The Grand Bizarre

Direct animation with stained-glass contact paper, ink, and acetate.

Made entirely by hand from cut marbled paper, this odyssey of remnants re-imagines a dream-sequence love.

A choreographed motion study for twinkling trinkets, beaming baubles, and glaring glimmers. A bow ballet ablaze (for bedazzled buoyant bijoux brought up to boil).

A shiny otherworld of holographic reverie pairs dollar store gift bags and haunting resound, unfolding an effervescent melancholy in three parts. Mesmerising RGB bling-bling for the cinema, featuring compositions for bowed vibraphone by Elliot Cole.

Interweaving the forms of personal filmmaking, abstract animation, and the rock opera, this animated musical documentary examines the rise and fall of a nearly-defunct poster and postcard wholesale business; the changing role of physical objects and virtual data in commerce; and the division (or lack of) between abstraction in fine art and psychedelic kitsch. Using alternate lyrics as voice over narration, the piece adopts the form of a popular rock album reinterpreted as a cine-performance.

A bite-sized star punch exercise in direct animation with colored acetate.

A quilted call and response. A battle of extreme extremes.

A swimming study of paisley patterns traces this decorative motif from its origins in Persian weavings to appearances Irish quilting and American Counterculture. Extending on the stroboscopic tradition of anti-animation, this short material study fixates upon discarded materials to examine the decorative and its relationship to the cycles of industry and evolving modes of production. - Jodie Mack

A maximum cycle that celebrates mesmerizing computer graphics made for looping on a small, decoupaged monitor. Created for the "Post-Scarcity" show at 65GRAND Chicago in June, 2009.

A stroboscopic dance party.

A pattern parade followed by calm.

Hollis Frampton's T-Shirt Collection - animated!

Colors and bubbles bustle energetically via oil, ink and clear acetate.

Tacky threads luminesce at a firefly’s pace, twinkling through remnants of chintzy opulence and gaudy glamour prestissimo brilliante.

A collaboration with Chicago’s Judson Claiborne that captures the desert hallucinations of David Morehouse, former CIA spy and author of Psychic Warriors.

Filmmaker Jodie Mack’s video animated short is the cat’s pajamas. Literally. The London-born experimental animator’s overlay of recycled everyday patterns and materials has a homey, patchwork quality well-suited to its just-barely-domesticated feline subjects. Its playful and eye-catching collage also offers us the chance to consider the relationship between fine-art sensibilities and the castoff items of mass-market design. – Robert Avila