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| Ralph has a new show at the Animazing Gallery in New York and it's pretty impressive. The man can paint, no doubt about it. |
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| Some of the pictures seem to be representational, like this one (above) of New York City rooftops. How do you like the opalescent colors, and the weird, horizontal stick construction of everything? They lend a feeling of frenetic movement to what must have been a fairly placid scene in real life. It's true to New York, though. That city is all about explosive energy lying just below the surface. |
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| Here's (above) a more abstract piece. The impression you get from a distance is of fluffy, cottony clouds tainted by gritty opalescence. Closer up it's decaying building materials with everything moving, clinging, cascading, oozing, blocking, shooting, and scrunching. You expect this picture to jump out the window and run away down the street. |
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| A couple of people said this picture (above) was their favorite. It's probably a stripped wall showing fiberglass insulation...or is it asbestos? I like to think of it more abstractly as turbulent, buttery, energetic essence of color seeping through the walls to consume our world. I like the Cezanne-like color and texture of the wall surrounding the door on the right. |
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| Holy Cow! It's the world of the theater (above) abstracted. I love stuff like this. It's a celebration of show business, with it's artifice and it's blend of the silly and the profound. |
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BTW: Somebody asked me recently if the picture in Ralph's book (the book ably put together by Jon Gibson and Chris McDonnell) that looks like me, really is me. The answer is...yes, even though I thought differently when I first saw it. The reason I didn't recognize it right away is that it was taken on a live shoot for one of Ralph's films, and the hairdresser who did that to my hair didn't let me look at it for fear that I'd try to mess it up. For an interesting article about what Ralph is doing lately: http://bombsite.com/issues/999/articles/3491 |
What film was it? Was it "Heavy Traffic" or Were you rotoscoped in? I love Ralph's movies but I always felt the rotoscoped parts didn't really work and kind of out of the films. Definitely can understand budgetwise since animating realistic battle sequences by hand sounds like an absolute nightmare.
ReplyDeleteI fecking looooooooooooove Ralph Bakshi!
ReplyDeleteJeez, his movies are amazing. I even like his two cartoon network cartoons. He's a beacon to show that you don't need buckets of money from big multi - nationals to make your art. He's also the reason I can (financially) justify believing that I can make a simliar living too.
These look pretty interesting and very cool. He seems to have a big affiliation with New York. I read an interview with him recently and I was kinda shocked to find out he's in his seventies.
These paintings are terribly nice!
ReplyDeleteThe stripped wall would be my favorite too. I think what distinguishes it is the way the colors are blended.
Ralph is a God in the cartoon world.
ReplyDeleteAnon: Aaaargh! I can't remember the name! It was a short film that Ralph made for PBS about the Beat era.
ReplyDeleteOisin, Pappy, Rooni: Haw! I hope Ralph reads your comments. I also hold the man in great esteem.
This Ain't BeBop
ReplyDeleteRalph called me this morning. He was delighted with your review. He said you nailed the subjects. The Cezanne wall was his bedroom as a boy.
Dig the new look, Ed!
ReplyDeleteSome of Ralph's best cornball paintings are reminiscent of Phil Guston, but I must say Ralph's palette is at times horrendous!
That said, he's still, and ever will be, My Man!
(Eddie I noticed my comment and your follow-up comment on the advertising story, pt.1, has been completely wiped from the comment columns... I hope my candid and admittedly loose mouth isn't causing you anxiety for being impolitic.)
Nacht: Your comment was deleted!? I don't remember zapping anything with your name on it. Aaaargh! i just looked at my archive and found that some old pictures are missing. I'm using a beta program, maybe that's the problem.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the deletion. Please let me know if it happens again.
Steve: Thanks for the name of the film I reffered to: "This Ain't BeBop."
ReplyDeleteEVERYBODY: Sorry for the disarray in the layout of the blog. The transition from my old format to this one is unavoidably messy, but I'll have it cleared up in a few days.
No worries, a few less comments from me might be a good thing.
ReplyDeleteIt bothers me to no end that Ralph is not celebrated at MOMA the way Tim Burton is currently, (many in the artworld find the SyFy financed Burton retrospective completely inappropriate for MOMA; - I must say I love the fact that every puppet and prop in the show was credited to the artist who made it for the production, with Burton's name no where near it.)
Ralph's most important work premiered at MOMA! I wrote on the chalkboard in the curatorial offices at P.S.1 contemporary art center (an affiliate of MOMA)an open plea to rediscover the important social documents of Ralph's early work,- to no end I suppose, and of course. An exhibition running the urban films and selected paintings and drawings would be incredible!
Weird coincidence, I was just looking up stuff by Baskshi yesterday. Bizarre, how the world is in sync.
ReplyDeleteBakshi is a cartoon genius and a force to be reckoned with. He has done more for the animation industry than most people I've heard about. Thanks for the great post, Eddie, and I love the new blog look.
ReplyDelete