Sunday Safari - Black & White Sea

 Christian Roux

Julius Klinger

 Woodcut by Bold for Stuff and Nonsense by Walter de la Mare, 1927, thanks to 50 Watts

Si Scott

Minako Kawauchi, Sea Bream

Daniel Egneus

 Yodagawa Technique

Helle Jorgensen, Cephalopod

 Farshid Mesghali, illustration from Little Black Fish, 1968

Andrea Marescalchi

Matti Piippo

Sergio Ruffolo

Christian Montenegro, illustration from The Creation

Yong Ho Ji

Waone

Eleanor Grosch

Gods and Monsters

  La Bestia (the beast) by Umberto & Stefano Cinquini, 

a metaphor of Berlusconi's monstrous power over Italian media

It's time again for our report from Viareggio's annual Carnival parade

of large, wild, colorful and amazing papier-mache floats. Most of the creations 

were inspired by various controversial contemporary issues. I wonder what they 

will come up with next year; they already have plenty of material to work with!

 Trilogia della ruggine, epilogo (final installment of The Rust Trilogy)

by Gilbert Lebigre & Corinne Roger. This double-sided float 

featured a decadent and lascivious Italian "operetta" on one side and 

this joyful Indian style celebration of love blessed by Ganesh on the other

the innovative La cieca umanità (Blind humanity) by Edoardo Ceragioli, 

 inspired by Picasso's Guernica, won the first prize for mask groups

musical owls and a wigged cow from two of the other mask groups

two views of Embrioni chimera (Chimera embryos) by Fabrizio Galli

L’erba di casa mia (Green grass of home) by Jacopo Allegrucci

represents Italy as a lawn peopled by bugs and praying mantis-politicians

Razze in via di estinzione (Species near extinction) by Enrico Vannucci

two views of Urla selvagge (Wild screams) by Gionata Francesconi & Giacomo Marsili

  Non essere sgomento… se la legge va a rilento!!! (Don't be dismayed... if the law goes slow!) by Alfredo Ricci

 I can't remember from which float I photographed this detail 

 La Mattanza (The slaughter) by Carlo Lombardi cautions against oil spills

detail from Abissi (The depths) by Franco Malfatti

a sequence from the winning float, the wonderfully scary Rexpubblica by Alessandro Avanzini.

These still photos give only a pale impression of the full impact of the floats in action,

 complete with moving parts, smoke and light effects, loud music and costumed dancers. 

But you can watch some of the videos on YouTube to get a better idea...

Monday Matticchio

Back from the Sea

Sorry for disappearing and missing my usual Sunday appointment, 

I was away at the sea and stayed a bit longer than expected... 

Russian master animator Alexandr Petrov used his fingertips and slow-drying oil paints 

on glass sheets to create his wonderful adaptation of Hemingway's The old man and the sea. 

It took him over two years to paint and shoot each of the 29,000+ frames composing the

20-minute short, which went on to receive the 1999 Academy Award for Animated Short Film 

and the 2000 Grand Prix at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.

On a different note, congratulations to Lisa, who was randomly picked by my daughter 

as the winner of Animalarium's first giveaway. Please send me your address and  

I will put in the mail your copy of The Owl Tree right away!

Blu Big Boom

Blu's latest creative opus, just posted on Vimeo, is spreading like wildfire all over the web, 
and deservedly so, since it's another huge and fantastic work of genius by Italy's greatest street artist. 
Enjoy!