FLY CAMERA

In 1974, I was contacted by a wealthy man who knew my work and wanted to finance an animated film to be scripted and drawn by myself.. He wished for me to draw the film in black and white, which would have taken me a fearful amount of time, but he was just as enamored of my jump-scatter drawings as my line works, so the transition between the individual drawings would not require the same precision, and would actually enhance the style of the film as a whole. To make it even more kinetic I designed this “Fly Camera”, with a plexiglass case in which live flies would be shot over each drawing, or “cell” as animators call them. Naturally, at 24 cells to be photographed for each second of film, the flies would be in constant jump-motion over the already explosive artwork. Ultimately it was I who stepped away from the project, as I could not reconcile myself to creating that volume of drawings while cutting off all the other projects I was and would become involved in. Besides, animation was inimical to my approach to filmmaking.

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