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Animation: Oh Willy! 

 We know that we have several animators amongst us, so we think you will appreciate this masterful piece of animation from directors Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels using incredible woolen puppets and fabric sets. 

Their 16 minute short, Oh Willy!  was actually created in 2012, but was just released online, and to date has won 80 awards, including the Cartoon D'Or.

Telling the story of an introvert who returns to the nudist colony he grew up in before going on a journey of self-discovery before striking up a relationship with a giant hairy...beast.

De Swaef said to Creative Review recently: 

“Every shot in the film took between four and 11 hours to animate, before that, Marc would be setting up lighting and cameras and it would take around four to five hours to create the right lighting, so every shot was about two days in total. But we did have three sets and two people animating at once."

                                                           See the film below:        

Oh Willy... from Marc and Emma on Vimeo.

 Help The Royal Academy Bring Ai Weiwei's Tree Scultures To London 

        The Royal Academy of Arts has launched a Kickstarter Campaign to help them bring a         giant installation by the great, brave, provocative, and visionary artist, Ai Weiwei, to London,             with  the aim of having on show in the courtyard, for free, for the public, simultaneously as an                   exhibition   of some of his most important works are shown inside the gallery. The Royal Academy is       working directly with the artist from his studio in china, as he is not allowed to leave China.

        The particular pieces in question are eight enormous trees, each seven metres tall, clustered around         a marble couch, which, once placed in the courtyard of the Royal Academy, will encourage the                 public to walk around and explore.

        The Royal Academy will reward contributors with a variety of special, limited edition gifts                           depending on the value of their pledges, and will keep all contributors up-to-date with progress. 

Architecture: Mexico's New Cultural Museum's Design Is Revealed 

Architecture firm, Fernando Romero Enterprise, have revealed the new designs for the Museo Mazatlan in Mexico a centre that will celebrate local culture, history, and anthropology. The design is inspired by the region's nickname, "the Pearl of the Pacific" and is meant to resemble a pearl in an oyster shell, with a geodesic dome hanging over its elliptical 'shell', with photovoltaic panels to help filter light in to the exhibition, 350 seater IMAX theatre, and classroom spaces.

Construction is billed to begin in 2016.  

Dazed Presents: #WeWantMore Music Videos @ The Photographer's Gallery  

Dazed has invited several visionary music video directors to put together a programme of ground-breaking music videos, that they consider to have re-defined the territory and inspired their own work.

Runs until September 15th 2015. 

20 year old Thom Yorke performing High & Dry  

This great footage has surfaced the internet, which shows a 20 year old Thom Yorke playing "High & Dry" with his pre- Radiohead band, The Headless Chickens: 

There's a great photography exhibition in the Getty Images Gallery right now, which looks at the history of celebrity portraiture, and how, pre-internet, the distances between the celebrity and audience has been bridged.  Showing until August 22nd.

 Basquiat's notebooks are on show in Brooklyn

30/05/15 Mary Ellen Mark dies aged 75  

We're sad to hear of the passing of the undeniable photography heroine Mary Ellen Mark, who died yesterday in Manhattan at the age of 75. Her photography portfolio, predominantly black and white, spans 40 years and covers a range of subjects and social issues, including mental patients, prostitution, poverty and homelessness.