Bubbles the Artist

December 30, 2004 7:22 AM

Bubbles the Artist! If you've been looking for a Pee Wee Herman dinner plate, a greeting card featuring Paul Lynde, or a painting of John Belushi drinking himself to death, then look no further. (If you love crappy disco midi files, you'll want to keep your speakers turned up.)
posted by ba (11 comments total)

These are actually sort of cool. The Shaft plate is priceless.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:09 AM on December 30, 2004

I think embedding midis into websites should be a felony. And, oh god, she's even got sound when you hover over the buttons.

But check out her bio. It's written by songwriter Allee Willis and contains some choice thoughts: "The fact that most of her renderings have increased in value over 500% since their sale speaks to the importance of the clay squirrels."
posted by diftb at 8:13 AM on December 30, 2004

No wonder these pieces are of such a quality...

I think Bubbles IS Allee Willis....
posted by tpl1212 at 8:19 AM on December 30, 2004

What I find the most entertaining are the "matching accessories", which you can find by mousing over the grey paint splat to the right of some of the paintings. This is the accessory that matches the Belushi painting. This website is a kick.
posted by iconomy at 8:22 AM on December 30, 2004

Bubbles is great--i haven't heard of her in ages! thanks!
posted by amberglow at 8:24 AM on December 30, 2004

Sadly, midi isn't enabled in my browser, but I'm sure the music is subtle and dynamic.

Actually, some of this is interesting, and the marketing is ingenious. The midi annoyance might be intentional, and, well, that might just be alright.

Isn't this what people said about Norman Rockwell?

Be it a child, Shriner or slice of liverwurst, Bubbles' work ‘breathes’, heaving in and out, multi-dimensional in a way that sucks the viewer into the vortex of her world to a time when things were simpler, clothes were louder and Life was damn good.
posted by krinklyfig at 8:27 AM on December 30, 2004

This is my favorite - click the 'matching accessory' and 'this painting animated' links on the right. It's a little painting in which boob nips are visible, and so may be NSFW for some.

Bubbles is definitely not taking herself too seriously, which adds to the charm of her work.
posted by iconomy at 8:31 AM on December 30, 2004

After reading more about her, I've come to really dig this woman. However, I must say this was dismaying, from the link tpl1212 posted earlier:

Bubbles the Artist is the alter ego of world-renowned songwriter Allee Willis. Allee has either written or co- written numerous hit songs over her career resulting in sales of over 50,000,000 albums, CD's, etc.. A sample of songs you may recognize include:

... The Theme from Friends - performed by the Rembrandts

If I could ever make one song disappear from the collective memory of the universe, it would be the theme song from Friends. Oh, Bubbles. Well, that is hard to reconcile, but she just seems so damn happy that I can't really be mad at her for it. Nevertheless, please, Bubbles, no more of that.
posted by krinklyfig at 8:33 AM on December 30, 2004

I do believe this one is my favorite.

Her work does remind me of Gary Panter's Pee Wee's Playhouse stuff. Reading the bio got me a little misty-eyed, though... oh, how I miss the Del Rubio Triplets... sigh.
posted by miss lynnster at 8:46 AM on December 30, 2004

A modern master , the garden of eden never looked so good. And whoah... look how bubbles cleverly hides the serpent right between Adams legs. (NSFW)
posted by j.p. Hung at 9:17 AM on December 30, 2004

Jennifer Aniston digs me.
posted by bardic at 9:30 AM on December 30, 2004