Mise en Abîme

Citizen Kane; Orson Welles, 1941

Also known as the matrioska effect, or the chinese box effect, or the Moebius loop and many others...It is a term coined by André Guide, and basically means to put a text within a text (or image). We all have done it, at one point or another, standing between two mirrors and observing our reflection being thrown to the abyss. It has been used in literature for a long long time: a story containing another story containing another story. e.g. The One Thousand and One Nights. It gives a sense of infinite realities linked with the divine. Little realities contained by bigger ones, making us wonder if ours is the highest in jerarchy or we are just the reflection of another one. The philosophical implications of that technique are obvious: the futility of our own existence when it loses its uniqueness. Bound to repeat the same actions over and over and commiting the same mistakes without remission. Welles used it to depict the solitude and infinite fortune of Charles Foster Kane. Lost amongst his uncountable objects, unable to distinguish his self from the image he created of his life. Accompanied only by his own reflection, Kane dies in utter solitude. In other movies like Inception, mise en abîme is no longer a resource to add meaning to the plot, but the plot itself.
This repetition technique has also been used in advertising, with such fortune, it also goes by the name of a chocolate brand. However, my favourite one is La Vache qui rit.
Since it has a very powerfull aesthetical impact, mise en abîme has been used in video-clips since the very begining. Its use spans from what's considered the first video-clip (as we understand them now) Bohemian Rhapsody until today, with videos like Seven Nation Army or, my all time favourite Michel Gondry's video-clip, The Chemical Brothers' Let forever Be.

But what about real life? Has anybody experienced a mise en abîme? I guess dejà vus might count, but unless you have five in a row, the effect would wear off pretty quick. That's when the guys of Improv Everywhere come into place. They pulled a mise en abîme performance at a Starbucks Cafe. The same chain of actions were repeated over and over. People started feeling something funy was going on.

Exit through the gift shop!!!!

   Last wednesday I was comming back from work on my bike when I stumbled across this stencil painting by the 101. It obviously looks like Banksy's work, and since I knew he was in California (the Oscar's night had been 3 days before), chances were it was an actual Banksy. I looked on the internet and apparently it is. Woohooo, how cool is that!
   I was never a street art follower until a few years ago Gabriela Berti approached me to help her put together the videos and images she had recollected for her book, Pioneros del Graffiti en España in a mini-documentary that would go with the book's presentation (see). I am still a neophyte on the matter but I must confess it's a truly fascinating world. Not only for the art itself, but in regards with the artistic movement and commmnity -since it is not very legal.

   So I got curious and decided to watch the documentary for which Banksy was nominated to the Oscar: "Exit throught the gift shop". I have never seen anything like it since Orson Welles' F for Fake. It is clever, witty, deeper in message than it looks and I don't buy for a second this is an actual documentary.
  Banksy's Thierry Guetta is like Welles' Elmir de Hory, the vehicle around whom a very interesting dissertation about art -and its value- is made. We live in a consumer society and art has never ever been so available and easy to reproduce. Through repetition, art becomes meaningless but iconic, and that's what pop culture is all about: icons. Banksy is now an icon, as Thierry Guetta aka Mr.Brainwash and that's why all these art galleries want his woks and collectors pay ridiculous amounts of money for his pieces. If Guetta's persona is a Banksy's fabrication, then it is most likely that his rip-off work is actually Banksy's.  So what is the value of that piece, then? As Welles quotes in his film, Picasso claimed he was, too, capable of painting a false Picasso.
   Guetta becomes a monster, and Banksy is like Dr. Frankenstein, because he created the monster. As I read it, Guetta represents Banksy's increasingly popular persona, something he cannot control. He cannot be held responsible for people wanting to pay thousands of dollars for his paintings. Banksy says in the film: "Guetta didn't play with the rules, but then again there are no rules". That is the whole statement of the film. There are no rules in art. Once the fever passes and the hype is gone, only then, with time, we will be able to tell if it was good or not. If it will remain or it will fade like a trend. Time is the only judge of Art.

Some Industrial

A few months ago, during an informal meal, I was approached with the idea to design for the web-site of the guys at Lift Support Depot. I found the idea quite interesting and I actually had a lot of fun doing it since I prefer freehand drawings to vectorial. At the end, everybody was happy. Funny if you come to think they pay better than any of the other artistic stuff I did...

Rog's Blog

I learned to draw at the school, I mean not in art's school but during any class. I used to be so bored I spent most of the time illustrating my school books. In that sense I am a self-taught illustrator, although Pitagoras, Gauss, Mendelsson, Nietzsche, Plato and many others were a huge source of inspiration.

I started studying English philology, you know: language and literature, but I switched to Film studies and Video Production. I have worked for television and radio and for some strange twist of fate, for a little while, I worked in the music industry.

My dream was to become a Film director, but I am not really sure that's exactly what I wanted. I like writing, playing music, photography, acting, designing and, obviously, directing. You could say I'm a "jack for all trades" (but master of none).

The bottom line is that what I have always enjoyed is storytelling. Either it is with a song, a picture or a short story, and thats why I think illustration might be the thing for me. I have always been quite impatient, and always eager to find new interests, and that's why illustration is so perfect for me, I can tell a story with 3 or 4 images.

I directed a short film of which I am very proud, but it took, literally, years to complete. Loads of people were involved, money I had to spend, things to coordinate...I have tons of short stories and scripts I could turn into short films, but it would take me ages. With illustration, I only depend on myself, my pecil and my laptop. I can use my filming knowledge, my music skills and my writing talent. In the end, it's all about storytelling.

For those who haven't seen my short film yet, here it is: