The Windshield Wiper, a short film from Alberto Mieglo won an Oscar for Animated short in 2022, and was published for view on YouTube that same year. I only just found this out. Apologies.
The Windshield Wiper in Full
The Windshield Wiper — 2021
Walk Like You - Mike Mignola
An appreciation of Mike Mignola. Always a pillar of inspiration for character, form and a graphic striking style
The Bus – Paul Kirchner
The Bus is a wonderful surreal strip comic by Paul Kirchner.
Lusine – Just A Cloud
Director - Michael Reisinger | polyc.tv DP - Jeremy M Lundborg Custom LED Lighting System - Alex Borton AD - Sierra Swan Sound - Phil Ryan Makeup & Styling - Katherine Dawson
This video for Just a Cloud by Lusine, like I’m fond of saying, succeeds as a simple premise well executed. It shows transcendence through a solitary moment, losing oneself as you might do with sensory deprivation or psychedelics…
There are obvious allusions to 2001 and the portal, a cinematic reference that you see over and over again because its so powerful and so well done. I’ve even tried to reference it, its such a huge landmark in effects an storytelilng and cinema.
Reisinger says he wanted to explore the idea of somebody waking up to the realization that we live in a simulated universe…
"In a lot of fictional examples, a character awakens from a simulated world and into the real world, where everything is the same. Color, light, matter—all behave the same as in the simulation. I wanted to put our character through a similar awakening, but into a reality that's overwhelming and incomprehensible. It's the same idea Arthur C. Clarke expressed about advanced civilizations appearing magical to us. If there is a higher reality, experiencing it for the first time would probably be completely disorienting."
I’m not sure I got that message, or if thats what I would have thought without reading that that was the case from the people behind it. I saw it more as an inward journey. The expansion of the of the self, of the mind. But that was just my take. This was a very well done exploration either way though.
There a lot more extended coverage here from Creators Project.
Walk like you - Charlie Immer
Charlie Immer is a painter. He lives in Maryland.
'My concepts come from my fascination with anatomy and my love of candy and toys. I have so much fun creating the blood and bones of my characters. The contrast of the smooth bodies and the complex systems beneath spilling out is very appealing to me. As I’m painting I also try to assign flavors to my characters like blueberry and green apple.'
From his interview on wow x wow
I love these paintings. There is very creative world building going on within them. A sort of logic of how these undead hordes of candy-coated skeletons exist and co-mingle. They are all cute and some are genuinely gross. Genuinely disturbing. It's awesome. Perfectly crossing fantasy, surrealism, cartoons and like a photo-real still life awareness of materials and color a classic oil painter. Very unique, very fun work. And the colors are just mouth watering.
Walk Like You: Guy Bourdin
'Bourdin's photographs are often richly sensual but also rely heavily on provocation and ability to shock. Additionally integrating erotic, surreal, sinister components, Bourdin configured a whole new visual vocabulary with which to associate the goods of haute-couture. The narratives were strange and mysterious, often plainly exhibiting violence and graphic sexuality. Evident through astute reading of his compositional and thematic presentation, Bourdin profited from the influence of a diverse collection of contemporaries: first and foremost, his mentor Man Ray, but also the photographer Edward Weston, surrealist painters Magritte and Balthus, and Spanish surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel.'
Okay why do I like this? They are clever, they are sexy, they are deliberate and directed. They are weird. There are stories happening here, or maybe not. Maybe we just have 'art'. It becomes sort of open ended. And theres also some darkness implied, but in each instance its sort of light and whimsical.
Legs? A body? is this a murder? Oh but her shoes are beautiful.
I don't know what to say, but this work occupies a very unique space, and I really enjoy it.
