Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Artist #1: Neil Cicierega

Neil Cicierega may be the prime example of the effects of home schooling and having too much time on your hands... or he may just be a creative prodigy. Neil appeared on the online scene in 2001 with flash cartoons "The Japanese Pokerap" and "Hyakugojuiichi", which introduced the world to animutation. Animutation was a new form of online art that usually consists of foreign music, a senseless array of random imagery, and an adundance of the actor Colin Mochery. That sounds completely nonsensical, and that's the point. It's a mutated melting pot of pop culture and obscurity. His most recent animuation, entitled "Wizard Power", which features a strip-teasing Benjamin Franklin, GW Bush hypotizing the country with a planters peanut, and Gandalf in a bunny costume, is a testament to the absurdity.


Neil is not just an animator, however. His music project, entitled "Lemon Demon" is a mostly one man operation, with him playing most of the instruments in the band and synthesizing the rest. The music ranges from the thought-provoking "What Will Happen Will Happen," a comment on our society and where we're going, to the nonsensical "Gonna Dig Up Alec Guiness," which is about reanimating the corpse of actor Alec Guiness and using him as a side show attraction. Keyboards seem to be his specialty, with his keyboard solos often being a highlight of many songs. Many may recognize a fan favorite of his entitled "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny," which was been made into a popular flash cartoon.

Recently, Neil has seemed to focus more on his amatuer filmmaking projects. He has recently gained some mainstream attention on major news networks by winning the 2007 YouTube award for best comedy video. The video, entitled "Harry Potter Puppet Pals and the Mysterious Ticking Noise," is part of a series of Potter Puppet videos and has earned over 41 million views on the site.

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