Channel Frederator Blog

I hate to break it to you, but you missed out on seeing a very cool show at the Natural History Museum in Basel, Switzerland. Oh well, so did I. It was called “Animatus” and it featured the work of Korean artist Hyungkoo Lee, who creates exquisite and intricate skeletons of cartoon characters.

Here’s more of his work from the Arario New York gallery site. Here is some brainy text that explains it.

Thanks to Michael Sporn for alerting me to this work by writing about it on Splog.

After the jump, a video tour of Lee’s work in the Venice Biennale 2007. [Read more…]

This Thursday (August 28th) is the last day to see the exhibit “Golden Legacy: Original Art from 65 Years of Golden Books” at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan. I was there last weekend I can confirm that there were adults attending sans kids. (Much of the artwork is hung close to the ground, so be prepared to get down on your knees to take in the details.)

As you may know, Golden Books illustrators included many Disney artists such as Gustav Tenggren and Mary Blair. I was particularly thrilled to see two original pieces by Mary Blair from I Can Fly.

(My one gripe is that the medium of the pieces is not indicated, and although advertised as a collection of “original art”, there seem to be some digital prints in the mix.)

Amazing fact: There have been two BILLION copies of Golden Books printed to date!

If you can’t make it speedily to the West Side, the exhibit (which originated at the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature in Abilene, Texas) will be touring in the future: The Eric Carle Museum and the Chicago Public Library are on the agenda. [Read more…]

The Paley Center in New York City (probably still known to many of you as The Museum of Television and Radio) has just opened an exhibit of artwork based upon the animated series Family Guy. It’s a Freakin Art Show opened Friday, August 1st, and runs through September 7. The roster of 21 artists includes animators Joel Trussell and Joe Vaux.

The suave Stewie above is by Kathie Olivas.

(A West Coast version of the show (“What The Deuce Are You Staring At!?!”) appeared at Los Angeles Paley Center back in 2006, so this is an encore for Easterners.)

The artwork was commissioned by Fox, making it a clear commercial tie-in , but worth seeing nonetheless. (Not surprisingly, you can buy giclée prints here.)

After the jump, a bonus music video for Morcheeba, directed by Joe Trussell. Just because I like it.

—Anne D. Bernstein

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Krazy! The Delirious World Of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art is an exhibit currently on view at the Vancouver Art Gallery. It explores the related fields of comics (including manga and those “serious” graphic novels), animation (including anime), and video game design. Nice roundup at Canadian Art.

The animation section was curated by Tim Johnson, director of Antz and Over the Hedge and these films are highlighted:

GERTIE THE DINOSAUR | 1915
THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED | 1926
GERALD McBOING BOING | 1950
BLACK HULA | 1988
AKIRA | 1988
WALLACE & GROMIT in THE WRONG TROUSERS | 1993
OVER THE HEDGE | 2006
PAPRIKA | 2006

Marv Newland is in the exhibit (Black Hula), so that gives me an excuse to insert his most famous creation (and possible the greatest very short animated film ever), “Bambi Meets Godzilla”, here:

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