The version of “Old Tongue” that just opened at ArtWorks is too quick and detailed to come across on the web, but by trying to strip it down for compression, I came up with a very different version, one that leaves recognizable imagery mostly behind for a flattish world of peeling and twisting. If you’re in Ireland, it’s up now, in Letterkenny, but I won’t be there until next week. Hope you like this variation.

(Update: I’ve arrived. If you didn’t arrive here via my home page, click here for more info on this show, Rian Kerrane‘s piece, Velvet Letters, curator Seamus Quinn, and the opening reception, which is coming up in a few days as I write. Here is another link, to my description of Old Tongue, my contribution to the exhibition [with a composite image].)

Primordial Soup Cartoon from Eric Waldemar on Vimeo.

Several notable curiosities came out of last fall’s “Time and Attention” show, and not everything got included in the gallery exhibition. Here’s a sort of image poem that tells of the emergence of life and form on Earth. Interpretive dance, perhaps. This should give you a decent sense of what it was like back then for those ambitious little critters. Millions of years are compressed into a couple of minutes, so bear with me if I missed anything important.

In Odin/Odeon, Eric Waldemar takes a maximalist approach to a small installation space, assembling a piece of “visual chamber music” that combines an intricate arrangement of monoprints with tiny abstract video work. In ancient Greece, an Odeon was a type of small theater, designed for more intimate productions. The Norse god Odin, as the tale goes, hung upside down from the World Tree for nine days until vision and knowledge arose in his mind. In Waldemar’s studio, imagery is invited, awaited, then shaped as it emerges. In an art world that favors shrewd, spare concept and wry sampling, he persists in affirming the mysteries and depths of an open, exploratory work process that hangs between picture and nameless form.

Over 1600 images on 111 sheets. This “block” is threaded through in a variety of ways to create three distinct pieces of animated visual music. This installation, which includes both video and still images, will appear as the centerpiece of “Time & Attention,” opening at Ironton on October 23rd. Esoteric secrets of abstract animation will be laid bare. Related drawings, prints, and cinema will also appear. Movie bits will appear on this site as the show approaches. Contact me to make sure you’re kept informed.

On the 23rd of September, at the Art Students League of Denver,  I’ll be screening films by two of the people who showed me how to make movies, Stan Brakhage and Harry Smith. I’ll also be giving a brief sketch of the history of animation as an art made by individual artists, rather than by commercial enterprises. In the other arts, this distinction is usually fairly obvious, but in film, most people assume that a movie director is something like a special, glamorous CEO. They’re usually right. There’s a whole other world of cinema, though, and if you’re not aware of it, you need to cancel your plans for the 23rd and get to this screening.  Besides Brakhage and Smith, I’ll show a few bits of my own, as well as relevant bits from the history of cartoons, "visual music," and various peculiar moving images that show the vast possibilities of solo animation.  This talk and screening will introduce an 8-week course at the League, which starts two weeks later. That series will include more screenings and a whole lot of hands-on moviemaking. It’s reasonably priced and will transform your conception of time and space permanently. Trust The Thinking Truck to bring you to worthwhile destinations, now and always. To get a seat for the screening or sign up for the course, go to www.asld.org or call 303 778 6990, x100.

For all the info you need, have a look at the flyer (PDF) . It has pictures, a few words about Stan and Harry, and a few more about me. Print it out and tack it in some public place, or on your refrigerator.