Protein For A Football Player Have

Talking Trash: Paper Rad, Dearraindrop, Cory Arcangel & co. Inside

Questo articolo è comparso su Blow Up 98/99, luglio/agosto 2006.

The saga of the rocker dog Barkley continues, this time our hero if you will play plots, travel astral, subtle plots, as well as with known side effects of success. Because his band of animals, Barnyard Critters, has come to glory. Freak Out! , their smash-hit, it's almost a generational anthem. Success, money, fame, lead, however, the first tension, and Barkley, the charismatic leader, intractable, drunk, cursed, abandoned. Send to fuck everything and everyone, and embarks on a frantic journey alcohol aboard a pirate galleon in search of himself. In his absence, the Snakeworthy Price , malvagissima treacherous run by major traffickers of the disc, did not give up: on the contrary, replaces Barkley's Barnyard Critters, and re-launches on the road of cash from dizzy. When Barkley returns from his trip in the "sea of \u200b\u200bconfusion," is war: a battle of the bands last days, will mark his comeback.

the plot is as announced, of Mystery T ail , medium-length film by multiple techniques - drawings, 3D animations, actors in the flesh - that aims to bring to a conclusion the trilogy of pet Barkley's Barnyard Critters rockers. Hallucinatory epic that clearly mocks the topoi of rock mythology (early underground, the arrival of fame money, resulting in disintegration of the relationship), through a series of characters part animal part human, which in animations resemble a Hanna-Barbera by third grade, and recited parts immediately recall the disturbing world of Banana Splits (who if you remember them?). Maker of all is Brian Gibson, better known as the bassist of Lightning Bolt and, more recently, drummer Wizzardzz. Regarding the other Lighnting Bolt, Brian Chippendale, already in his time in these parts Olindo Fortino (BU # 91) traces the profile, as well as musician, cartoonist sui generis: "The style and technique are somewhat eclectic and Chippendale against (...). Corridoi per sfoghi caricaturali dai tratti insieme ironici e gotici, mostriciattoli e umanoidi legati al genere magic-horror e sci-fi di bassa lega”. I due Brian, insomma, non sono tipi da limitarsi al modesto ruolo di noisers . Un caso? Per niente. Verrebbe anzi da chiedersi come qualificarli. Perché nel caso di Chippendale come in quello di Gibson, non stiamo parlando di personaggi che intendono comics o cartoni animati in chiave diremmo hobbistica, come appendice a latere dei propri impegni musicali. Non dobbiamo commettere l’errore di considerare questi articoli – i mostriciattoli di Chippendale come i cani rocker di Gibson – minoritari, di nicchia, curiosità per maniaci. Al contrario: partire dalle opere di due individui che più volte su queste pagine hanno goduto di simpatia e attenzione per i loro dischi , ci aiuta a penetrare un mondo che nel dato musicale trova solo un ingrediente tra i tanti. Sono in effetti i segni di Chippendale, Gibson e degli altri di cui si dirà a breve, più che i suoni, quelli che stanno realmente plasmando non una scena, ma un’intera estetica – il che è assai più rilevante. Il viaggio che ci attende prevede traiettorie tortuose, spesso inattese: dai palchi dell’ultimo dei club alle gallerie d’arte, dalle riviste di fumetti underground alle biennali più prestigiose, dai siti internet amatoriali ai musei delle grandi firme. E se è vero that the reputation of Chippendale in the circuits of comics has been determined, the most interesting is the effort of Gibson with his animation projects. One language, one of the cartoon and video art, that much is at heart of new generations of Americans, and that found in Barkley's Barnyard Critters is a typical example: both in the medium used, as aesthetics - indeed - to which it refers .

"21st Century Cabaret Voltaire?"

is what you asked de Michelle Grabner X-Tra, California-based art magazine. The reference is to the recent U.S. artists levers, resulting in reference to criticism that it entered into discussions on new trends in this direction. The key features of some American art "after September 11" would basically three: 1) Passing to the left Address "New Pop" good part of the vanguard that fueled U.S. popular since the '90s (think of people who Mark Ryden, Joe Coleman, magazines such as Juxtapoz, cartoonists like Dan Clowes, etc.), addresses replaced by a feeling decidedly low-tech, brutal, infantile and faux naif. 2) The propensity of a size "collective", ie the formation of larger groups of authorial control to the singularity. 3) The strong relationship with these collective themes of multimedia, a relationship which is expressed in works in the round, from music to comics, from web to video, installations and graphics.

The context in which we move, it is thus the third point to pay attention, in particular as regards the relationship between visual arts / graphic / comic and music. But one must start from their first two. Why not tratta semplicemente di musicisti che sono anche illustratori, oppure di collettivi d’arte che, incidentalmente, si danno per gioco ai concerti. È al contrario un universo compiuto, da prendere per intero, all’interno del quale i diversi mezzi espressivi concorrono a un fine unico: la rappresentazione di una poetica tra le più dense (e farneticanti) degli anni 2000, degno ritratto dello stato dell’Unione nel dopo 11.9. A tal riguardo, senza addentrarci in esegesi troppo avventurose, una serie di esempi possono correrci in aiuto.

Il libro-rivista Kramer’s Ergot (sei volumi ad ora) è la “casa” della nuova avant-garde comics / illustration USA. There are authors (not necessarily of American origin) by different approaches: a significant part lies in that in his time was in the Fantagraphics publisher of reference, first of all Chris Ware, perhaps the best known and loved contemporary cartooner thanks to that masterpiece which is Jimmy Corrigan. But most of the pages are occupied by people such as signs exploded Neil Burke, Matt Brinkman, Ron Rege Jr, Leif Goldberg, Christopher Forbes, Paper Rad. Of the latter it is said later, as regards the others, are all cartoonists / illustrators who have a recognized status among the architects of the new sign USA. The respective curricula, however, we have made them meet on several occasions, under other garments. In order: Burke has been the soul, along with Sam McPheeters, of the Men's Recovery Project, Brinkman is none other than half of Mindflayer and author of his own records, he played in the unrecognized Rege Mystical Unionists, Goldberg found it between the now dissolved Forcefield, Forbes talked recently about his work signed Kites. Chippendale then he said, but it is useful to recall how he, together with Brinkman, the real author of the cult of the scene - and never was more appropriate term. All names have just cited come from experience key fact: the Fort Thunder Providence (again, see BU # 91). It means exactly Providence Providence Sound Load Records and so it is not a coincidence that it has taken recently to experiment with video production, through the dvd of Brian Gibson / Barkley 's Barnyard Critters, and Paper Rad (see below).

We do not care to investigate further the scope of these names, because if they have that too in due course. But you should at least point out one thing: it would be shortsighted to consider this world only for its musical merits. It would be a short, incomplete treatment, which also would explain the little impact caused by Fort Thunder USA and its branches in the imagination: a secondary impact at all, and that just because the approach is justified total of Providence and its protagonists. Which I have come to resurrect the idea of \u200b\u200bavant-garde creative romantic, able to unfold in all the fields available, though - of course - this is cutting-edge pop, free from any kind of idealism or utopianism, which often overflows nell'infantilismo, that retains some ability to do it yourself dell'amatorialità limits. But how then to explain the presence of such persons in the art catalogs, galleries, biennials?

Una ragione, abbiamo detto, è stata individuata dalla critica nel ritorno alla dimensione collettiva e nella creazione di veri e propri ensemble artistici capaci di installazioni esperenziali a 360 gradi. Il gruppo Forcefield , che di Fort Thunder fu l’esperienza più compiuta, ha in questo senso fatto da apripista. Con gran sorpresa, nel 2002 i Forcefield furono invitati a partecipare alla Whitney Biennal di New York, vale a dire a uno dei massimi cerimoniali dell’Arte “ufficiale”. A tal proposito il nostrano Sole 24 Ore, a firma Mauro Calamandrei, parlò di “Americani oltre l’apocalisse”, descrivendo l’installazione di Forcefield come segue: “Non sai if the show (...) with sounds and noises, rags and costumes, mirrors, dolls, mannequins and other objects found in the manure pit was invented to make people laugh or to give the shivers. "From the canonization of the Whitney catalogs the step is too short, but otherwise makes a finding of effect the new Forcefield, which released an album on Load one of the most indigestible of the catalog at the Biennial in Lyon in 2003 to alongside celebrated artists such as Vito Acconci or Italian Maurizio Cattelan. If it is true that the group is now dissolved (which has occurred the notorious Rise and Fall of which Gibson speaks in his Mystery Tail ?), To continue the legacy ci pensa un altro collettivo, Dearraindrop , ad oggi tra le promesse più in vista del sottobosco artistico USA. Lisergico, ributtante, demenziale, il lavoro del gruppo è di fatto un’appendice dell’attitudine Fort Thunder, manifestandosi in installazioni ad ampio respiro (di passaggio anche in Italia, presso la galleria Perugi di Padova) che non perdono il loro carattere ironico e brutalista.

I quattro Dearraindrop, oltre a essere compagni di tour degli stessi Barkley’s Barnyard Critters “versione umana” (come documenta il succitato dvd), sono stati recentemente coinvolti in a project by Christian Cummings, which aims to document precisely the relationship between reality operating together in the fields of music and visual arts, a further element of a multimedia dimension to reconnect to the demands of the circuit gallerist "serious" is misleading to a point. Not surprisingly, both the province, more than the large American cities, to dictate the trend: the example of Providence is a precedent that makes the text, rather than the artists themselves, in desperate search for a critique of anti-heroes to oppose the seriousness of European galleries. Meanwhile, the seeds sprout, and Milwaukee takes the collective foot Milhaus , whose name is a "combination between Milwaukee and Bauhaus, the school that tried to integrate the different art forms of man. " Quote important, but, again, translates into projects taste grotesque, absurd, anti-intellectualism of infected pop. The project is perhaps best known Milhaus the creation of a television, TV Zero, clearly homemade, the result of this aesthetic of recycling which is the basis of the poetics of the group. This is also the main difference with other groups (Royal Art Lodge, Temporary Services, etc.) dall'imprinting more aware and often politicized, all thrown into a cauldron on the theme of "decline Solo Artist", even by referring to earlier, more or less adequate (first of all Hairy Who and Destroy All Monsters, the latter perhaps the closest to what you are trying to define now). Neither, however, the political intentions of other colleagues, nor the recourse to tradition affects Milhaus: "They are figs, we the losers", that's what. Or, with Dearraindrop: "We hate contemporary art, especially the crap of conceptual art, art that comments on the essays, most New York art and art schools all".

Playing rush against New York and its cultural intelligentsia is too simple affair, especially if your from New York comes the investiture of cry, galleries and museums in Manhattan and Brooklyn there to support the phenomenon of "art collectives", a definition coined just happened on the spot. But New York is the city of Cory Arcangel and his collective Beige ideal landing point (or departure, given the reputation of the project) that combines most of the addresses examined so far. Founded originally as a small record label, Brown is concerned, the order of: music, video creations, installations, computer programming, organizing events, books etc.. Arcangel, for its part, the following gloss: "I am the classic multi-tasker." Niente retorica d’avanguardia, ancora una volta: solo la semplice constatazione di appartenere a una generazione che è cresciuta giocando al computer mentre ascoltava musica col televisore acceso in cameretta. Il primo progetto di un certo respiro a firma Beige, è l’8 Bit Construction Set, un nome cardine della micromusic tutta (vedi BU #92). Dal punto di vista musicale, il lavoro di Beige si inserisce a pieno nella corrente low-tech music for hi-tech people : sonorità videogame style , canzoncine 8bit, scampoli di elettronica povera ecc. Anche le uscite discografiche rispettano i dettami della scena, che le vuole perlopiù su vinile e in edizione limitata, con packaging appositi e così via. Natural that this aesthetic is reflected well in the video creations of their own group or Arcangel, all guided by the low-fi digital. However, we are in a territory other than the European Pixel Art: Once again, as in the case of groups like Forcefield, and Dearraindrop Milhaus, is a vision out of it literally devastated, broken, raw. His detournement on old video game cartridges have projected the work of Arcangel directly through the halls of MOMA and the Guggenheim Museum, making it one of the leading artists in the context of net art. But above all led to our collaboration with what is perhaps the real name of this symbol indented archipelago Paper Rad.

Figli di hippies cresciuti a Tv

Il ruolo di Paper Rad è decisivo: il trio del Massachusetts, formato dai fratelli Jacob e Jessica Ciocci e da Benjamin Jones, riassume in sé tutti i tratti sia fenomenici che semantici della cosa: il prodursi in una creatività totale che va dalla web art alla musica, dai cartoni animati al fumetto; l’utilizzo attraverso una tecnologia a basso costo di segni sporchi, sgraziati ma glaciali, di chiara ascendenza pop; il rifiuto della tradizione (anche d’avanguardia) e di ogni pretesta intellettuale e artistica; e naturalmente, per concludere, l’ingresso compiaciuto nei circuiti dell’arte ufficiale, delle gallerie, delle biennali e dei musei.

Il sito di Paper Rad ( www.paperrad.org ) è stato per molto tempo, più che la vetrina, il manifesto programmatico del gruppo: pixel sgargianti in movimento caotico, atroci giustapposizioni di colori, bombardamenti saturi di icone pop e simboli della pac e in movimento ebete su fondali psichedelico-avariati, tratti e segni che definire amatoriali è un eufemismo. The effect is intolerable headache, nausea, hysterical attacks of various kinds and degrees. Paperrad.org quickly becomes a case, we are in the early 2000s, critics began to analyze the Internet under the lens of art work, web designers become masters of the scene, flash animation and virtual virtuosity reshape the laws of all graphic design. In this context, the reproach of three of Massachusetts is an exception to the limits of shame. Who has the courage to penetrate deeper between the contents of the site, then he runs into a plethora of projects that it is hard to categorize: musicians with lots of video clips, illustrated songs, comic books that unite to SuperMario Depero; video collage; cartoons for children suffering from mental illness. It is a torment of hallucinatory Z series, a monument to broken machine, Dada is in-game version of Burin. History of Paper Rad, and by extension, the history of the other names met before, all in some way connected (to attend and collaborations) to the firm Jones & Ciocci. The history of the team is actually pretty complex, and Jessica Ciocci try to summarize it as follows: "Paper Rad was born around 2000 in Boston. Benjamin was producing along with Christopher Forbes / Kites a series of materials called 'Radio Paper', which then became Providence 'Paper Rodeo', a free publication with some number at the time. Only after it is born Paper Rad, which is a kind of continuation of those experiences, some bogus projects were transformed into reality, first self-produced magazines, then on the internet, video, and finally, junk art, and so on. Currently, two of us living in Massachusetts, and the third in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "

If you need to describe the sense of Paper Rad, Jessica Ciocci speaks of" children of hippies raised in Tv "But other than that," I do not know if we are really interested in defining a universe unto itself, a world with all the ingredients altered. Simply non ci siamo mai posti il problema di mettere dei freni a quello che volevamo fare. All’inizio volevamo semplicemente creare un sito internet malato, osceno, e ne è venuta fuori una cosa piuttosto potente. La tecnologia ci ha aiutato a diffondere i nostri video, che all’inizio erano piuttosto amatoriali, e oltre a questo seguivamo molto quello che accadeva nei circuiti musicali, di cui abbiamo sempre fatto parte, sia come consumatori che come attori in prima persona.”

La musica di Paper Rad porta diverse firme. Ecco una lista compilata da Jessica, con tanto di definizioni tra parentesi: “I nostri gruppi sono: Dr. Doo ( robot and drum-man ), Doo Man Group (supergroup following Dr. Doo), Natural Reflex ( air rush ) ROTFLOL ( -spirit and spirit), DJ Jazzy Jezzxxx ( dungeon dance party), Runnin Free ( future poetry comedy noise), Fortress of Amplitude ( only medium-nu-jamz ). "But it is the duo on behalf Extreme Animals, composed by Jacob Ciocci and David Wightman on keyboards to drums, to stand out in the presence and continuity . The three albums to date products claim to music that is the exact amount of paperrad.org: techno-no wave deformed, something like a childish version of Men's Recovery Project, with a large deployment of howling synths, electronic waste, rubbish dumps analog, cries and moans on leave, all but openly supported by a markedly pop, silly, playful, a result that has the morbid. Again, it is to smile to think the two perform at the Knitting Factory rather than at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Arts. The feeling is almost that of a jack ass, used by two provincial nerd who makes fun of the cultural USA: " Interesting, interesting, very arty ... "

Of the various Paper Rad has enjoyed collaborations with various Milhaus, Dearraindrop, Brian Gibson, etc., that Cory Arcangel is by far the most fruitful. Together, in the wake of the work of Beige, have ventured into a "Super Mario Movie" lasting a quarter of an hour, produced from a modified cartridge eponymous videogame: "The idea was to hack the original cartridges (Cory is a good hacker) to turn around in our version of the game, with our music, our fantasies, etc., and then send everything to our friends as a surprise, a gift. But it ended up in the galleries. "A true epic in an imaginary landscape borne by memories of the machine, in the words of that Arcangel, Super Mario Movie is like Mad Max, ma in 8 bit”. Ulteriore provocazione, la cartuccia utilizzata per produrre il video, viene infine colorata e dipinta da Paper Rad, che la espone come opera d’arte “a sé”.

È chiaro come, nel suo complesso, il lavoro del gruppo del Massachusetts sia di impossibile catalogazione: parlarne in termini di musica, di video o di net art equivarrebbe a non comprendere l’essenza totale del trio, arrivato ora a un primo riassunto globale; è la solita Load Records che produce “Trash Talking”, dvd che idealmente, per evidenti affinità, ci riporta al Barkley’s Barnyard Critters da cui eravamo parties. A summary of six years for delayed and lost in the fantasy of unexpected critical acclaim. Jessica says: "Trash Talking is a project we are working on for years, would technically be our third mixtape of assorted materials, but the previous two had gone out in private, so this will be the first with an actual distribution. The DVD includes an episode guide series called Alfe, many videos for Wizzardzz Brian Gibson, music clan Paper Rad, animated cameo of various friends and guests. It is a linear program, full sixty minutes, and includes original animations, collages, comics, video creations haunted. It is a paradox embedded in a case of media entertainment vettoriale. Non viene né dal passato né dal futuro: viene da questa settimana.”

Post Apocalypse America

I Barkley’s Barnyard Critters, i fumetti di Chippendale e Brinkman, i Super Mario Movie, Paper Rad, non sono uno scherzo. Certo, siamo lontanissimi dalle concettose installazioni europee come dai sofisticati progetti mixed-media che infestano i circuiti dell’arte contemporanea. L’estetica di cui parliamo è strongly anti-art, awkward, crazy, psychedelic in the worst sense of the term: that of a trip gone bad that does not produce mystical visions, but only meaningless scrawls. The idea of \u200b\u200bmultimedia that is the basis of these groups, takes advantage of new technologies at low cost without worrying about results "acceptable", preferring instead a low-tech to the limits of embarrassment, giving birth to litter of signs and sounds that tell a specific philosophy, on the verge of militancy: the rejection a priori dell'inafferrabile, quiet, complex world of hypermedia, and the revenge dell'ingombrante, noisy, uncontrollable waste. We are more parties to a new "art brut" in Atari version, which sounds close to the rooms of a Steve Roden. It is not surprising, however, that this universe take root with much fanfare in the circuits 'high' art American. This is not a mere "recovery" of those who seek the cultural industry cycles against the undergrowth that is underground or out of alignment. It is truly "America beyond the apocalypse," the sense of the disaster, the disaster post 11.9. The resurgence of the province from them, become the zeitgeist of an entire nation. Enjoy.