Inspiration between frames

Opposites Attract

The studio was founded in New York in the 1921. Even in the beginning while they worked in silent films, the

character’s “acting” was all they could rely on to bring everything to life. The studio’s aesthetic was unique, it

was very loose, and improvisational which is best revealed in their short for Ko-Ko the Clown and Betty

Boop. Even later, when they worked on the early Popeye, although still in black and white one of the signatures in

the studio was to morph characters and inanimate objects. Another signature of the time, not necessarily the

studio’s, was to elongate the figure and make it seem rubber-like to exaggerate the movement, and acting

possibilities of each character. These specific traits have inspired countless artists in every field, and if we dig

deeper into their bodies of work we will find some subtle, and other obvious details that have been unmistakably

influenced by the animations produced by Fleischer Studios.

Fleischer Studios

In 1923 the Disney Bros Cartoon Studio opened in California. Some of the earlier work on the shorts for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit paved the way for the now

famous character of Mickey Mouse. One of the staples of the animated industry in the early 1930’s was to work anthropomorphic characters, generally

animals. This became one of Disney Studios’signature developing characters like Minnie Mouse, Donald and Daisy Duck, and Goofy. Later on in the Merry Melodies series Disney Studios mastered the

art of making anthropomorphic worlds where everything and everyone had movement and a

personality keeping the aesthetic of the time with very exaggerated figures with rubber-quality limbs.

This look defined the era, and it went on to influence countless artists form the period, and later traveled through time to influence contemporary creatives as

well.

Disney Bros Cartoon Studio

Born in France in 1984 Mc bess is a professional contemporary animator and illustrator. He has a degree in animation

from the French academy of Supinfocom, where he met fellow artists and

collaborator Douglas Lassance and Jonathan Vuillemin with whom he founded

“Sigg Jones” After 2006 he started developing his own style, which he’d later, called “the new Mc Bess” This new style was reminiscent of animations from the 1920’s and 1930’s form both Fleischer

Studios, and Disney Bros Cartoon Studio.

Mc Bess

Born in 1970 in Los Angeles to an artistic family, she started to work in murals as a

teenager. She graduated from Otis College of Art and Design in 1992, and went straight to UC Davis for an MFA degree. Defined as a Low-Brow artist, Camille Rose Garcia has worked as a

gallery artist, illustrator, and print artist. Her work has been described as macabre

surrealism, with influences from the punk music scene and animations from Fleischer Studios, and Disney Bros Cartoon Studio.

Camille Rose Garcia

Fleischer Studios 1930Animation

This short film is the first appearance of Betty Boop (with long, dog ears) as a entertainer in a dog

restaurant. We can appreciate the playfulness of the animation with the elongated figure, and

anthropomorphic that were characteristic of the animation the era.

Dizzy Dishes

Black Kraken Hijack

Camille Rose Garcia 2004

Acrylic and Glitter on Panel

This piece’s figures are reminiscent of Dizzy

Dishes. Their caricaturesque look is deceptive, and it lends itself well to play with

layers of irony and satire.

Mc Bess 2010Ink on Paper

This simple yet satirical image draws inspiration form Fleischer Studios’

Dizzy Dishes in the crude yet comical depiction of subject matter, and the

play with its ironic title.

The Shit Machine

Meat Cake

Camille Rose Garcia 2001

Acrylic and Glitter on Panel

Compared to the rest of her work this piece’s composition is quite simple, which makes it more reminiscent of shorts like Dizzy Dishes, with details like the elongated characters, and the mischievousness they inspire.

The Happy Meal

Mc Bess 2012Ink on Paper

This image though very straight forward relates very well to

Fleischer Studios Dizzy Dishes.. Mc Bess chose to

anthropomorphize food, making a composition that is

strengthen by the use of curved lines.

Disney Bros Cartoon Studio 1932Animation

Flowers and Trees

This was Disney’s first commercial short produced in full-color; awarding the studio its first Academy Award for Animated Short Subject.. It starts at the wake of spring, and nature is rising from

deep sleep, stretching, and exercising for the season. The film is set around a world where all of nature is anthropomorphized .

Mc Bess 2010 Nobrow4 Cover

Ink on Paper

Untitled

In this image we see the subtle and obvious influences that derive from the Flowers and Trees animation. The chaotic world he created in this piece is reminiscent of the animation even if these pictures are not accompanied by sound, at first glance we can identify noise as being one of its main components.

Snow White

Camille Rose Garcia 2012

Brothers Grimm

Acrylic on Panel

In her latest work Garcia has softened her palette giving her work more of a contrast between color, and figure. In this illustration of

Snow White’s death we can still see the details that are drawn from pieces like Flowers and Trees such as macabre quality of the trees.

Untitled

Mc Bess 2010Digital Temple

Magazine

Ink on Paper

Even though this landscape does not contain as much nature as the Flowers and Trees animation, it comes alive with little details of

anthropomorphic amplifiers, and other instruments; allowing for a very distinct musical atmosphere.

Alice in Wonderland

Camille Rose Garcia 2010

Mad Hatter Tea Party: Lewis Carroll's Book Alice in Wonderland

Gouache on Paper

In her later pieces her work has evolved in such a way were you can spot a Camille Rose Garcia from miles away, thought her influences are still apparent. There are trances of Flowers and Trees in this piece, especially in the palette, and the small details in the anthropomorphic characters. The extended figures are still a part of her work, and still reminiscent or the animation of the 1930’s.

Disney Bros Cartoon Studio 1929Animation

The Skeleton Dance

As the clock strikes midnight four skeletons in a cemetery come out to dance, to a creepy and contagious rhythm the make

alternative instruments out of their own body parts.

Camille Rose Garcia 2002

Ink on Paper

Blur Driver

This image is a perfect example of subtle inspiration, we can see that this ocean is some kind of graveyard, and the squids, and characters seem to do a mournful dance to the to the sound of doom.

Untitled

Mc Bess 2013dead‘o’rama exhibit

Animation

With a more obvious inspiration from The Skeleton Dance Mc Bess drives us into a strange death valley, where skeletons are alive and

human characters enjoy the moonlight to the music from a radio.

Poison Skull

Camille Rose Garcia 2010

Acrylic, and Gold Leaf on Paper

In this piece the resemblance becomes obvious, as we

encounter a skull as the main focus of the piece, but there are subtleties like the texture of the

collage paper resembles a garden or cemetery where this skull might

live.

Black Bone Club

Mc Bess 2013Be Street Magazine

Digital IllustrationInflueces become more

obvious in some pieces, like this one. Not only did Mc Bess

used skulls, but the piece is part of an French urban

magazine that deals with everyday life, and music

among other things.

Fleischer Studios1931

Animation

Bimbo Express

This is one of Fleischer's Studios first shorts that include dialogue in a playful and more adult humor compared to that of Disney’s shorts. This sense of

humor carries onto involve the character's acting, which interplayed with the anthropomorphic quality given to most object makes an interesting piece to

watch.

Mc Bess 2013 Print

Rated R

In this apparently simple poster we can at first glance only see a hand-lettered R, but if we look deeper into its detail we can see a lot of resemblance to Bimbo Express, with the way the figures play against houses, and the resemblance to a face created by the windows and the piano on the bottom left.

Snow White

Camille Rose Garcia 2012

Brothers Grimm

Acrylic on Panel

This image has an instant resemblance to the anthropomorphic style of the era with the way the house becomes the focal point of the image making you feel as if the rest of the image was created

around this house that wants to tell you a story.

Mc Bess 2013 Print

Beer and bourbon

This poster is a perfect example of the influence that Fleischer Studios had on Mc Bess. Here he chose to use more adult humor and nudity with glasses and bottles coming to life, and interacting with people in the same way Bimbo interacts with Betty Boop.

Night ToxinsCamille Rose Garcia

2006

Acrylic on Panel

As a recurrent theme in her work Camille Rose Garcia chooses to anthropomorphize animals, creatures, and objects like the bottles in this picture. The interplay of the macabre feeling of the background,

and the character with the lively drawing of the bottle makes a for very humorous and slightly more “animated” piece.

Disney Bros Cartoon Studio 1928Animation

Steamboat Willie

This was Mickey Mouse first appearance, Walt Disney wanted this new character to be the replacement for Oswald the Lucky

Rabbit. As some of the shorts of the time it was all about the music, and the character’s story as well as the exaggeration of its

movements.

Snow White

Camille Rose Garcia 2012

Brothers Grimm

Acrylic on Panel

In pieces like this the artist portrays a very sinister feeling that in a way translates into a musical language. While looking at the whole piece and seeing the snakes and the cauldron we can image what

the soundtrack to this image would be like, just as we saw Steamboat Willie in mute.

Mc Bess 2009 Ink on Paper

Day Off

There is a happiness and enthusiasm that come from looking at this image, that resembles the feeling after watching Steamboat Willie. It make you relate to a child thinking everything is possible, piano trees, and talking amplifiers. The way Mc Bess made instruments from everything around him just like Mickey to play music for Minnie.

Escape VelocityCamille Rose Garcia 2011

Acrylic on Panel

This piece draws you in with the poetic subtleties between the animals. There is a definite are of mystical sound within nature portrayed in this illustration that resembles the animation of the 1930’s.

Mc Bess 2009 Ink on Paper

Untitled

As a musician Mc Bess chooses to include musical instruments, and imagery related to sound into most of his work. In this piece the music is clear form the instruments, but also from the mood that has been created with details in the character's movements, and open mouths, as if they were singing, creating a very loose musical environment.

• The Museum Presents

• Artist Lecture

• Museum Conversations

• Museum Readings

Museum Program

The Museum PresentsThis program consists of showing 1 hour of short films half an hour each studio with discussion panel with an animation and illustrator historian and both illustrators involved in the exhibit.

Artist Lecture

This program would take place on two separate nights during the run of the exhibition. Each night each artist could give a retrospective talk about their work, and their influences.

Museum ConversationIn this event the museum would invite a panel of illustrator (including the artists), animation and illustration experts and a moderator, to start a dialogue/conversation about their art and connection with these animations.

Museum Reading

As a reach to the children’s in the community Camille Rose Garcia could give  readings Alice in Wonderland and Snow White, and talk to the children about her process.