Dream

Not long ago we did the title sequence a few animation scenes for Joseph Mann's short film "American Dream".

The story centers on a third grade (or thereabouts) girl.

For the opening I did this concept drawing.



From there, Keiko Kuramoto took over and made the opening with a little input.

News Cycle Comes Around

I thought this would be a bit of historic ephemera. Hopefully, it will be -but Sarah Palin's holiday weekend resignation has once again placed her, unworthy, in the national spotlight.



In this video from last summer, Steve Brodner wonders about her appeal. We also must wonder about a Republican Party that would embrace someone so clearly out of her depth as a public official.



When we originally did this the editors at The New Yorker had issue with the "sexualization" of Palin in Brodner's drawing. Had they not been reading their own magazine? Did they miss the 24/7 coverage of the Governor calling her "hot"? It was one of the many points of her selection to Republican ticket that insulted voters of both parties and played to basest aspects of their own.

Do Mannequins Dream Of Painted Mice?

someone thinks so

mice in the subconscious

PL Soup

These are shots from the film screen.

Two stills from a Sesame Street film R. O. Blechman produced in the early 1970s.  One of around five films he produced at this time for Children's Television Workshop.

The witches are reciting Shakespeare and making soup with letters.

note the noses

These pictures mark the first time Blechman worked with Ed Smith.  From this point on the quality of Blechman's films will change considerably.

Nice art production too.  Sarah Calogero, probably.

Hey Baby, It's The Third Of July

There's gonna be fireworks.



By the charming and talented PES.

Art Is...

Leave it to a proprietary college like SVA to ask the big questions in their advertisements.

For much of the early 21st Century New York City subways were covered with their "Art Is..." campaign, a series of posters executed by their luminous faculty.

Paul Davis

I don't understand the mysticism imparted on the word "art".

Maybe I do. It's assumed that if something is "art" is not as "good" as something else that is "art" -that it's a qualitative judgment, not a quantitative definition.

Milton Glaser

Mystifying art gives critics something to talk about and colleges an excuse for failure.

Working in advertising, the most self-awarding of all industries, you often hear people relate commercials to art. Commercials are never art. They are (often) well conceived, beautifully executed, imaginative -all those things we ascribe to museum pieces. So what distinguishes them?

We can start with the mystic. Art illuminates the human condition/universe channeled through the voice of the creator. Even if its anonymous or collective (like film, symphony, etc.) art has a distinct voice.

Now lets move to the physical. Art is created with no practical purpose in mind.

A commercial is trying to sell you something. Propaganda is trying to convince you of an agenda.

James Victore

To me it's a simple definition, and an easy distinction.

Masks, ceremonial drums, tuxedo jackets -these may be beautiful and profound but they are altogether something different from art. We experience them differently, they have a different purpose. Great, possibly. Art, no.

Screaming Video

Probably shouldn't be posting this, but here goes.

Before starting up our next series with Steve Brodner for a major cable network we flew some ideas by CBS. They were lukewarm but asked us to make some stuff.

We've been trying to figure out a good approach, this is our second attempt.



I like the little animation bits, Christina did a good job -but the overall overall is lacking.