Live characters and 1000 gods & demons

[imomus]

On Friday evening I hung out with Mischa Shoni, Mie, Mumbleboy and others in the agreeable "tunnel of twee" that is the Giant Robot New York store (437 East 9th Street). They were holding a party featuring "live characters and 1000 gods & demons!" This turned out to be an artist called Friends With You presenting a new range of comic, boxy wooden toys, The Good Wood Gang. The live character bit consisted of Mr Friends With You emerging from the back of the store dressed as a shaman in rainbow raiment, doing a sort of rain dance to the accompaniment of African ritual music as he squeezed along the narrow aisle, then taking his place at the door to sign T shirts and toys with red paint.



I spent a while browsing an excellent new book of photos of hip hop dandies from the 1980s, A Time Before Crack, by Jamel Shabazz (who also did the "Back In The Days" book). As I browsed, it occurred to me that the Friends With You guy, the back-in-the-days guys, Lord Whimsy and me all have something in common. We're all media-savvy, media-friendly self-creations, and we all seem to aspire to be cartoons. Whereas Hollywood stars and politicians tend to dress, act and speak with calculated moderation and timid vapidity, keen to hold onto their power and keep on the right side of the undemonstrative masses, we poorer, smaller media actors pull out all the stops. We have nothing to lose; there's really no reason for us not to embrace utter flamboyance.

It seems to me that New York is one of the cities that encourages precisely this sort of self-mediation. Downtown New York is dense and intense, concentrated and tolerant. People work on their look, people have a schtick, people quickly find that extremity is an excellent sales tool, it gets them remembered, noted, reported. I haven't yet seen the Klaus Nomi move, but I'd imagine it was exactly the same when he was in New York, or when Quentin Crisp came here to make himself the ultimate cartoon of the "great stately homo". I even think of the vogueing Latinos in the documentary "Paris is Burning". It's a common misconception that people who give themselves the license to flounce, to vogue, to make a splash, are somehow spoiled rich socialites. But I'd argue that it's the poor who really pour their heart and soul into making an impression, into self-mediation. The poor and the hungry. Few of us are rich, and it's unlikely that we'll ever be played in a Hollywood movie by Johnny Depp (though you never know). But we have a certain instinct, part-commercial, part-aesthetic, for dramatic self-editing and self-presentation. In some cases we make a living playing the larger-than-life characters we've devised, acting them out in real time on the catwalks, corridors, subway tunnels and runways of a city like New York.

Walking along Grand Street with Lord Whimsy, whose real name is Allen, I found myself asking what happens when people with an innate talent for editing and graphic design turn their skills on themselves, and make themselves their ultimate creation, their own Frankenstein's Monster. Do we always retain control of the resulting cartoon? Does the more complex picture in the attic become scary with neglect? Do we overwhelm people less adept at self-mediation? Do some find us unbearable, overbearing, absurd, inhuman? Are we mistaken for the rich and powerful? Do people find us self-obsessed, selfish?



As if to answer my question, the next day Whimsy—Allen—sent me some frames from the Flash piece he's been working on to illustrate my song Bantam Boys. They look completely gorgeous, and whet my appetite for the finished piece (which Whimsy says will be available soon). Above all, they show that not only are self-mediators not rich, they aren't selfish either: they're just as happy to put their talents for editing, presenting, highlighting and brainstorming at each other's disposal as their own. If you love one facade, you probably love them all.

Comments

Self-mediation?

[cap-scaleman.livejournal.com]

I tried to click that link about self-mediation you posted, but my ad-watch closed it down. So i googled it. One of the links I got was this one:

http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/Arbitration/SelfMediation.asp

I also found this one:

http://www.mediationworks.com/mti/sam.htm

But I can't make 1 + 1 this time. Either I've missunderstood your point about self-mediation or there is two concepts of the word itself. What the heckus is going on?

Re: Self-mediation?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Your adwatch may be mediating your web experience a little over-zealously, the link is to a Design Observer piece I wrote about Thomas de Zengotita's book on how the media shapes our self-perception and self-presentation. There are no ads on the page at all.

Re: Self-mediation?

[cap-scaleman.livejournal.com]

Aha, that old song again. Like with thin-as-sticks girls and "muscleheads" doing the show in media(?) making men and womens looking down on themself(?). Gonna try and fix my ad-watch then.

[(Anonymous)]

Momus, you are educated and coherent. You're a skillful writer, critic and musician with decades of impressive material. For you, poverty and flamboyance are a choice. Klaus Nomi, on the other hand, was desperate and alone. His stage character was shaped by a bleeding desire to become famous. Indeed, he was perfectly willing to sell out his friends and supporters on his rise to the "top." Apart from a keen sense of style, I see little in common between you two.

Take pride in your choice! It's rare for someone of your talents to choose art, instead of, let's say, academics or journalism. You're not compelled by some Hardyesque twist of fate to be Momus. It's a choice you made for the benefit of us all, even those of us who might "act and speak with calculated moderation and timid vapidity."

[cap-scaleman.livejournal.com]

(So, hmmm, I got this book in my mind I found up in Stockholm last wednesday called "DIY: Rise of the lo-fi culture". It was the first thing that popped into my mind when reading your article at Design Observers. Is there a connection I smell?)

If now mediation/self-mediation means that you give an "illusion" to the people around you that you, for Zengotitas example, like cats because you have a cat ,and you're still not a "phony". Does it means that you can give an "illusion" of you being something since it's something that is found in one selfs weekday?

Do we with a discussion of "self-mediation" go back to your essays about globalisation and multi-culturalism?

Is it all about we today are being spoiled with so many roles we can play compared to earlier years of our civilisations development?

[(Anonymous)]

Now this is plainly bizarre.

[(Anonymous)]

"poverty and flamboyance are a choice" lol. So how much time did you spend with Klaus Nomi in person, do elaborate. The film is interesting, but it's hardly the whole story. Besides Klaus had "that voice" and is why we are still talking about him after all this time.

[cap-scaleman.livejournal.com]

Yes it is, what did you expect? A strawberry cake?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I would connect this with David Simpson's idea of situatedness (http://www.lrb.co.uk/v24/n23/jay_01_.html) "or why we keep on saying where we're coming from". It also connects with the rockism argument, the thing about "keepin' it real". Simpson says that the postmodern subject modestly situates himself, speaking "Azza", the language of prefacing every perspective with a position: "Speaking as a gay man, I think..." "Of course, speaking as a privileged white male..." Now, the thing is, we all have multiple identities. We are all forced to select between them, depending on what serves us best in any given situation. We juggle hats, we pose now as victim, now as victor, now as artist, now as man-of-humble origins. We change our accent, our appearance. Within each role we might appear to be "keepin' it real", but the more we rotate them, and mediate ourselves, the more absurd the idea of a core real self becomes.

I'm interested in the idea that choice makes us both "lucky" and "culpable". The comment about Klaus Nomi above shows it, and it's even in the law, in the difference between spontaneous unpremeditated killing (manslaughter) and planned killing (murder), with their very different sentences. The act of will, of consciousness itself, or meditation and premeditation, seems culpable. And yet I'd argue that everyone makes an act of will when juggling hats, when choosing which "Azza" to speak as. We're all spin doctors now, self-mediators. I think it's time to retire the idea that some don't or can't choose who and what they are. I say that speaking as an old existentialist, of course. (Hmm, which icon will I choose for this comment?)

[fishwithissues.livejournal.com]

I suppose the question might be whether the self-editing goes in the direction of robotic, distant, and unapproachable (which is how I might characterize some goth or punk cartoons I've met), or whether it's all about becoming a playful big-eyed mascot, like the host of a children's show. But friendly can be awkward, or detached can be compelling etc. etc. Superhuman can also be inhuman, right? Unfortunately I think the awful phrase "if done well" applies here. Certainly the instant-celebrity effect of well-executed extremity is something many of us try to achieve, but one risks banishment to the uncanny valley, where one'll hopefully come up a w/a better pose.
I'm also wondering if you're familiar with Laylah Ali (http://www.artnet.com/artist/1376/laylah-ali.html)'s cartoonish paintings. They've got a great mix of cuteness, grotesquery, and race politics that I think you'd like.

[cap-scaleman.livejournal.com]

Ah, things now get a bit more clear. So "self-mediation" simply means that depending on the situation you can increase your "popularity" by being "someone else" at the right time!(?)

(Aha-aha-aha, now we're going somewhere else where it's nothing than bizarre!)

[becki1111.livejournal.com]

Whimsy's frames are just unbelievable! I suppose actually I should be sending this to him. I can't wait to see the finished product either.

[ex-ebb439.livejournal.com]

I love Giant Robot. It's one of the best magazines - the only one I read cover to cover. I donate money to them every year so they can keep up the excellent work.

Those Flash images are wonderful - would love to see the end result.

[cityramica.livejournal.com]

pleasure hanging out with you, Nick!

and i'll drink to being a self-created cartoon character...

:D!
mischa shoni

[autokrater.livejournal.com]

i agree with your statement on poor people being the ones who work hardest to make the impression..i think it's usually poor people who come up with the brilliant ideas,rich people usually take the ideas and perfect them or simply put an expensive price tag on it.

[lilchiva.livejournal.com]

you pussy

[(Anonymous)]

Yes those flash stills look great. That chicken/cock looks like a Scissor Sister met a 'Peter Gabriel' sledgehammer frame. I hope it dances in the final cut.

[picturepack.livejournal.com]

Are there other examples of Allen's Flash animations online?
There seems to be a shortage of really amazing artistic flash online lately. I havn't seen anything as amazing as http://vectorpark.com in the last year.

[dzima.livejournal.com]

Momus is no longer the third Pet Shop Boy: he's now the fifth Gorilla.

wait, aren't these...

[(Anonymous)]

...flash animations kind of inspired by the movie Dark Crystal or something?
- r.

[lovepuppet.livejournal.com]

http://www.heatherparker.com/pigroast/

[imomus.livejournal.com]

That is indeed magnificent! Thanks for the link.

[stanleylieber.livejournal.com]

It's illuminating where you draw the lines between self-mediating and not self-mediating. Isn't the act itself inevitable? Isn't that what expression is? Even those of us with less than generous educations create an avatar to mentate the concept of the self. Since language cannot encompass the totality of the universe, we must do this even to think. (Picture yourself riding your bike, at one with the machinery as your negotiate course corrections; where is the boundary between yourself and the bicycle as you concentrate on passing between two objects on the street?)

Or, do you posit some intrinsic difference between those who are aware they are doing this, self-creating the I, and those who are not aware. At greatest reduction a lot of what you say you are interested in actually seems to be the relationship between viewer and mirror, as opposed to the communication between one discreet human intelligence and another. It is fascinating that the harmony you say you seek is centered upon what elements the I edits into your collage from what is on offer around you -- conveniently bounded within your attention span, just so -- rather than the actual, inescapable harmony of the entire universe, which necessarily includes the elements you would not pick out to decorate your living room, or could even conceive of, simultaneously.

I do find it encouraging that you seem to be on the side of reclaiming the I from the advertisers (as it were; can you spell advertisers without the i?). Fortunately though, you're still Momus and not the King of bloody England!

Wouldn't you agree the American Republicans are the ultimate self-mediators?

(Note: Please don't construe this as hostility.)

Existentialism never goes out of style

[meganfinley.livejournal.com]

I haven't written in a while, that's because I've been taking intensive geology and poetry classes. Strangely I got the better grade from geology this time. My parents were nice and said it was because the teacher was jealous of my writing, I'd like to think this is true. I'm thing about paying $10 extra and getting an actual .com site. I don't know yet, maybe in September. I got alot of lovely books recently, which made me feel really good. On monday I start a class on Contemporary European Art which I am just thrilled about.

I really like the momus site, it helps me feel in tune with things. I really wish I could offer him a better place to stay. Preferably with benefits, like a bath and good food in the kitchen, a mattress with a warm spot. But, that's why I don't live in the city- it is too cramped and expensive- but I do love the art. I just can't believe that he wouldn't have one patron who he could crash with in Manhattan! What a shame, it is very sad. Especially when he has such great conversational skills.

Oh- and on the topic of invented personality- we wear different hats that turn into masks increasingly, and it is all real even if it appears conflicting- Think of the sides of a person as a magnifying glass at any point in time, just showing what is really there all the time to different degrees depending on need or desire. I feel sorry for those who can't find through learning, passion, creativity, or introspection new paths and sides in the course of a soul's life. To quote from one of my poems: "whether anyone's story in the asylum was true didn't matter, it was their truth, and that was good enough for me."

Re: Existentialism never goes out of style

[butterflyrobert.livejournal.com]

This may seem off-topic, but when I'm typing fast, I, too, often use "thing" instead of "think". It doesn't seem to be common, so I'd just like to say that we may be similar thingers.