"
Jan Švankmajer is a major figure of contemporary East European animation whose surrealistic, often macabre work owes more to the nightmarish visions of Kafka and Buñuel than to the sunny daydreams of Walt Disney and his creative progeny. Noted for investing otherwise ordinary objects with ominous overtones, Švankmajer reached his widest audience to date with a feature-length adaptation of Lewis Carroll's "Alice" (1988) which blended animated and live-action footage--a technique he had earlier used to hair-raising effect in "Down to the Cellar" (1983)." --
TMC. Often credited with influencing the Brothers Quay, they hadn't actually seen his work until relatively late in their careers,
as they mentioned in an introduction to their documentary on Švankmajer (YT playlist). More of Švankmajer inside.
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posted by filthy light thief
on Sep 23, 2012 -
21 comments
“The beast sets me
riddles every evening, and when I fail to guess them, it kicks and bites me. It is like a small leopard and in other circumstances I should say it looked quite charming. So far I haven't solved a single one of these riddles…”—
Michal Ajvaz.
[more inside]
posted by misteraitch
on Aug 10, 2012 -
19 comments
Whatnot [slyt], a short and strange animated film about dreaming and flying.
posted by mippy
on Jul 13, 2009 -
6 comments
Surreal photographic Foodscapes by photographer Carl Warner. Strawberry hot air balloons, towers of cheese, potato boulders, green pea boats on seas of salmon, spice roads, and sugar beaches populate these intricate and luscious scenes. More dishy foodscapes
(the plate rainbow = ♥!) and other wonderful visual tricks at his
Flash site in the "Fotographics" section (look for the fabulous forest of boots and the white cotton winter wonderland!).
[more inside]
posted by taz
on Feb 2, 2008 -
28 comments
Mark Ryden is to the iconic
saucer-eyed urchins of the '60s as Salvador Dali is to Hickory Dickory Dock. His delicate palette, fine details and classical references offer compelling counterpoint to the deliciously disturbing imagery of
les tykes terrible in collections such as "Blood: Miniature Paintings of Sorrow & Fear"; "Bunnies and Bees: Paintings Created to Illustrate DIVINE TRUTH in Accordance with the Secret Principles of SCIENCE AND SOUL"; and "The Meat Show: Paintings about Childen, God, and USDA Grade A Beef". Plus, they're kids - with
big eyes!
posted by taz
on Sep 8, 2003 -
25 comments
