My Pez Dispensing Totem class is heading online. That's right, I've retired it this workshop from the teaching circuit so now it's heading to your homes January 13, 2013. Here's the class description:
In my toy collection I have about a hundred PEZ dispensers, ranging from Gandalf the Grey to Darth Vader. The problem is that the collection is getting smaller...the reason being is that I get tempted to alter them into strange goody giving totems. I try to avoid using the really good ones but...sometimes...it can't be helped...and a Sponge Bob Pez must be sacrificed for the sake of art. So grab a handful of Pez candy dispensers because we are going to transform them into in the most unusual ways. I will show you how to deconstructed, reconstruct, paint, and weirdify these little bits of pop culture. And you want to know the best thing...they will shell out sugary treats when your done.
Stay tuned for more info soon...and a commercial. Sign Ups Begin: 11/16/12
Well, as it turns out I'm not as clever as I thought. Many of you are familiar with my cyclopian creations, and you may have seen one in particular I made a few years back that I called "Santa Clops"
....a name I thought was quite original...In fact I'm doing a class with this character in the title in at the Art Clinic in Solvang CA this December 1 and 2.
Well... guess what...unbeknownst to me... Santa Clops was invented about twenty years ago by a fellow named Gig Wailgum.
Gig has recently published a book that features the exploits of this single sighted Santa entitled: A Visit From Santa Clops or The Fright Before Christmas. Here is the book description:
"A Visit From Santa Clops or The Fright Before Christmas is a monstrous take on the holiday classic The Night Before Christmas. In this new adaptation, Santa Clops, the beastly one-eyed cousin of Kris Kringle, stops by a slumbering family's house on Christmas Eve to put some coal in the stockings of the children that live there." You want to know the really weird thing, is that I was unfamiliar with Gig's character, yet...there were some really fascinating similarities...when I was creating my little assemblage dude, I was imagining him to lead a group of nasties called the Polar Opposites from the South Pole. As it turns out the Santa Clops character in "The Fright Before Xmas" is also from the South Pole with a sleigh driven by penguins (nice touch by the way)
I had a shark/skull dude sleigh:
Now I've only just met, Gig, though, not in person, and he is currently living in Connecticut...which is where I just left only a week ago. Bummer that I only just made his acquaintance...it would have been great to have met for a coffee or a beer. I'm sure two cyclopian inspired guys like ourselves would have had plenty to chat about. Hopefully, next year...when I'm back in CT for Art is You. I humbly bow to cleverness of Mr. Gig Wailgum. Nice job...wish I beat you to the Santa Clops idea...but huzzah for you! Check out Gigs website here: http://www.gigwailgum.com/ Check out Gigs book here: http://www.santaclopsbook.com/
You may think it is early to discuss Xmas themed workshops…but I tell ya…it ain't. As some of you know I had to reschedule my dates for Solvang…the Danish village in Southern California. So…I decided to do something that I have only done a few times…a Xmas themed workshop. I know, I know, you're saying: "WTF!? deMeng in December?!!! Halloween…yes... Day of the Dead…yes…but Xmas?" Well, yes it does seem out of the norm for me… but there is a catch….
Well “Ho Ho Ho” and all of that stuff. It’s beginning to look a lot like Xmas,but then again it was looking that way in early August when the Holiday itemsstarted to go on display at Michael’s Craft Stores. Now it’s really on the way and I have to tell you a little secret…move a little closer…move a little closer…I’m not much of a Seasons Greeting kind of guy, now if it involved vampires and werewolves I’d be all in…but cute little snowmen singing Burl Ives songs just never flipped my cookies. This got me thinking…I can’t be the only one who wouldn’t mind a bit of subversiveness added to the Holidays. So I’m proposing something Polar Opposite of the North Pole, something a little off kilter. A class of making Orna-deMents using found objects, weird thingies and discarded toys. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Get ready for Santa Claws and his friends…bwa ha ha ha ha…. bwo ho ho ho ho!
Class #2 LightbulbOrna-deMents
Ever wonder what to do with all those old lightbulbs? Well, the lightbulb has just popped on over my head. Holiday Ornaments…or Orna-deMents if you prefer. Using a burnt out lightbulb, you will create hanging art pieces,not only by adorning the exterior of the bulb, but inserting imagery inside the glass bulb as well... sort of like a ship in the bottle…but much easier. All this will be done using a mixture of collage, painting, and assemblage. You’ll never look at a burnt out lightbulb the same way. See the light?
So I was recently alerted by my buddy Keith Lo Bue about an exhibit at the MOMA in NYC which features a retrospective of the mysterious and odd Brothers Quay....not the Quay Brother, mind you, the Brothers Quay. This moniker should immediately give you the impression of old world aesthetic...which, as it turns, is entirely accurate.
The Brother's Quay are stop-animation filmmakers, whose use of discarded dolls, a modified antiquites, and crumbling decaying sets to express a morose and somber mood. A cross between the Brothers Grimm and Post World War I German film. There films are simultaneously beautiful yet...not. Poetic yet brutish.
Some of you might be familiar with a scene they directed in the film Frida...the infamous Dia de los Muertos doctor scene:
This is my favorite film Stilnacht I: Dramolet
My work has been very much inspired by these films. The use of busted dollies and broken remnants of times gone by. Fortunately I will be in New York next month so heading to the MOMA is definitely on my list of todos. The exhibit consists of a number of puppets, sets, and props used in the films. Of course, the films are on view as well as a diverse collation photos and other bits of memorabilia.
The other day Keith, posted about a competition related to the MOMA exhibit put on by Zeitgeist films. This is photography competition using Quay inspired images of your creations. Keith had entered a number of very nice images...so I decided to give him a run for his money and enter my own. If you want to enter your own entries here's a link to do so: www.zeitgeistfilms.com/quaybrothers/photocontest
Here's what I submitted: Brush Boy
and here is my favorite of Keith Lo Bue's entries:
Now if you want to vote some of the entries you do it through Pinterest. All you need to do is go to the following link and either "Repin" or "Like" the photo.
odd-ification- (n)
1. The process of transforming something ordinary into something bizarre.
2. A marked change...usually for the weirder.
example: After years of genetic odd-ifications, Long Tusked Tom finally felt comfortable in his leathery skin.
3. (In Art) a visually peculiar transformation of something mundane.
example: What did you do to my Barbie?! Tentacles on her head!!! Who said you could make dolly odd-ifications?
Back in March of 2009 I was teaching a workshop at the Upstart Crow in the Vancouver BC area. One of my students compiled a list of places to visit for junking purposes. I had a free day so I figured I'd hit the town looking for goodies. One of the addresses was for a place on Main St., called the Bakers Dozen. I showed the address to the concierge at the hotel I was staying and I asked if I could walk to there, after all it looked fairly nearby as far as the map was concerned. The hotel employee winced at me, paused and said, "Uh...no, you can't walk to there". I replied, "Really? I doesn't seem that far away". The concierge said, "No...you should drive". I figured he knew what he was talking about and I hopped into my car and headed down the road. The address written down for me was 352 Main St. and as I got closer it dawned on me why the concierge was so tentative with me. It was a very depressed area. Substance abuse, homelessness, metal illness, and all the other misfortunes associated with urban despair were visibly apparent. I drove around looking for the address...which turned out to be the location of the Vancouver Police department. I drove around the blocks a few times, thinking that perhaps the address was off by a number or two. On about the third spin around the block I was on the corner of Abbott and Hastings, and down and out folks seemed to fill the sidewalks. I assumed that a soup kitchen was nearby and lunch was being served. As I drove through the intersection I noticed a number of folks staring and pointing toward a fenced-in vacant lot. Curious, I wondered what the commotion seemed to be....and then I saw something I will never forget as long as I live...something poignant and mysterious that reminded me of something said in the film Citizen Kane:
Bernstein:A fellow will remember a lot ofthingsyou wouldn't think he'd remember. Youtakeme. One day,backin 1896, I was crossingovertoJerseyon the ferry, and as we pulled out,therewas another ferrypullingin, and on itthere was agirlwaiting to get off. A whitedressshe had on. She was carrying a whiteparasol. I only saw her for onesecond. She didn't see me at all, but I'll bet amonthhasn't gone by since that I haven'tthoughtof thatgirl. Well to some degree, the same is true for what I saw that particular sunny Spring day in Vancouver. The empty lot was filled with weeds and trash, in the center was pile of concrete rubble.
Here is the exact locations courtesy of Google Earth
Standing on the rubble, was a svelte woman in her early twenties dressed in black goth/punk clothing. Actually she was not exactly standing, she was pirouetting. Here...surrounded by despair, decay, and death...this woman was dancing...alone. She danced despite the world she seemed to inhabit. She was a small bit of beauty in monstrous setting. I wish I could have captured a photo, but then again it is probably one of those scenes that would never quite turn out...the mind is a wonderful filter. Of course, I have absolutely no insight to the situation whatsoever. Was this a common occurrence? Was she mentally ill? Was she on drugs? Was she dancing in despair or in happiness? Also, I have no idea what became of her...whether she has moved to better times or whether she still dances to an invisible band. Because all of these unknowns she has become a metaphor in my mind.
I am reminded of Schubert's Death and the Maiden, where a young woman dances with death, afraid, but Death tries to ensure her that he will ease her pain.
The Maiden:
Pass me by! Oh, pass me by!
Go, fierce man of bones!
I am still young! Go, rather,
And do not touch me.
And do not touch me.
Death:
Give me your hand, you beautiful and tender form!
I am a friend, and come not to punish.
Be of good cheer! I am not fierce,
Softly shall you sleep in my arms!
Over the years since I saw the pirouetting maiden, I often considered trying to translate the story into art. Nothing I conceived of seemed to do the story justice...that was until recently. Last Spring I found a strange wooden device in North Carolina. Looked like part of an odd door or ornate cabinet. A large metal shaft protruded through its semi-circular opening (I assumed it was a latch of some kind). It was from this that my version of macabre dance was born. A doll head mounted the top of the device transforming into a strange devouring beast. This would be my Death. My maiden would be from a Barbie Princess cake topping...a little ballerina generously donated to me by my step-daughter. She would dance in the mouth of Death. My story varies a wee bit from Schubert. In his version, Death is the comforter and the Maiden a fearful of all that he entails. My version tried to interpret what I saw at Abbott and Hastings. A woman who was defiant in the face of the Moloch of death.
The devouring Moloch in the film Metropolis.
A most definite inspiration:
Death did not frighten her, rather she seemed to live despite Death's grip around her and her surroundings. Her soul would never be his entirely...her body, yes, but her soul, never.
