Axodendriticore by Paul Stanek

Fillmore by Paul Stanek

As part of this local talent spotlight series, animator Paul Stanek got in touch with me and shared with me some of his amazing work.  Although primarily an animator, Paul also composes large black and white drawings as shown above.  Large-scale trippy drawings are always a personal favorite of mine, and the two above are no exception.

Paul came to Philadelphia after growing up in New York and living in Los Angeles for six years, where he attended the California Institue of the Arts and worked on his Master’s in Experimental Animation.  During that time Paul and a friend of his decided to make cell animations using t-shirts, and the U-Shirt Project was born:

Paul: “We really liked the idea of shooting each frame (shirt) on different people so when the animation was played back it would unify all these people in to one entity, with the animation in the middle being the glue.  The projects and the accompanying U-shirt Party were a smash hit, and we ended up being approached by Viacom to use a similar concept to make a few 30 second spots for Black History Month to be used on their t.v. channels (nickelodeon, vh-1, etc.).”

You can see some of the video clips and additional information on the U-Shirt website.

Thankfully Paul also shared with me a couple time-lapse videos in which he paints directly on a pair of beautiful nude ladies, as seen below.  Take a look for yourself here and here.

Untitled (Painting on Nude Female) by Paul Stanek

Ever the Renaissance Man, you can also find Paul creating music under the Johnny Longmind pseudonym, and he’s recently been signed with a small London label by the name of End Daze Recordings.  You can find some of his music (which is actually pretty damn good) on his MySpace page.

Related posts:

1. Philadelphia Artist: Tom Mulholland
2. Selecting Between One Million Possibilities: Drawings and Interview with Andreas Martini
3. Steel City Artist: Drawings and Interview with Charles Ott

Although Illustrator Mathis Rekowski has some wonderfully trippy drawings like the one featured here, he’s got even more illustrations seem to me at once retro and cutting edge. Certainly someone to watch out for. You can purchase the image above at Mathis’ new store, or follow him on his blog

Related posts:

1. Self Portrait (No. 23 / B5 Series) and Others by Matt W. Moore
2. "Most Wretched Mess" and Others by Skinner
3. Godmachine