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Enlarged detail of animated GIF by Hideki Nakazawa, creator of Digital Nendo.
If you're visiting New York be sure to check out Paper Rad's show at Foxy Production, through May 29. This three-person collective makes video, paintings, drawing, clothing, and artist books with a kind of transcendental, cyberhippie-meets-kid's-show vibe. There are other artists working along similar lines, notably dearraindrop, but 'Rad seems closer to the old Russian constructivist spirit of integrating media and styles into a "unified work": a continuum running from Shockwave sunburst effects to van-style airbrush to simple watercolors to sewn fabric. Think Yellow Submarine, Rubik's cube, mid-90s homepage design, Gary Panter, and for a really obscure reference, the early 70s psychedelic illustration of Bob Brockway and Brad Johannsen. Installationwise, instead of jamming everything into a room (as dearraindrop did), the Foxy show is measured, geometric, and has breathing spaces; the six monitor video stack, featuring contributions by each member in a kinetic, ever-changing repertoire, is exceptional. An earlier video worth seeing is gumby: life is a mister-e: Gumby is too depressed to go on his birthday trip to outer space, so God's arm comes down from a cloud and gently massages away his troubles (and his head). Childlike and disturbing.
Paper Rad: Detail from Weekly Comic.
A couple of cell phone camera pics from the opening by bloggy