Hazel Bryce created this impressive seahorse sculpture from a load of old rubbish, reinforced with wire and many layers of papier-mâché. The whole process took her over 6 years on and off.
News from Brett Ingram of Bright Eye Pictures:
Bright Eye Pictures is thrilled to announce two new exclusive DVD releases for retail, wholesale, and institutional buyers. Just visit the store at our new website: www.brettingram.org
PROMETHEUS’ GARDEN (28 minutes, 1988) is the only film over which legendary stop-motion animator Bruce Bickford maintained complete creative control. Bright Eye Pictures is making PROMETHEUS’ GARDEN available to the public for the first time since its completion two decades ago. The DVD features a commentary track by Bickford, an alternate score by Shark Quest’s Laird Dixon, and the half hour documentary featurette, LUCK OF A FOGHORN: the Making of Bruce Bickford’s Prometheus’ Garden, directed by Brett Ingram.
Synopsis: Inspired by the Greek myth of Prometheus, a Titan who created the first mortals from clay and stole fire from the gods, Prometheus’ Garden immerses viewers in a cinematic universe unlike any other. The dark and magical images of this haunting film unfold in a dreamlike stream of consciousness revealing an unlikely cast of clay characters engaged in a violent struggle for survival. Enchanted forests, animated torture chambers, hamburgers that morph into mythical monsters, and epic battles between giants, fairies, and anachronistic historical figures populate just a small corner of Bickford’s animated universe. Like all Bickford films, Prometheus’ Garden defies description and simply must be experienced. In Clay Animation, film scholar Michael Frierson writes: “Bickford offers us a visionary landscape, a hallucinogenic retreat into magical settings where figure and ground may transform into the other at any moment, enchanted settings in which modern technocrats are easy villains and nature is under siege.” Bickford is an underground artist who has mystified animation critics and inspired generations of animators, while somehow eluding fame. He has been described as the world’s only “outsider artist” working in the medium of animation. He has been recognized as a “genius” by Frank Zappa and countless other iconoclasts. Under employment by Frank Zappa, Bickford relinquished creative control of his work (which was edited and scored by Zappa). Consequently, Prometheus’ Garden is Bickford’s most comprehensive and least compromised vision.
Best known for his collaborations with rock iconoclast Frank Zappa in the 1970s (THE DUB ROOM SPECIAL, BABY SNAKES, THE AMAZING MR. BICKFORD), underground animator Bruce Bickford has influenced generations of artists with his startlingly original vision.
What the critics are saying about PROMETHEUS’ GARDEN:
“Wildly imaginative and morbidly funny” – SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
“Surreal, absurd and metaphorical” – ANIMATION MAGAZINE
“Psychedelic metamorphosis” – ANIMATION WORLD JOURNAL
We are also happy to announce the exclusive release of the new MONSTER ROAD “Collector’s Edition” DVD. This new version features a DVD-9 encode for superior image quality, plus the movie soundtrack by Shark Quest and 45 minutes of extras, including rare Bickford animation and deleted scenes from the documentary. MONSTER ROAD is a feature length documentary exploring the wildly fantastic worlds of legendary animator Bruce Bickford. Tracing the origins of Bickford’s iconoclastic worldview, the film journeys back to Bickford's childhood in a competitive household during the paranoia of the Cold War and examines his relationship with his father, George, who is facing the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. MONSTER ROAD was directed by Brett Ingram. MONSTER ROAD won “Best Documentary” at the 2004 Slamdance Film Festival, eventually screening at more than 90 festivals around the world and winning sixteen awards, before premiering on Sundance Channel in 2005.
Although I have already posted an article with a short clip about Bruce Bickford and the Monster Road Documentary, I feel that this enigmatic man is underrated and have decided to post a longer video clip (right) with more footage of Bickford's inspirational stop frame animation. Too many people are unaware of Bickford's eccentric genius and credit his work to Frank Zappa (whom he collaborated with in his early career).
I highly recommend this film, which is a thorough overview of Bruce Bickford's massive body of work as well as a great documentary.
Brave Destiny The Movie is now available on DVD
63 minutes showing many works by artist participants including HR Giger and a host of others! The film covers the opening reception, the ball, showing behind the scenes on the work by the artists in putting together this colossal show.
The ball footage features original musical compositions by surrealist composer Peter Dizozza.
$19.98 plus $2 shipping in USA and Canada
$5 shipping worldwide
Payments by check or money order or by Paypal to W.A.H. Center
Send to: WILLIAMSBURG ART and HISTORICAL CENTER, 135 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11211
WORLD PREMIER
BRAVE DESTINY THE MOVIE, NOVEMBER 2007
Cocktails, buffet dinner and film showing, where it all happened – the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, USA. The Brave Destiny show at the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center (WAH Center) was the world’s largest show of living surrealist artists the world has ever seen. It also held the first international Grand Surrealist Ball in the United States, in the tradition of Surrealist balls put on by the Baroness de Rothschild in Europe up until the death of Dali. Many people, including European nobility, flew in from around the world for the one night event.
Imagine five floors of art of the finest international surrealist/visionaries in a French empire mansion in the world’s trendiest artists neighborhood – filled with magnificent art from catacombs to attic by nearly 500 artists! Add on a month of incredible living installations, dance, theater, a fashion show, ballet, and film. An extravaganza never likely to be equaled. This is the documentary.
The man behind Brave Destiny, Terrance Lindall published a long article about Brave Destiny on beinArt.org
Photo credit Joel Simpson
Once a fringe figure of a very conservative Australia society, Rosaleen Norton since her death in 1979, has become cult figure in esoteric circles for her visionary artwork. In her time she was portrayed as the epitome of wickedness. This was a facade she was quite happy to flaunt to the public and media, loving to shock conservative minds.
From a very early age, Rosaleen exhibited a non conformist rebellious nature. When she was 14, the headmistress of her school, Chatswood Girls Grammar, became the first in a long line of people to identify Rosaleen as a corrupting influence on others, and duly expelled her for producing 'depraved' drawings of vampires, ghouls and werewolves. She later studied for two years at East Sydney Technical College under the noted sculptor, Rayner Hoff who encouraged her 'pagan' creativity.
Although her talents were mainly artistic Rosaleen Norton also had considerable talents as a writer of macabre and exotic tales. At the age of 15 she had several horror stories accepted by Smith's Weekly, a famously irreverent and lively newspaper which seems to have kept almost all of Sydney's bohemian community in gainful employment at one time or another. She preferred to work as an artist, but during her months there she failed to produce anything conventional enough even for Smith's, and was let go.
Rosaleen was Australia's first female pavement artist. She also worked as a model for Norman Lindsay, whose early line drawings were both controversial and notorious. Norman's influence on Rosaleen's work is very evident. Of Rosaleen's own work Lindsay was not so impressed, being even a little too dark for even his own tastes.
In 1935 she met and married Beresford Lionel Conroy, and the pair spent some time hitchhiking around the country from Brisbane to Melbourne. The marriage lasted until after WWII when they divorced.
Rosaleen Norton had her first public exhibition at Melbourne University. However, two days after it opened, police descended on the gallery and seized four of the exhibited pictures. Charges were laid under the Police Offences Act, citing that the works were decadent and obscene, and likely to arouse unhealthy sexual appetites in those who saw them. The charges against her were dismissed and 4 pounds 4 shillings costs were awarded against the police department.
One of the confiscated paintings was the well-known work, Black Magic. This depicted a black panther copulating with a naked woman. Rosaleen Norton's paintings were a mix of magic, mythology, fantasy and Freudian symbols. They were the product of visions seen during self-induced trances and dreams or while carrying out occult experiments. She worshipped Pan – life and death, order and chaos, creation and destruction, and elemental forces. Rosaleen kept very detailed journals of her psychic explorations and was very well read on Freudian and Jungian psychology. She had her own well developed cosmology and an intricate understanding of ceremonial magick.
She experimented with self hypnosis and automatic drawing for years, devising rituals which would put her into a trance state in which she could explore other dimensions. Her paintings and drawings for the most part were depictions of the myriad of gods, demons and other entities with whom she communicated and caroused with on these journeys.
A brave soul named Walter Glover, saw merit in Rosaleen's works and put his own finances into publishing a book, "The Art Of Rosaleen Norton", a collection of her illustrations accompanied by poems by her young boyfriend, Gavin Greenlees. The book like the Melbourne exhibition attracted controversy, and landed Walter in court on obscenity charges. The magistrate fined Glover five pounds and ordered that two pictures, including one of "Fohat", a cheeky looking demon with a snake for a penis, be obliterated from unsold copies of the book. Because of this copies of the book were confiscated and burnt by the US customs. The whole affair bankrupted Walter. He was however never to loose faith in Rosaleen, and would years later when his bankruptcy was lifted, went on to republish the book, this time in a much changed Australia, causing no stir. Both editions are now collectors items.
Rosaleen was now a renowned figure in the infamous Kings Cross district of Sydney, home to prostitutes, criminals, artists and would-be cosmopolitans. She was attracting a steady stream of sensationalist media attention. Originally she enjoyed the attention and played upon the public persona. She certainly looked the part, her eyebrows plucked into high arches, her face framed with jet black hair and curves which resembled her paintings. She was also named as the leader of a witch cult, which was really nothing more than a few friends gathering at her flat. This was however enough for the tabloids to expand into something more elaborate.
By the 60's Rosaleen was starting to slip away from public attention as she increasingly found the small minded media tiring. Her liberated ideas were now no longer so shocking in an age of free love and open drug use. She quietly continued to create her visionary artwork and sell to any who were interested.
A decade later she had become a complete recluse confining herself to her close circle of friends. In her final years her health started to fail before she was finally admitted into the Sacred Heart Hospice, diagnosed with cancer. Here even to the last, surrounded by nuns and crucifixes, she remained unrepentant and committed to her beliefs, dying on December 5th, 1979.
Jon Beinart – "What inspires you to paint Terrance?"
Terrance Lindall – "The question should be, what inspired (past tense) me to paint. I stopped painting about six years ago. The reasons for painting and the intensity levels of my devotion to painting have varied over the years. At first, when i was a teenager, it was a pleasure to render, to create three dimensionality in ideas from the science fiction and fantasy comics I read, i.e., Steve Ditko stories and the like. By the time i was in college my choice of subject became more philosophical. I liked to create a concrete philosophical point, as with my "Stone Eater." Always precise rendering was a pleasure. In doing covers for magazines, something else happened. I was in another state of consciousness. I would pick up my brush and start painting at 6 PM and when i next looked up it was 4 AM, and I did not realize time had passed to that extent. Inspiration is not "caused." Painting for me is a natural extension or expression of the self like talking is for most people. it is natural and there is no "work" to it. It just flows."
Jon – "I had no idea you stopped painting. Was there a reason for this Terrance? Since meeting you I have seen such a huge body of work and naturally assumed that you were still creating prolifically. What is your current creative outlet?"
Terrance – "I stopped painting partly because I have so many other activities in my life. Also, I am not as driven as i used to be. When I was in my early 20's, if I could not paint I would go crazy. I was desperate to paint and very upset if anything prevented me. Today it is very hard to sit down and paint. I have ideas I want to put down, but to do so I would need the time and so I never sit down to start. Our art center is a daily time consuming project. Even though we are closed for renovation, I had to get involved as President in overseeing the capital improvements, working with city officials, project managers, etc. Also, as you know I am making movies. I just wrote a grant for new equipment for that. I do not know if you saw the "rough cut" Paradise Lost project on Youtube.
I am also finishing up my personal project of my "Treasure Room." which contains important art & artifacts and which I am contributing to the Yuko Nii Foundation to preserve for future generations. Some of the objects in this room are furniture by Pierre Antoine Bellange’, a furniture maker in Paris. At the end of 1811, he became the Imperial Furniture Warehouse and in 1817 President James Monroe purchased a suite of furniture for the White House, which was made famous in Jacqueline Kennedy’s TV tour of the White House. Other French objects in the room are documents signed by Napoleon as emperor, Joseph Bonaparte as emperor and a letter signed by Marie Louise, Napoleon’s young wife
British historical objects include the last will and testament of Dowager Lady Strathmore, the mother of the beloved Queen Mother of England who died in 2002 at the age of 101. Also included are her marriage contract and the entire inventory of Glamis Castle where she grew up as a child. There is also a remarkable and lavish coat worn by the Royal Herald of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
The treasure room contains several paintings dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries. From the studio of Titan there is the fortuneteller, and from the studio of Rembrandt by Govert Flinck is a portrait as beautiful as any Rembrandt. There is one beautiful Hudson River landscape by Asher Durand, similar to the one sold by the New York Public Library to the Heiress of the Walmart Stores recently. There is a large Spanish painting of the raising of Lazarus and various portraits that add to the splendor of the room bringing forth the lives of characters that may have lived there.
In many ways this treasure room project and the documentary movies satisfy my artistic cravings. But one more factor comes in. I am overwhelmed by the high quality of the artists of our surreal/visionary genre. I have done my work and it is for these superlative young masters to carry the movement forward. I expect to do more work as my life settles down. But i am satisfied with what i have done."
Jon – "It is great to hear that you still have an outlet for your creativity and I look forward to seeing the finished versions of Paradise Lost as well as your Brave Destiny documentary. As I have mentioned in previous conversations with you, I grew up on Creepy and Eerie comics (although they were before my time, i had access to my fathers collection). I was excited when I learned that you had painted the cover art for both Creepy and Eerie. Have you had much association with the 'Lowbrow' Comic Surrealist movement and the earlier efforts to get comic influenced art shown in serious galleries (which has obviously been quite successful, especially for artists like Robert Williams, Mark Ryden & Chris Mars). In your early career was it difficult find galleries that would show your paintings?"
Terrance – "'Lowbrow comic surrealism!' What an expression! Anyway, yes, I guess I was part of that with CREEPY, EERIE and HEAVY METAL. I guess that is what originally turned off the mainstream art world from our art, it's being lowbrow. But that is changing! Important art movements like Impressionism, Cubism, Ashcan School, etc, all spring from what, in their own time, was considered "lowbrow." or art not of current running pack of dogs and their adherents. The current running pack always attacks the newcomer. The newcomer continues, and as the saying goes, "what does not kill you makes you stronger." Eventually people get tired of the old pack and look for something fresh. Right now, the low brow comic art is something fresh to the "high brow" public. In fact, I was interviewed last year by Time Out Magazine in New York, a really big magazine, about Graffiti art. There was a large show at the Brooklyn Museum which included Michael Tracy ("Tracy 168"), Melvin Samuels, Jr. ("NOC 167"), Sandra Fabara ("Lady Pink"), Chris Ellis ("Daze"), and John Matos ("Crash"). Seems that my art as well as others from Heavy Metal and Creepy, etc. influenced them. A group of NYC famous young Graffiti artists here in Brooklyn stopped by our art center once a few years ago and we were rapping away. They asked me to join them in a project, which I kindly declined. High art or low art, there is no difference. Great art is great art!
Difficult to find galleries??? More like impossible. Mainstream was against it! But I stuck with my vision and i am reaping rewards greater now than I ever could have if I had followed the pack and painted shallow, acceptable 1960's post modern work. Sure I could have made it big in the gallery world with that acceptable style and content. As they say, "copy success to be successful." But I do not think it would have made me happy. Most important for any artists out there: follow your own unique vision…to thine own self be true! You will eventually reap the rewards! Today, people who would not have touched my art are begging for it. There is nothing available for them. You have to have the eye and the judgment to know what is important when you see it, no matter what others say. Ordinary art collectors cannot see it, so they follow. And they lose out."
Jon – "Yes, I did feel a little awkward when I used the word 'Lowbrow' (notice the inverted commas), but it has been used as a descriptive word for comic derived art since the publication of 'Lowbrow Art World of Robert Williams' (much to the regret of Williams himself). Words can be so limiting. I'm so glad you persevered and made a mark with your own personal style. You are right. If all artists adapted to the type of art that is fashionable then there would be no innovation or evolution in the art world. I wasn't aware that you had run out of available work. Lucky I was able to purchase one of your original oils from Damian Michaels' Art Visionary Collection some time ago. (one of my personal favorites in the beinArt Collection).
What exciting news do you have in stall for the future Terrance? Beyond the film projects you mentioned previously, do you plan to host a second Brave Destiny Show?"
Terrance – "My future projects are wrapped in a mystery known only to myself. I guarantee that within the next ten years something very remarkable will unfold. It expands perception. It brushes alternative realities. It uses technology in new ways. It has to do with wave technology in new applications. We will create closed system environments of sight, sound, smell, taste and feeling. It will engulf emotion, mood and attitude. No person experiencing it will walk away unmoved. It is truly the ultimate in surreal/visionary/fantastic! PREPARE! Good luck Jon. You are doing marvelous things. Keep it up!"
Terrance Lindall has also published two Essays on beinArt.org: Brave Destiny & A New International Surrealist’s Look at Progress, Overcoming and the Irreversibility of the Avante-garde, Massurrealism and The Death of Art.
I discovered Bruce Bickford's psychedelic clay animation a few years ago on the Frank Zappa movie 'Baby Snakes' and have been addicted to his work to this day. Bruce Bickford is an under rated (and relatively unknown) Visionary Artist. I was overwhelmed with excitement when I heard that a documentary had been made on the man himself. I ordered it online as soon as I heard 'Monster Road' was available and was not disapointed. Monster Road not only documents the life of an artist who I believe is one of the greatest living Clay animators (who's name I would only utter in the same sentence with greats like Jan Svankmajer), but it is also a fine cinematic masterpiece itself (winner of many awards inc. Slamdance Film Festival Best Documentary Jury Prize 2004). I strongly recomend Monster Road to all Stop animation and Documentary enthusiasts alike. Anyway, enough of my subjective rambling, please check out the YouTube trailer in the top right hand side of this post and see for yourself.
Here is an exerpt from an article on Bickford (sourced from the brighteyepictures website)
Bickford’s films can transport us back to a state of early childhood, where everything is new, and where we are suspended in a state of amused awe. A blade of grass, a tree, a sword, an eerily smiling face are all wonders of great mystery in this state. Things appear and disappear, and events happen inexplicably. Danger and splendor are both just around the corner. Everything is at once beautiful and frightening.
Robert Williams is one of the most popular artists in America today and is a featured artist in the Surreal Art Collective. His dynamic work often includes women, cars, food, and 1950's Americana. Robt. masters the so-called "lowbrow" art-forms: rock album cover art, comic art, hot-rod art, etc.
Here is a recent documentary interview of Robert Williams (sourced from YouTube) which I found very interesting. Williams speaks passionately about the trends of the contemporary art world, the general bias against representational paintings and being pigeon holed as a common illustrator.
In mid 1960s San Francisco, Robt. became art director for hot-rod hero Ed "Big Daddy Roth. Robt. quickly became one of the most important West Coast underground artists – creating psychedelic posters and contributing to comics like Zap with great artists like Robert Crumb.
Williams also founded Juxtapoz Magazine and is considered the founding father of Cartoon Surrealism & Lowbrow Art. Nicolas Cage, Leonardo diCaprio, Johnny Depp, Jesse James & many other celebrities have purchased Robt. Williams' paintings.
We have also published a short article by Williams on Lowbrow Art
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