Invisible Cities
Fall 2014
Animation
In 1972, writer Italo Calvino published a book about Marco Polo and his experiences of visiting these undiscovered worlds. The book was called "Invisible Cities" because they were cities that up till now were isolated from the western world, therefore developing odd yet unique cultures. Why am I telling you all of this? Well back in my first year of college we had to describe a city like in Calvino's book. They didn't have to be historical pieces, they only had to capture the feeling of exploring an alien world, other than that we had creative liberty to do whatever we wanted to achieve that goal. That is when I created the 'happy' town of Grinton. At first glance it is the 'Happiest town in the world'. But the closer we get into Grinton, the more cases of pain and corruption reveal itself. Telling the classic story of Dystopia and Big Brother.
The Grintons
Oh the Grintons, they should be happy to look at, I mean they are so smiley and happy, yet they are just wrong and weird. Blue skin, their heads are just mouths. But the design is purposeful. Showing the city through the people, they display themselves as happy, but its all a front. In reality there are things going on with them that are wrong, much like the corrupt city of Grinton. The bodies were cut from newspapers and magazines, while the head is a opensource photo of a statue I found online, it was originally all brass, but I colorized it to bring its character and life to it.
Building a City
The city itself was news paper clippings formed together into a collage, these are the clippings that built this city.
