Nick Cross' Waif of Persephone

Nick Cross is a very talented animator who you may know from his work on Ren & Stimpy. He has just released his latest film, "The Waif of Persephone" on DVD . I just got my copy last night, and I watched it twice in a row (which is not something I do often) and I will be watching it again soon. I really love it. I reccommend this film to any fan of animation, but not so much to the casual viewer of cartoons because not everyone will "get" it. It is a weird film... The bizarrely grotesque, distorted face animations of the elves are great. The animations of the Waif, especially when she sings, are truly disturbing. The uncomfortably long pauses, such as the scene with the elves standing in an empty room for an oddly long time, completely crack me up. I love the simple but elegant background paintings. The psychotically cute forest animals are also frightening. And the dark, poignant ending left me sad for the world, but happy that this film was made. It's not a "perfect" film, in that it's not a slick, hollywood type cartoon. It's got an unpretentious rawness that makes it particularly good. I can see "the artist's hand" in this film- I feel like I'm watching Nick draw every frame. It's one of my favorite new animated films of recent years, and I'm really happy to have it in my collection. Nick spent four years making it, and he should be proud. Go check out Nick Cross' Plog to see artwork and clips from this film.

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Charity By Numbers

From Press Release:

Charity by Numbers, a benefit art auction for The Alliance for Children's Rights, features vintage paint-by-numbers pieces reinterpreted and transformed by a jaw-dropping lineup of leading underground fine artists including Mark Ryden & Marion Peck, Tim Biskup, Gary Baseman, Todd & Kathy Schorr, Camille Rose Garcia, Michael Hussar, Shag, Christian and Rob Clayton, Shepard Fairey, Andrew Brandou, Gary Panter, and many more*.

Charity by Numbers will open with a private reception at
Saturday February 10th from 6 to 9 PM,
followed by a public viewing of the pieces from 10 to midnight later that evening.

The auction will be held on eBay from February 10th and end on Saturday, February 17th @ Midnight Pacific Time.

Corey Helford Gallery.
8522 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
310.287.2340

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*The "and many more" includes lil' ol' me and other great artists like Souther Salazar, Saelee Oh, Kent Williams, Jeff Soto, Dave Cooper, Kaz, KozynDan, Calef Brown, Mark Todd, Esther Watson and about 80 others...

I saw the show last night, skeptical that it would be gimmicky and silly, but I was really surprised to see a lot of great pieces in the show. My favorite is Eric White who "un-painted" his paint by numbers.

Here's my before:


and after:


UPDATE: I went to the opening and it was so packed full of people, I thought I was stuck in line at the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland. Couldn't see much through the crowds, but lots of the pieces were already sold at a set price before the auction began. Mine sold within an hour of the opening. YAY! Others can be bought through ebay here.

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