The Consistent Variable Project Workbook Page 15 NOT SO VULNERABLE by risa
I loved this one when I saw it in the show, but I think, from her haiku, that Emily was not so into it. Maybe because I saw it in a gallery context, where it felt like odd but appropriate art, and she only ever saw it online, where it must have seemed like an impractical affair. I love the difference of opinion that emerges over some pieces- and this one is amoung the best for it. Diane, Emily and myself all wanted to get our two cents in.
I have a painful back sometimes, so I felt this piece hook me with sympathy for the story it suggested. Also, I think the sweetness of the green and big pink stripe works with the spikes- I see a character in my head that would wear that and she’s graceful but wounded and, if threatened, furiously tough. Very anime, and very much like the character I see wearing my piece in an imaginary world, except I feel like this woman would be older, and kind of stately. I feel a bit silly running on about imaginary characters amidst the doom that also characterizes Open sometimes, but both and all of it are what we’re all about, so I won’t expose you to any more bellyaching. Instead I’ll tell you, when I first got excited about drawing with Flash, I made up a character and started trying to draw her and the people in her world. Animation is definitely not my forte, but the craft is so appealing, it has a certain relationship to time and space that makes each story open somehow, and up for diversion, detour and reinterpretation. It has space for sillyness and philosophy- just like hip hop- and I’m turned on by them both.
One last random thought on animation and hip hop. We watched So You Think You Can Dance last night, because the early stages of that show are incredible. Before they narrow it down to people who can do everything well, in a kind of sterilized Las Vegas way, they get a long train accross the stage of people who can do one style to an insane and mind blowing degree. This year a finalist from last year who I loved- little spikey haired breakdancer named Ryan- came back with his own little dance pack. And these boys were so good it defied reason. There was a guy last week who was better, actually, but he seemed like an insane machine- no build up just leap, after flip, after other sick move. The boys in the dance pack were all incredibly animated in their faces. They did moves that told stories, and the stories didn’t have a hint of defensive pride about them. They squacked like chickens and stuck their bums out and echoed the physical humour of anime. And they flew so high in the air, sideways, with cat like landings, that it was like suddenly every japanese animation I’d seen, or passionate samurai movie, was put into a new context. People who can do things with their bodies that I can’t imagine do exist in real life. The world is more magical and limitless then my day to day would lead me to believe- there is more going on then meets the eye. And this is reasonable cause, I guess, for some dizzying swings between doom and elation.
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