Anders Nilsen's Blog, page 17

Would there be cute pugs peeing on shrubbery in the Garden of Eden?

Friday morning I'm flying to San Francisco to go skateboarding. Also for APE. At which, Sunday at 1:30 in the afternoon, I'm going to read a bit from Rage of Poseidon and talk a little about why I'm always stealing characters from other people's stories. Jesus, Hercules, Captain America... the guy with the cow head who lives in the maze and eats people who come to visit him, stuff like that. The list is just endless. Which, like, why don't I just come up with my own shit for once? Jeez. Here's Prometheus from Rage of Poseidon:


So, I'll be talking about the new book, but also about a bunch of other images and stories of mine where old situations and characters have shown up in my work and why. Below are a few examples of stuff I might talk about. In order: Hercules Ascending to Olympus, Adam and Eve Sneaking Back into the Garden of Eden to Steal More Apples (detail) and Last Remnant after the End of the World (Tree of Knowledge)

This weekend I'm hanging out with all sorts of cool people

I'm doing two events this weekend. Friday I'm in Chicago for Brain Frame, reading from Rage of Poseidon (a few copies were shipped in for the event – currently available NOWHERE ELSE). With Anya Davidson, Keilor Roberts, Jeremy Tinder and more.
 Then I get swallowed by a giant mechanical bird and regurgitated in New York for the Brooklyn Book Festival. I'm on a panel on Sunday with Audrey Niffenegger and Frank Santoro talking about myth, fable and how to draw togas and talking birds.

Click here to find out what really happens after you die

I recently did an interview with Andreea Saioc for the Global Panorama about The End. I don't blame anyone for skipping it – the sad violins have been on repeat, lately – but the conversation's second half turns to a slightly deeper than usual examination of the nature of death and its place in culture, which was a welcome addendum to the conversation.

This Weekend

At SPX this weekend, as part of Bob Sikoryak's Carousel , I'll be reading from my new book Rage of Poseidon , which is debuting at the show. The book actually began its life as a slide reading and didn't become a book until later, so I've read some of the pieces here and there in the last few years, but there are two brand new pieces, one of which – a piece about Noah and the flood from the perspective of the angel Gabriel – I'll be presenting for Carousel, along with some stuff about Leda and the Swan, the Goddess of Love and the son of God. All in 8 minutes. It's happening at 5:30 on Saturday.

...

help.

That's right, God and the Devil were paired up at random.

Mostly PFC is about process, not results. But there has historically been one exception. In 2011 Icinori put together a beautiful accordion book collaboration (scroll way down) between the artists of that year, based around depictions of the 12 Tasks of Heracles:

We didn't have the benefit of Icinori's boundless energy, subtle skill and guiding hand this year, but I really wanted to make something of the kind happen again.
So Zak and I came up with the following project (with the help of June): we made a list of characters (see below), made each of the artists choose one, then paired them up randomly (with an emphasis on pairing English and French speakers together). We then asked them to create a page in which their characters interact in some way, with the additional constraint that something, somewhere must get broken.
The result is this three-color, screenprinted accordion book, hand-assembled by the participants, printed by the inestimable Dan Ibarra at Aesthetic Apparatus (also, as it turns out, of boundless energy and subtle skill). And this all happened in less than a week. Our undying gratitude to everyone involved for their patience, indulgence and enthusiasm.
The few remaining copies are available here, $45 each. Proceeds will go to make whole the tireless volunteers of ChiFouMi, without whom none of this could have happened, and to support future incarnations of PFC. Dan generously offered up the test prints as well, which we cut down into stacks of 5" x 6 1/2" "postcards", a few of which will get thrown in with every order. For me these cards complete the collaboration, because in addition to being in many cases surprising and jewel-like, they incorporate the work of Aesthetic Apparatus with imagery from the book. Which brings everything full circle.
And in case you are curious who got paired with who the collaborators were as follows, in order: Marc Bell and Domitille Collardey, Lilli Carre and Emilie Plateau, Tom Kaczynski and Jean-Christophe Menu, Sandrine Martin and Kevin Huizenga, Lisa Hanawalt and Pierre Ferrero, Eugene Riousse and Jim Rugg, John Porcellino and Benoit Preteseille, Eleanor Davis and Max de Radigues, Genevieve Castree and David Libens, and Zak Sally and myself.

walk cycle

Last week I mentioned Lilli's late-breaking PFC proposal that we each contribute to a 'walk cycle' to be animated and looped before the Eyeworks presentation that happened Saturday night. Here's a low res version.  A nicer version of just the Nancy cycle is here (along with the slightly surreal local news coverage of PFC):

Apparently in the UK "trainers" means "shoes"

So this article came out on Saturday in the Guardian, and it's really nice (although I was sorry to see my dad's existence described as hippy).  They even used a photo of me smiling rather than being dour or downcast to fit the book, which I was glad about. But then today a friend passed along this even more awesome little tidbit from the comments section:

Indeed, life goes on. The thing is they're not Gazelles. They're actually the Dennis Busenitz Pro Shoe. And Dennis is amazing, so please, people of the UK: support pushing at least six times for every trick, effortless switch, and holding your fakie 5-0s to a fifteen foot minimum. Great skateboarding is worth it.

I swear I didn't plan this

...but the printmaking panel I'm moderating at AUTOPTIC (12-1 next door at Alliance Francaise) is turning out to be the stealth skateboarding panel. I mean, with Ryan Duggan I knew I was getting some Hated graphics:
But then I stumbled on this image (Death Comes for the Skateboarder) when looking for cool stuff to show by Jenny Schmid:
And then when I asked Nick Butcher of Sonnenzimmer what art he was into when he was 12 he sent me an Alien Workshop graphic (I'm posting a different one in deference to alien phobes):

It's like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but with comics

PFC4 is in full swing. Being both an organizer and a participating artist I'm probably going to have to sleep for a week when it's over, but there are really wonderful things bubbling up, here. This morning Lilli Carre asked June and me quietly if it might work to propose that everyone do a 16 frame, one second long animation of someone walking ( a walking cycle)... all to be strung together, animated by Lilli on Saturday morning, and presented on Saturday night as part of the Eyeworks Animation festival screening she and Alexander are doing (at Open Eye theatre, 506 E 24th st, 7pm). Yeah... two days from now. Obviously such a thing is impossible. But as Willie Wonka says, it is important to do at least two impossible things every morning before breakfast. Here are three of these animations in progress by, in order: Lisa Hanawalt, Tom Kaczinski and Domitille Collardey. I'm doing one, too. As are several other folks. Below those are... well, some other awesome stuff.