Hall Hassi: What project are you working on?
Blaise Larmee: A 'book length' comic.
HH: Describe your process.
BL: My process can be broken down into two basic categories: 'data
accumulation' - building, maintaining, and indexing libraries of files
- and 'pattern accumulation', in which meta structures emerge.
HH: What libraries have you created and what patterns have emerged?
BL: 2 libraries are sprites and rooms. Sprites are a single character,
photographed against a 'blue screen', performing a limited variety of
actions/poses. Rooms are constructed in a vector-based computer
program, using a cube template. Patterns are still in a liquid or
gaseous stage and cannot be discussed without compromising their
private growth.
HH: What libraries are in the future?
BL: Probably at least one 'text' library and possibly an 'object' library.
HH: What are 10 'tags' you would use to identifiy this project?
BL: 2001, bangs, concrete, internet, mall, model, modular,
perspective, suburbia, utopia
HH: Why 2001?
BL: 2001 is the future and the past. I'm using archaic technology to
construct my idea of a constructed utopia.
HH: Why bangs?
BL: Bangs are fun/easy to draw.
HH: Why concrete?
BL: I want to create an illusion of mechanical objectivity. For
example, I would depict a character's hallucinogenic experience as a
fixed camera would record it.
HH: Why internet?
BL: The space I'm creating is minimal and I think the actions in this
space will also be minimal. Binaries emerge: in/out, enter/exit,
open/shut. There is no in-between, for example, in moving between
rooms. No friction. Rooms form hallways and labyrinths. All is built
for lightweight processing so people like myself, using old
technology, will still be able to access content without difficulty.
HH: Why mall?
BL: Like the internet, the mall is a site of infinite interior. I'm
not a fan of malls. There's something inherently awful about the
acoustics. But I'm aware of the similarities between malls and the
space I'm creating.
HH: Why model?
BL: The model is intimate with the image, the pose, the translation of
3D to 2D. The actor and the model are aware of the camera but only the
model will engage with it. I would use 'actors' if I were drawing
scenes, but I'm not. I'm drawing individual characters, photographing
them with a digital camera, and 'dropping' them onto a digital
backdrop. Like most people I project onto the model, but I project
emptiness, which I associate with purity, and introversion, which I
identify with.
HH: Why modular?
BL: The space is modular. Each room is a cube represented as nested
squares. The vanishing point is in the center of the squares. The
'default' nature of the room overpowers any minor modifications which
differentiate rooms. They can be stacked and arranged in basic
configurations. Layers slide over each other. The interface is
durable, capable of processing and displaying a variety of content,
while remaining neutral itself.
HH: Why perspective?
BL: Perspective is translating 3D into 2D and objective into
subjective. It's the interface.
HH: Why suburbia?
BL: I'm kind of creating a safe space. People wear pastel colored
sweatshirts and turtle necks. Everyone's in their socks. Everything's
clean. Everyone's white. Also the suburbs are created from a single
plan by some single ethereal architect (like the single ethereal
authors of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew). And it's all constructed -
negative space is only positive space constructed to look like
negative space. It's all additive. It's reduntant too. It's
repetitive. It's like Peanuts by Charles Schultz.
HH: Why utopia?
BL: Utopia is either 'the beginning' - Adam and Eve - or the distant
future. Our memory of 50's suburbia is that of a fake utopia. Comics
are suited to fantasy, being internal and external at the same time.
My idea of utopia is connected to the architectural plan, capable of
revealing itself in fiction and ideas rather than concrete reality.
The idea of a perfect environment is really appealing to me. My mom's
an interior designer. I idealize spaces. Comics are a way of creating
spaces without using money or resources.
16 comments:
I was at a mall the other day.
I bought a plain t-shirt at the Gap.
And cookies at the Great American Cookie w/e
The relaxation areas were really well placed I thought. There were some interesting archways and the staggered pond tower was nice.
It's hard not to feel like you're in a Babylonian nightmare when visiting malls but whenever I go, I always try to enter through the nicest department store there is and half the time an older woman is playing piano. Such a treat
I'm not sure if these environments can really be considered uptopic but I think they're close. Especially towards closing time.
8:30 is ideal
//
Hall Hassi can be a tough interview. i think you held up well
//
Suburbs are a terrific way to encounter Nature as both playground and receding ideal
cool
plain t-shirt sounds nice
there were parts of my life where 90% of my clothing would be from the gap
my default t-shirt is currently calvin klein
i have 2-3 calvin klein t-shirts, each a different shade or hue of grey
i like the mall in theory but not in practice
well said re suburbs
dude blaise
the 50s seem horrible to me, not utopian
i'm wearing a new pair of pants while lying in bed and looking at myself in the mirror..
whoever ghostwrites my autobiography should not omit this detail
I’m enjoying this internet comic, Blaise.
I want to ask: why serialization?
I’m interested in the slow, meditative pace that comes from online, piece-by-piece serialization. If I were to read the story for the first time right now, I may spend less than a minute with it. But I’ve been checking in a few times a week, seeing the new panel/image, and rereading everything that came before it. So I’ve spent several minutes with it, spread out over a week or more. Serialization is creating a specific reading experience. It would be interesting to make a work that is very aware of that. Most people (myself included) have serialized work online just to accommodate the slow pace that work is produced (I finished a page, so now I will put it online). When serialization could be an integral part of how the work is read and experienced, an integral part of the Art.
It also makes me think: once this work is done (i.e., once you stop working on it), it will be a very different thing. Reading it all at once vs. reading it over a long period of time, at a pace determined by the creator. You know what I mean?
PS:
HAL Hassi. ha!
I’m enjoying this internet comic, Blaise.
I want to ask: why serialization?
I’m interested in the slow, meditative pace that comes from online, piece-by-piece serialization. If I were to read the story for the first time right now, I may spend less than a minute with it. But I’ve been checking in a few times a week, seeing the new panel/image, and rereading everything that came before it. So I’ve spent several minutes with it, spread out over a week or more. Serialization is creating a specific reading experience. It would be interesting to make a work that is very aware of that. Most people (myself included) have serialized work online just to accommodate the slow pace that work is produced (I finished a page, so now I will put it online). When serialization could be an integral part of how the work is read and experienced, an integral part of the Art.
It also makes me think: once this work is done (i.e., once you stop working on it), it will be a very different thing. Reading it all at once vs. reading it over a long period of time, at a pace determined by the creator. You know what I mean?
PS:
HAL Hassi. ha!
jed's comment got deleted:
I’m enjoying this internet comic, Blaise.
I want to ask: why serialization?
I’m interested in the slow, meditative pace that comes from online, piece-by-piece serialization. If I were to read the story for the first time right now, I may spend less than a minute with it. But I’ve been checking in a few times a week, seeing the new panel/image, and rereading everything that came before it. So I’ve spent several minutes with it, spread out over a week or more. Serialization is creating a specific reading experience. It would be interesting to make a work that is very aware of that. Most people (myself included) have serialized work online just to accommodate the slow pace that work is produced (I finished a page, so now I will put it online). When serialization could be an integral part of how the work is read and experienced, an integral part of the Art.
It also makes me think: once this work is done (i.e., once you stop working on it), it will be a very different thing. Reading it all at once vs. reading it over a long period of time, at a pace determined by the creator. You know what I mean?
PS:
HAL Hassi. ha!
jed's comment got deleted (3x):
- Hide quoted text -
I’m enjoying this internet comic, Blaise.
I want to ask: why serialization?
I’m interested in the slow, meditative pace that comes from online, piece-by-piece serialization. If I were to read the story for the first time right now, I may spend less than a minute with it. But I’ve been checking in a few times a week, seeing the new panel/image, and rereading everything that came before it. So I’ve spent several minutes with it, spread out over a week or more. Serialization is creating a specific reading experience. It would be interesting to make a work that is very aware of that. Most people (myself included) have serialized work online just to accommodate the slow pace that work is produced (I finished a page, so now I will put it online). When serialization could be an integral part of how the work is read and experienced, an integral part of the Art.
It also makes me think: once this work is done (i.e., once you stop working on it), it will be a very different thing. Reading it all at once vs. reading it over a long period of time, at a pace determined by the creator. You know what I mean?
PS:
HAL Hassi. ha!
2001 is interesting. Windsor McCay meets Fort Thunder is my Hollywood pitch description of it. I love the drawing.
right now i have 3 solid color gap t-shirts of only slightly varying texture but all very comfy and well-fitting: not skintight and not flowing
the colors are black, charcoal, and a subdued grayish violet
i can't see paying the extra $8 for calvin klein, i just can't justify that to myself. i'm worth it, but maybe i deserve something else that costs $8 in addition to the perfectly fine quality t-shirts that i bought at more reasonable prices. who can say? me
while i'm thinking about it, has anyone else tried on H&M t-shirts? ridiculous. i do not understand how they designed a cut where if you raise your arms at all the entire shoulder area bunches up and visibly rises almost past the neckline. it's a nightmare
real bunch of geniuses over there
@michael i think my calvin klein t-shirts were purchased in bulk at costco
@jed i'm serializing for production's sake but i agree a lot of other things occur with serialization - all my models are now actors
@joewilly thanks i'm glad you find 2001 interesting
@blaise i assumed in your case. lifetime justice / vegan valuz. i don't have a costco in the area, bitchin for posterity / golf course trust level.
@? not that it matters but try reading again .. this is the 4th grade, basic comprehension counts
i hope this whole discussion about the mall is some abstruse commentary on egypt
we want internet
i'm sure it's abstruse, i'm not sure what it's about though
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