPDATE: Mr. Jonathan Jackson, Artistic and Executive Director of Milwaukee Film, has left a comment that's worthy of pulling forward:

"As a matter of fact: $0.00 The trailer actually cost Milwaukee Film nothing. The entire cast and crew donated their time and creativity, all of the production and post-production equipment was donated. How about a blog profiling the independent artists who came together and donated their time and resources to create our commercial? Jonathan Jackson Milwaukee Film"

And with that, my question is fully answered and your kind invitation is accepted, sir. I would be more than happy to highlight the generosity of the peeps involved. Perhaps we could meet donned in our bestest and shiniest gold lamé, preferably in a public place so that all may witness our friendly if retro solidarity. I eagerly await your reply.

Related:
Milwaukee Film Wishes It Was an Airline for Some Reason