Channel Frederator Blog

“The holy grail is to spend less time making the picture than it takes people to look at it.” -Banksy

E3E/v

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Chris Prynoski (creator of MTV Downtown, among other things) has curated a show honoring gaming god and father of Dungeons and Dragons Gary Gygax. It opened last Saturday and will be up until September 27th at Titmouse Studio (6616 Lexington Avenue, Los Angeles). Lots of my old friends from MTV Animation have contributed artwork. Just a few of the participating gang of geeky alum (and I mean that in a loving way): Christy Karacas (Superjail), George “not a typo” Krstic and Jody Schaeffer (Megas XLR), Kaori Humara, Richard Mather, Cheese Hasselberger, and Antonio Cannobio. Plus, that guy who created The Tick. And Gabe Swarr, who is everywhere.

—Anne D. Bernstein

In 2007, animation artists and Pixar colleagues Scott Morse, Lou Romano, Don Shank, and Nate Wragg collaborated on The Ancient Book of Myth and War (AdHouse Books, now out-of-print.) They’re reuniting for a tasty follow-up tome called The Ancient Book of Sex and Science. The book is currently in production, but a set of four prints was for sale at Comicon this summer. See images of the complete set here. (Art above by Nate Wragg.)

We’ll just have to wait until next spring for Sex and Science, but until then, check out the artist links above for more information about this fantastic foursome.

And in particular, I’m really loving the ultra-abstract paintings that Lou Romano has been posting on his blog lately. Here’s one:

Check out a few more after the jump: [Read more…]

If you’re a fan of video games, live in Los Angeles, and enjoy being packed, sardine-like, into gallery spaces with hoards of fellow pop culture fanatics, then you might want to check out the opening of the fourth annual I Am 8-Bit show. The event is at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery at 6650 Hollywood Boulevard, this Thursday (August 14th) from 8 until midnight.

The official website currently offers minimal specifics, but you can get an idea of what’s in store by perusing this photo gallery of last year’s opening, as covered by i-mockery.com.

A collection of artwork from previous shows was published by Chronicle Books back in 2006. I Am 8-Bit: Art Inspired by Classic Videogames of the 80s is available from the publisher’s website for $22.95. An additional volume will come out in 2009.

Despite the lack of a contributor list, if you just can’t wait, some of the artist’s involved have posted pix of their creations in advance of the opening. Click here for a sneak peek at Joystiq.

PS: World of Wonder is the production company responsible for many reality television “classics” such as Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, One Punk, Under God, and Wife, Mom, Bounty Hunter, as well as some serious docs. Seem like cool people, actually…

Find out how Tori Spelling is currently connected to geekdom, after the jump… [Read more…]

Many of you know Bill Wray from his outrageously masterful artwork for Ren and Stimpy and Samurai Jack. But he has a completely independent career as a fine artist, creating subtle and moody oil paintings inspired by Masters of American Illustration like N.C. Wyeth and J.C. Leyendecker. He is particularly fond of industrial landscapes. A selection of his paintings is currently on exhibit at the Segil Fine Art gallery in Monrovia, California, through August 9th.

Wanna buy a painting? There are still a few left.

If you’d like a dose of the wackier side of Wray, you can check out these links… [Read more…]

Noferin is the product of two artist/writers from Melbourne, Australia New Zealand named Candy and Nicho. They have created an idyllic world on the mythical Carrara Island, populated by deadpan cute characters with names like Pecan and Pandacake. Candy is a self-trained designer and painter; Nicho is a writer who is studying Environmental Science. [Read more…]

Frederator Oh Yeah! Alum Carlos Ramos recently got featured on the Wired Blog (as well as BOING BOING). The feature waxes philosophic about Show Biz Versus The Art World & his newest art show, Natural History Museum Part 1 at the Corey Helford Gallery in California.
Great Job Carlos!
-Jeaux Janovsky

Animation artist Chris Reccardi’s painting show, Mono, opened Friday at the Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle, Washington. The show will be up until July 5th, so if you live in the rainy Northwest, be sure to stop by.

Reccardi has worked on high-quality, visually stimulating series including Samurai Jack, Ren and Stimpy, and Powerpuff Girls. He also creates concept art for animated features at Dreamworks and Sony Pictures.

I’d put him in the “retro-futuro” school of art, which also includes cool colleagues like SHAG. And he is not afraid to incorporate glitter into his art!

Photos from the opening on the beatnikside blog.

One of his specialties is cute space girls, and here’s one of the best:

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Here’s some of the loot I got from the great Mocca Art Festival this year in NYC.

First off, here’s the cover to the mini I printed up to hand out to people. I guess I was inspired by Stephen Levinson’s gun-toting, wise ass Skunk, Prikk. The comic was called, Box Assassin Hitman: Box of Danger!!!
People seemed delighted to be given a free mini about a cardboard robot who can transform into a box and is a deadly hitman assassin. [Read more…]

If you’re in the NYC area, be sure to check out Tim Biskup’s solo show, “The Artist in You”, at the Jonathan Levine Gallery, before it closes on June 14th. He’s the Hardest Working Man in the visual innovation business: animation, fine art, toys, clothes, books—what does this guy not do? (Sleep, I guess.) His latest creations are all about deconstructing (i.e. messing with) his own classic imagery.

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