DO ARTISTS HAVE TO WORK IN A CONTEMPORARY STYLE?

Gee, I like Milt Gross. The picture he did above is so typical of his approach. It's cartoony, earthy, intellectually challenging, skillful, and it radiates happiness and good vibes.

For comparison here's (above) a frame grab from one of the better Post Modern cartoons. Cartoons with a PM look aren't exactly to my taste, even when they're as fun and creative as this show. Gross's work seems to be the product of a noble soul who's seen the dark side of life and managed to find humor in it. Post-Modern styles seem to be the product of artists who's aim is simply to be "nice" and entertaining. That's the feeling I get, anyway. 

Maybe it's just me but I'd feel strange showing a "nice" cartoon to someone who's been unemployed for a year, or to a G.I. in Afghanistan, or to someone who's been disappointed in love. Nice is fine but it seems like a narrow focus.  

On the other hand, what's wrong with being nice? I have a friend who uses nice to capture elusive qualities like charm and youth and femininity and I'd be horrified if something I said made her stop. Maybe I'm just out of sync with my time...a toothless fogey who angrily shakes his cane at passing airplanes. 

In my own defense I'll digress to a bit of history. I'm guessing that if you asked the average person living in 1968 which contemporary artist exemplified that era, the answer you'd get would be Peter Max (above). Even the Beatles favored that style. His was "The 60s Style."

Fast forward to 2014 and the artist everybody (or at least every comics fan) associates with the 60s isn't Peter Max, it's Robert Crumb (above). That's interesting because Crumb himself was a 1910s, 20s, 30s and 40s man. You don't see much of Peter Max in his work (above). His subject matter was highly contemporary, but his artistic influences were older.

Ditto John K.  John defines the modern funny style yet two of his biggest early influences were Bob Clampett and Hanna Barbera, people who did their best work in the 40s. late 50s and early 60s. Once again, the subject matter was contemporary but the influences were older. I hasten to add that Both Crumb and John developed startlingly original styles...I'm only talking about their early influences here.

So, is it necessary to draw in a "nice" Post Modern style in order to be a mirror to your time in 2014? No, that's not what John and Crumb did.  Of course, there's always room for something good, no matter what the style...even if it's Post Modern.

BTW: Thinking about Peter Max reminds me of what I like about the man. That blue picture of the Earth above is beautiful and deserves to be remembered. Most people aren't aware that after his psychedelic period he took up abstract painting, and some of the canvases aren't half bad.

What do you think of this one (above)? My friends say it's kitsch, and although it flirts with that, it still succeeds in making me think about the mystery of color.

Max didn't design Yellow Submarine but you can see that his ideas exerted an influence. I think The Blue Meanie was the best villain in an animated feature in the last half century.

[Thanks to a commenter who identified the Yellow Submarine designer as Heinz Edelmann. I just looked him up on google and was much impressed.]

WHY ISN'T THIS PICTURE FUNNY?

Let me rephrase that. It is funny...Milt Gross did it and he's incapable of drawing anything that's not funny...let me ask instead, "How could this picture have been even more funny?" 

The answer? It could have been more funny with the addition of witnesses, as Gross originally drew it. Everything is made more funny when your goof is seen by somebody else. That way your injury is compounded by humiliation.

Interesting, eh?

I9TH CENTURY STAGE DESIGN

I confess to liking the old-fashioned theatrical backdrops (above) of the 19th Century.

I think it was the sets in the old Melies films (above) that won me over. Look at the one above...bathing beauties, military men and a scientific space canon all sharing the same scene with the intriguing rooftop world of the big city. All those aspects of reality within one frame...what an interesting idea!

I also like the 19th Century style long shots in some of the old Fleischer cartoons. I like the idea that at odd times we're catapulted into a larger reality that gives us a different perspective on the story. Using ultra long shots only to establish a scene is a waste of a powerful tool. 

Old time theatrical backdrops had lots of balconies, windows, winding paths, caves and ledges. I guess the stage designers felt that was the way to get the most bang for their buck. That's okay...those old sets produced a surreality that reinforced the unnatural dialogue delivery and over-the-top stories of the day.

Someone who likes that old style doesn't have to slavishly copy the 19th Century. It's an idea that easily adapts to modern aesthetics. Here's a modern home that uses it. In houses like the one above you get a glimpse into multiple realities with just one glance, and there's plenty of hiding places, opportunity for unwelcome intruders to avoid detection, spying, sudden escapes, chases, athletic moves, dances and surprises.

Here's (above) a home design by Wally Wood that follows the same principal.

PRETTY GIRLS/UGLY FACES

I had had cataract surgery yesterday and I'm recovering at home. Wow! I highly recommend this if you're in need of it. The world is so much more colorful than it appeared only a couple of days ago. I look around and the impression I get is that I'm in Paradise or The Garden of Eden. Everything is so deliciously clean and bright!

Since I'm temporarily stuck in the house and haven't the clarity of vision to read much I amuse myself by going to Google Images and looking up funny faces.

What do you think of these?

"CANS WITHOUT LABELS"

I haven't seen the final cut of "Cans Without Labels." Nobody has. There's still some unfinished scenes. What I have seen is a medley of finished scenes with the sound and effects cut in, and they're an absolute stunner. The film is a game changer, a pirate broadside into the hulls of the lumbering dreadnoughts that dominate the animation industry. Fans who supported this film on Kickstarter won't be disappointed.

Unfortunately I hit a computer glitch on my end and won't be able to show the beautiful frame grabs that I promised. It's frustrating, but maybe this is for the best because it may provoke John to make a much better presentation on his own site.

The man continues to evolve. The animation experiments we saw on the recent Kirk Douglas film and on The Simpsons title are now improved and incorporated into character intensive storytelling. No, it's not too wonky or too stretchy...it's juuuuuuuust right. This'll be a much studied film and If you're a cartoonist you'll find yourself drawing compulsively after seeing it.

'Nuff said.

I have eye surgery coming up on Monday morning so I might be out of action for a few days. On the other hand I might blog continuously 'cause I'll have nothing else to do while I'm forced to hang around the house. See you soon!

WOMEN WHO COULD HAVE HAD STAGE CAREERS

This woman could be Natasha in a live action "Rocky and Bullwinkle." I wish more  people who are lucky enough to have character faces would take acting lessons and create a stage persona for themselves. Hollywood desperately needs funny character actors. So does amateur theatre.

My advice to this woman is, start cultivating an East European accent. Take elocution lessons and learn stage movement.

Here's (above) an interesting figure. The girl is obviously overweight but she uses the weight to make a humorous statement, or she could if she had stage aspirations. I like her aggressive confidence and the contrast made by the light, flimsy dress. I picture her as the nagging wife of a skinny, repressed man with a bow tie...

....someone like Don Knotts. She should take acting lessons. 

I wish some girl who yearns to do physical comedy would learn how to do backward-leaning walks. You can cheat it so your weight looks unsupported even though it is supported. It must be hard, though. If you look close, the only girl who can pull it off in the dance above is the one near the middle with dark shorts.

After she finishes the walk she could stay bent back. Maybe she's at a cocktail party and she walks up to a couple and casually talks to them while in this position.

There's some of that feel in the first minute of Fosse's "Rich Man's Frug." I'll have to revise my earlier lukewarm review of this dance. The first two minutes of this video are great.

This woman's neck is concealed under all the fluff she's wearing, making it appear that she has no neck. It's not a flattering look but it is funny, and funny is bankable if you can be funny on film. You could build a character around a woman who dresses like this. Imagine Madeline Kahn wearing that wig and these clothes.

Wow! This woman is a born witch! For the stage, I mean. This is why we need more amateur theatre. Right now there's no outlet for good faces like this. Of course you'd have to write her part so it's custom-made to fit whatever assets she brings to the table. Amateurs can be great but you can't hand them one-size-fits-all scripts.

WHAT IT'S LIKE TO TAKE DRUGS

I don't take drugs but I see documentaries about it. Like everybody else I wonder why addicts do it. After all, they've heard the same horror stories that I have. Why trade a short-term high for long-term misery? My guess is that most addicts don't expect to be around for the long term...they're depressives who do it as a prelude to suicide.

'Just a guess.

I'm also guessing that some addicts are romantics at heart. They reason that if they're going to check out then they'd like to have a few experiences first. It's the poor man's equivalent of a final vacation. They figure they'll take the inner journey. They want to find out if the hippies and mystics were on to something. Before they cash in the chips they want to take that lateral step outside of the ordinary world and see how things look from there.

I don't know what it's like to do that, but here's my best guess based...I admit...only on books and movies.

At the outset of the high the world is endlessly fascinating. It's full of lights and sounds and frenetic activity. You hear the clatter of heels on the sidewalk, the hum of neon. You become aware of the city's beating heart, expanding and contracting with the passing El trains.

You notice little things that you never noticed before before, like how there's a whole world in a street puddle (above).

Commonplace objects (above) look weird and funny, and you want to laugh.

After a while though, the drug begins to wear off and the streets (above) become less and less friendly. You become more aware of people who are off kilter somehow. They stare. They walk in and out of shadows. They seem to know something you don't.

You find an excuse to go inside (above) to shake off the weirdness, but it doesn't help. You begin to notice how shabby everything looks.

Rooms seem frighteningly empty. It's an emptiness that has weight, that's full of menace,  that's somehow palpably alive.

Whatever room you're in, you take note of where the exits are. It's not a case of being afraid of a police raid, or of violent friends. There's a sense that somehow the room itself might turn against you.

Out on the street you panic. For someone like you there's no food, no job, no real friends, no money of your own.

And that's how you end up walking next to an intended victim on a dark street, waiting for the right moment to strike. Maybe the guy has a family who depends on him. It doesn't matter. The guy has money and you want it, it's as simple as that.

It's interesting that the drug odyssey that began as a last fling before suicide didn't turn out that way. My guess is that addicts are among the least suicidal people you'll ever meet. They don't start out that way, just the opposite, but somewhere along the line they change. No more inner journey, no more romantic farewell to life. Something about the drug supercharges the will to live, no matter how painful and no matter how degraded that life might be.

Interesting, eh?