Steve Cook has now posted fourth and fifth installments of his trip to see the Jack Kirby retrospective currently showing in LA – but it’s ending in March so be quick! Check his Secret Oranges substack for much more in high resolution.
Robots
The new Rave Wars 7″ suddenly appeared today, I wasn’t prepared for it, nor for my track to be revealed but then nothing is normal about this release.
3 different covers (maybe 4?)
3 different tracks, pot luck as to which 2 you get
8 different labels
Multiple different vinyl colourways
1 of 80 different random original SW figures
Vinyl package of the year?
This must have been in the works for over 2 years now, glad to be a part of it and have it out in the world. To top it all I found a nice little Lego Stormtrooper mech in the charity, must have been a sign. Order a copy from HERE
It’s been very quiet on here because I’ve been doing so much I’ve not had the time but I’ll spare you the carboot sale trips, Tate Modern gig with Doug Shipton and Mixmaster Morris and venue location scouting. Press for the Telepathic Fish release has started and I spent a few days hand-making some promo CDs with tracing paper covers for a lucky few. The Openmind exhibition in Folkestone came and went and will be arriving somewhere new soon hopefully.
I lent Warp some bits and pieces for their show at the Barbican this past weekend too and I’ve been co-ordinating getting the first wave of Acid Endless lathe cuts out to people in the UK.
The pre-order for the second run of those ends at the end of the month and they will be cut to order so contact me if you want one and you’re in the UK.
Last week saw a visit to the Royal Albert Hall to see Holly Johnson (ex-Frankie Goes To Hollywood) in concert, expect a huge announcement connected with that soon…
Also last week was the soft launch of a new book from long time friend Remi Rough and Velocity Press – Future Language of the Ikonoklast – an amazing collection of work from the graffiti crew of the same name that operated from the late 80s in the UK and rewrote the rulebook on what could be classed as writing. Seen here with Remi’s latest album, you can pre-order the book and there should be a proper London launch around September with one in Birmingham at the end of the month with special guest Henry Chalfont!.
Speaking of Birmingham and Henry, one of the reasons he’s there is because there’s an exhibition of his photographs from Subway Art and beyond on RIGHT NOW and it ends at the end of June! Get up there, and while you’re there the High-Vis graffiti/comic festival is on this weekend 21st June in Kingsheath too – all roads lead to Brum.
I’ve been following custom robot kit builder and designer Kallamity for some years now and he has recently taken on the enormous task of building and painting the legendary Five Star Stories Jagd Mirage Twin Towers figure. This is a design like no other, impossibly complex and gravitationally impractical, the top-heavy bot features a huge rocket pack with two towers (hence the name) protruding from the top that double its height.
Unbelieveably there were several different scales of this kit made and I was lucky enough to see one fully built and painted in a toy shop in Osaka once as well as pick up several books featuring the kit whilst on tour in Japan around 2000. The one Kallamity is building is the huge 1/100 scale version with over 500 pieces, all which have to be glued rather than snapped together like regular kits. As someone said in the comments: Difficulty Level: Insanity. Kallamity is a master builder who creates custom robots from scratch though and his method is to assemble the kit whilst adapting and strengthening the pieces as he goes, fleshing out parts that don’t fit with filler and sanding down rough edges.
Additional details are added to areas that don’t feature them on the kit so that it most closely resembles the original drawings and designs from the books. He then disassembles the kit and painstakingly paints each piece, masking out layer upon layer of detail, lastly adding deep line work in the gutters around the hundreds of parts. Watching just one huge piece being shorn of its masking layers takes minutes despite being sped up and edited. The levels of detail are mind-boggling, each piece is an abstract sculpture in its own right. Here are the three parts so far, the unboxing and showing of parts, the initial build and the painting of the rocket pack. Part four should be the main figure and I think he finished the kit three days ago, I’ll add it here once it goes up.
UPDATE: Part 4 – just one more to go, this is a stunning piece of work!
Another AI-generated video using what looks like drone shots added into AI software for Hudson Mohawke‘s new song. The fascinating thing about this is that it’s still in its infant stages, in just a few years it’ll be better, faster, more detailed and adaptable. At the moment I’d wager this is at the same stage as, say, the cover of Warp‘s first Artificial Intelligence compilation in terms of computer graphics. I’d also wager that people will want to keep elements of the weird, almost horror elements that the AI produces in decades to come in the same way that we add grain, crackle and texture to digital recordings now. AI image making is creating a new visual language all of its own but I hope it doesn’t grow up and perfect things too soon, I like the alien-ness of it all.
“A few weeks ago having digested the implications of image creation AI, I decided I could either retire or respond. Here’s my response; a 96-page book of graphic shorts stories created in 12 days. Available at the end of July.” ~ Dave McKean
I’ve been very interested in, and using, AI-generated images since the turn of the year although I’ve not made a big deal out of it or posted much of the work in the way you’ll be seeing it on social media. It’s a fascinating and extremely powerful way of image creating which throws up all sorts of questions of ownership, copyright infringement and such. It’s a huge deal that will see an obvious visual shift across various mediums and another tool in the box of many creatives.
Rian Hughes and I have been trading thoughts and images on this back and forth and he highlighted another comic that purports to be the first of its kind with imagery generated entirely by AI algorithm by Carson Grubaugh. A four issue book due for release in October this year, ‘Abolition of Man’ was generated by lines taken from the C.S.Lewis book of the same name. It looks like it’s set to be beaten to the punch by McKean and, ironically, many of the images inside bear a strong resemblance to his regular non-AI-generated work.
Another graphic giant leaves us – fittingly just as the date of the original Blade Runner film has passed into history. Syd Mead was just on another level in terms of vision,
technique,
execution,
colour choice,
lighting and perspective.
I love how figures play a part in his work but they frequently face away from the viewer, have their heads cut off or are in the distance, the tech is the most important part.
He also did the best reflections in chrome
…and the most incredible detail in backgrounds with splashes of abstract paint that bought the stillness of his images to life.
All of his tech was believable and his interest and work in the car industry showed in many instances that his concepts could be buildable too. He was visually ripped off many times – snow walkers for AT-ATs,
a red racing bike for Akira,
a party goer’s helmet for Daft Punk… but fans know the sources.
His Gundam robot designs were unique,
his Spinner car design for Blade Runner is an all time classic
and he did the best Xmas cards. What a legacy he leaves…
I finally got time to pop into Orbital Comics and see their small but packed exhibition of 2000AD offshoots, tie-ins, cash-ins, memorabilia, music, magazines, toys and so much more. Not having an opening party because it would clash with the comic’s own 40th celebration a couple of weekends ago they’ve decided to have a closing party on Friday March 10th where there will be a podcast recording and music by yours truly among others.
I also just guested on the Big Mouth podcast pre-record, talking about the comic’s legacy which will be available online this coming Sunday. More details as I have it.
The James Lavelle-curated Daydreaming with UNKLE show opened last night at the Lazarides Gallery in London. Full of original Futura 2000 and 3D canvases, prints, toys and record sleeves, video rooms and virtual reality headsets. The last was heavily oversubscribed so I didn’t get a look but Doug Foster’s arched videos accompanying new UNKLE material were beautiful, enhanced by a mirrored floor which gave the work another dimension. Favourite exhibit was the robotic Pointman figure from the 2010 video to ‘Runaway’. The show is on until February 23rd, worth it just to see the many iconic Futura pieces that have graced so many MoWax sleeves.
The Star Wars Identities exhibition opened last month in London at the O2 in Greenwich. Over 200 props, models, costumes, paintings and designs are collected around a 10 step trail based on building your own personal characters within the Star Wars universe. There have been a few additions and subtractions since I first saw it in Montreal four years ago but it’s essentially the same. Just check some of the pictures below and you’ll get the idea, absolutely essential for any Star Wars fan and very child-friendly. So nice to go into an exhibition that doesn’t discourage photography too. It’s on until September 2017 and you can buy tickets HERE.
Wishing I had the funds to get one of these bots, a 24″ TK Hunter by Ashley Wood, several years in production now but at $600’s it’s way out of reach. On sale on May 30th from 3A’s Bambaland store.
Hands up who remembers ROM: The Space Knight? The character has been tied up with rights-holders Hasbro for years to my knowledge but it looks like that’s been sorted now. He’s coming back via IDW for Free Comic Book Day this year:
“Rom the Space Knight #0 will feature an introductory 10-page story of Rom’s arrival on Earth, an incident that sets up an ongoing Rom series launching in July 2016.” Great cover by Zach Howard and Nelson Daniel
Readers might remember me featuring the first Metal Made Flesh kickstarter a couple of years back. Now the team is back for book 2, expanded with a second artist and bigger goals, two of which they’ve smashed, and they’re approaching the third with 12 days left. Taking liberally from all manner of sci-fi from the last three decades and managing to find new angles on it the book tells three different tales of a trio of characters and their place in the future cityscape of Tuaoni. You can get both books, T-shirts, original artwork or even appear as a character in the book in the new Kickstarter.
Currently starring in his first solo show at the Ben Oakley Gallery in Greenwich is Snub23, a Brighton artist I’ve featured a few times on here and who I’ve collaborated with before on the last Herbaliser album.
One of the most dedicated stencil artists I’ve ever come across, he’s always moving his style forward and several are on display in the show. His signature 23 piece and Mongrol character preside over the back wall with new 3D heads appearing for the first time of the robot.
His Isometric Op-Art designs multiply across distressed metal drawers and more characters grace found signage, a skate deck and circuit boards. Subtler line drawings of female faces in a number of expressions adorn one wall and delicately stenciled feathers are free to viewers.
He also has these T-shirts for sale plus prints of the same at the gallery, the show ends on May 3rd so be quick, the gallery in a little side passage off the main market square in Greenwich.
I think this is just a short rather than a trailer for a movie but it’s pretty impressive nonetheless. I don’t read Japanese so can’t really find out more but there’s a site with making-of designs and more info here. UPDATE: The video got taken down so click the link to watch^^^^^^
Found on a tumblr site via another tumblr site which, predictably, didn’t have any info on where it came from or who drew it because of the re-titling that goes on when you post on these sites. I despair at an information age in which the information is stripped from half the content. Google image search reveals it’s by a guy called Stormjang and comes from Deviant Art.
An expert in paper craft from Japan called (I think) uhu02 has made these incredibly detailed ships, droids and weapons from classic sci-fi and fantasy films. His/her uhu02 Paper Craft site “It is a production diary of precision Paper Craft (model) with a focus on items that appeared in the movie” has detailed photos and even downloadable plans to make them. Don’t think this is an easy few hours cutting, folding and gluing though, it’ll take you that long to get through his site.
There’s is so much to see, the detail on the Lunar Lander is just insane and what’s most impressive is the scale, most of the ships you can easily hold in one hand.
Original link from Sploid via the excellent Ian McQue
From an old 1983 issue of Heavy Metal magazine
These paintings are by Jakub Rozalski, a Polish artist living in Germany. They’re from his 1920+ Project which introduces future tech into historic scenes from over a century ago.
Absolutely love these images by Simon Stalenhag – his use of light and everyday rural locations with futuristic contraptions and machines remind me of a simpler, less hi-tech Syd Mead. His vision of the future is one that I think could be a reality within the next 50 years (maybe minus the dinosaurs that occasionally pop up in some of the paintings). His site has lots more plus close up details and you can now buy a book of them too if you follow the easy to read pdf to navigate the online shop.
