Above: new maquette of a Mari Lwyd. I’m particularly pleased with the head, especially the eye. The image is slightly out-of-focus I fear, but click on it and then click again to get good magnification, and you’ll see what I mean. The socket has been collaged from various offcuts lying on the work-table, and with an upside down photograph of an eye cut from a magazine pasted on top. Oddly unnerving!
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The animated, skeletal cadaver of a horse I’ve been working on and posting about, is not a Mari Lwyd in the traditional sense, but a nightmare version of it as recalled by my father who experienced and was terrified by a Mari back in the first quarter of the last century. Part of my brief for the music project is to reproduce an old pub sign that had on it an image of a Mari Lwyd as it looked when the custom was still popular, together with its accompanying troupe of mummers. The surviving sign, much restored in the past, has now ruinously peeled to the point that it’s almost impossible to see what was once on it. But luckily I remember it from back when it was in better order, and so I feel able to make a version based on what I recall. The starting point has been to make a set of maquettes. These are not for the animation sequences, but are compositional aids. I’ve already made a ‘He/She’ mumming figure, and today I’ve completed the Mari Lwyd. The person under the sheet wasn’t usually seen. However I’ve made a mysteriously hooded ‘opertator’ just visible, in a dark costume roughly painted to suggest the ribcage and legs of an upright biped. Spooky stuff.
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So thoroughly creepy!
That eye, especially. *shivers*
As ever, there is a thread here that I have to follow having never heard of Yuri Norstein. As for the Quay Brothers I did a blog post about them a couple of years ago. They did some idents called ‘The Calligrapher’ for BBC 2 in the early 90′s which were rejected by the Corporation. One look at them on you tube highlights why that was a stupid decision. I’ve just re-acquainted myself with it and the pens draw a wonderful wing on the page which reminds me of your glass engraving drawing. Right, off to google Yuri.
Hedgehog in the Fog can easily be found on Youtube. You’re in for a treat!!!
Another ravishing animation that I know you’ll love, is Le Poulette Grise by the late, great Canadian animator Norman Mclaren.
Hedgehog in the Fog was a true delight! Reminded me of those Tales from Europe programmes that were on tv when I was a child. I think it must be something to do with the music. I’ve always loved Russian tales but you have surpassed yourself by telling me about Norman McLaren and Le Poulette Gris. How wonderful was that? As I watched I absolutely knew it was something you’d love. Those beautiful shades and colours fading in and out and morphing into new images was gorgeous. Of course I then had to look at more McLaren . What a variety of approaches. I watched too many films whilst I should have been making lunch but thank you for the pointer Clive. Both of them were a genuine treat.
These are just excellent. I think the Quay brothers might like this, somehow, it would be right up their street.
Oh I LOVE the Brothers Quay. I hope this Mari Lwyd would be up their street. I suspect it might.
For me the geniuses of animation are the Quays and Jan Svankmajer for stop-motion, and Yuri Norstein for two-dimensional animation. (Hedgehog in the Fog by Norstein is a work of unmatched artistry.)
Just seen the Hedgehog in the Fog and it is lovely, thank you. The Brothers Quay had an exhibition at MoMA just recently, which I have the book, with the wonderful title Quay Brothers: On Deciphering the Pharmacist’s Prescription for Lip-Reading Puppets.
Wonderful!
This project is giving me lots of freedom to try out new ideas cous. Greatly enjoying it.