The Little Artists – Lick Yourselves

lick yourself
Lick Yourselves (2005, 64MB, 6:27 min, silent)

The Little Artists are a UK collaborative duo, most famous/notorious
for their re-renderings of iconic artworks in the childrens’ construction toy
LEGO.
This brief description doesn’t do them justice – their work is rich & complex
& they make hay, playfully but profoundly too, with all sorts of contemporary
obsessions – remix &appropriation, branding, celebrity & not least the idea of
artistry/creativity itself.

This video stems from their 2005 show based on the work of Mark Quinn, the casting-
his-head-out-of-his-own-frozen-blood guy, and the show featured them dressing
up as ice cream salespeople and flogging fruit flavour ice lolly replicas of
the Quinn piece.
The vid is a minimal, leisurely and ever so slightly disturbing account of
one of these slowly melting.

I must declare an interest – I wrote an essay for their new book, which, if
your appetite is whetted, you can get here.

Readings

readings
Readings (2008, 43 MB, 9:53 min.)

I must admit I’d never really heard of fashion video as a genre
until someone I teach showed me an astonishing piece by
Ruth Hogben & Gareth Pugh last week, which sent me off in search of more.
This piece comes from site called ShowStudio:

‘an award-winning fashion website, founded and directed by Nick Knight,
that has consistently pushed the boundaries of communicating fashion online.’

according to its ‘about’ page.

The piece we’re posting here is directed by Knight together with the designer
Hussein Chalayan, with editing by Ruth Hogben and music by Anthony, of Johnsons
fame.
It’s a tour de force, fizzing with ideas, a mesmerising watch,
and a fund of stealable ideas, so we’ll definitely be returning
for more, though I have to say I only see a dark void where
a living heart might have beat – there’s no speck of warmth
or humanity to it.

“Double Fantasy” by Jennifer and Kevin McCoy

double_fantasy1
Double Fantasy (2006, 3 MB, 1:27 min.)

double_fantasy2
Double Fantasy (2006, 4 MB, 2 min.)

“Installation view and detail images of Double Fantasy 3 (Career) which was shown at the Armory Show in New York, March 2006. Each side of the sculpture has a model of a childhood career fantasy for each of us. Cameras project large scale images of it onto the wall, accompanied by a soundtrack.”
by Jennifer and Kevin McCoy.

“Eternal Return” by Jennifer and Kevin McCoy

eternal_return
Eternal Return (2006, 4 MB, 1:54 min.)

“Eternal Return” installed at the exhibition Stop Motion at the Edith Russ Haus,
is a remake of a scene from the musical movie The Gay Divorcee.
The piece was reworked to allow a large video projection for the exhibition.”
by – Jennifer and Kevin McCoy.

“Dream Sequence” by Jennifer and Kevin McCoy

dream_sequence1
Dream Sequence (2006, 5 MB, 2:31 min.)

dream_sequence2
Dream Sequence (2006, 7 MB, 3:20 min.)

“Installation view and detail images of Dream Sequence from the solo exhibition
‘Directed Dreaming’ at Postmasters, New York, March 2006.
Two parallel discs feature images from dreams that rotate slowly while the camera
remains fixed. Our sleeping selves are superimposed by way of a mirror, and the
resulting dream sequences are projected onto the wall.”

by – Jennifer and Kevin McCoy.

Dan Graham – Beyond

dan_graham_beyond
Dan Graham – Beyond (2009, 40 MB, 3:02 min)

Narrated by Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz and Curator Chrissie Iles, artist
Dan Graham discusses Heart Pavilion (1991), Public Space,
Two Audiences (1976), and Opposing Mirror and Video Monitors (1974).
All were on view in Dan Graham: Beyond at the Whitney Museum in 2009.

Produced by the Whitney Museum.