i (heart) odd-toed ungulates

Celebrating Fabulous Mr. Muybridge

Our lives in the 21st century are increasingly dominated by moving images - powerful camera and editing technologies makes it possible to endlessly manipulate (speed or slow frames) and accentuate certain actions, ultimately exposing the intricate movement of everything from humingbird wings in flight to the precise tongue flicks that a cat uses to lap milk. It's easy to take the accessibility of this visual information for granted, but 150 years ago, things that moved faster than the human eye and brain could register in sequence were mysteries left to artists to interpret. 

In 1872, a popular debate arose regarding whether a running horse's feet were ever in fact all 4 off the ground (as they appeared commonly throughout Victorian horse-racing art), or whether the stride required at least one hoof on the earth at any given point. In an attempt to settle the issue with visual evidence made by a device that "couldn't lie" (the camera), former governor of California, and racehorse owner, Leland Stanford commissioned English photographer Eadweard J. Muybridge to produce proof. After much study, experimentation, and the development of new techniques involving multiple cameras and carefully placed triggers, Muybridge delivered an irrefutable answer in 1877: a single photographic negative (one in a series) of Stanford's trotting horse, Occident, clearly shows the horse "floating", not a single toe touching the ground below. Further photographic series' of Stanford's Thoroughbred, Sallie Gardner, proved that not only was there also an unsupported point in the stride of a galloping horse, but that it occurred while all 4 legs were tucked beneath the body, as opposed to stretched out front and back, as was the common artistic depiction. The success of Muybridge's efforts prompted many more studies, with many more types of animals and actions, generating hundreds of thousands of images. These experiments also resulted in the zoopraxiscope - a precursor to cinematography and the motion picture.


Today marks the 182nd anniversary of the pioneering Eadweard J. Muybridge's birth. Muybridge's work fascinated me as a teenager and prompted numerous animated animal projects using tracings of his photos, and original drawings based on the studies. As a kid enamoured with anatomy, Muybridge's massive volumes of stills exploring the various gaits of dozens of different creatures, were a goldmine of reference imagery and inspiration for me. To this day my copy of Animals In Motion remains a powerful tool for researching form and gesture... So, a proper hat tip to Mr. Muybridge, for his incredible - and prolific - contributions to early scientific imaging and the arts.

The fantastic little video above was made in conjunction with a 2010 Muybridge exhibition at the Kingston Museum. To read more, check out eye magazine's little commentary on Muybridge's role as an artist; explore social scandals and multiple name changes here; and go look something up today! - Google Doodle for the day is a lovely tribute.

Eardog Shoots Oscar-dog

My incredible friend Kimberly has a fantastic eye for photography - and a tremendous love for dogs (this is, in fact, precisely how we became such fast friends). The talent and one-woman whirlwind behind Eardog Productions, Kimberly is never without camera in hand, and Oscar and I were fortunate enough to find ourselves the subjects of her artistry this winter. While out and about on a flurrying late December afternoon, just days before the new year turned, Kimberly and I took turns pointing our lenses at the handsome red beast - my images can be found here, along with canine sketches from the day - and Kimberly's handiwork is above. I simply adore the way she's captured Oscar, and it's a treat indeed to have such lovely photos of the 2 of us... Thank you, dear Kim! More of Kimberly's beautiful work can be found on her brand new portfolio site: www.eardog.com. (and if you'd like to know who designed that handsome Eardog logo, look no further...)

Things Could Be Worse

Has your waxed mustache just frightened a herd of baby goats? Is your crystal ball only offering up insults? Benjamin Dewey is a Portland-based comic book artist who's made a most amusing blogging/illustration project out of reminding you that, despite your wretched day... Things Could Be Worse. Above, a few of my favorite animal-related tragedies (honestly, #137... knife to the heart...). More depictions of the "pitiable, lamentable, mournful, rueful and otherwise cataclysmic"can be found here. And to keep things from going too sour, the all important sadness reprieves:

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things. They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

~Steve Jobs 

The remarkable Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple computer, had nothing to do with ungulates, or animals of any sort. He was a designer, a maker, a leader, and above all, a tireless visionary, but the influence of his passionate life's work (Apple) profoundly changed my life as an artist and designer, beginning with my family's first Macintosh: I was most fortunate to have a father who was, I suspect, waiting with baited breath for the invention of computers since he was a mere tyke... when the Macintosh was released, we had one. Well before Macs were available to me at school, I was spending countless evening hours completing homework with PageMaker and McPaint - stone age programs by today's standards, but at the time, they still shamed the black and green-screen IBMs in my high-school typing class. By the time I was 16, my parents had built their own graphic design business - powered by a small office of Macs - we had multiple Macs stationed around the house, and at that point, since I spoke Adobe as a second language, I became the first to apply to a number of my chosen institutions of higher learning with an interactive portfolio delivered on CD-ROM - all made on a Mac.

Today, I write this post from the desktop G5 in my own illustration/design studio, with 2 Apple displays center stage, an iPod plugged in to my left, and my indispensable iPhone tucked into a sweater pocket. I have been branded, without a doubt, though rarely have I felt such brand loyalty more well deserved. RIP, Mr. Jobs. You didn't just change the world, you changed it multiple times over, and bettered it at every step.

Daniel Naude: Animal Farm

South African photographer Daniel Naude has been making the web rounds with a new series of portraits featuring domesticated species, beautifully lit against the epic expanses of their environment. His dog portraits (the Africanis series) appeared on my radar last year and I fell immediately for the haunting images of feral canines. This time the desert dogs are joined by brindled cattle, humble equines, and a handful of sheep and goats. In exploring the rural South African countryside and gathering stories from native farmers and herders, Naude was deeply influenced by the traditions and mutual connections between domesticated animals and the humans who care for and depend on them. His images are as piercingly uncomfortable as they are sensitive and lush... "In front of the photographs, we find ourselves on the same eye level as the subjugated animals, extending their knowing gaze to us and reminding us of our uneasy dominion over them."

More of Naude's photographs can be found at www.danielnaude.com

Best. Brother. Ever.

To anyone who hasn't met him, I'd like to introduce one of the coolest guys I know - my incredible brother, Karl. I don't think I've ever doubted his amazingness, but there was definitely a long period, roughly between 5th and 12th grade, of deliberate denial (an unfortunate but usually unavoidable consequence of surviving through the irrationality of adolescence with a sibling). Thank goodness for growing up.

Karl currently lives in Brooklyn, and when he isn't crafting beautiful - often simultaneously functional - objects, he's thinking about what to make next. He has a sweet, slightly spazzy cat, cooks awfully delicious food for someone who's diet used to consist solely of chicken wings and chocolate milk, and in more ways than I can count, the kid is my absolute hero. And fortunately for this blog, it just so happens that he and I share a very warm fondness for animals, and many of his designs are fashioned in the likenesses of gentle creatures, like the whales above. 

I'd celebrate him on any given day, because I love him, and he deserves it, but today is kind of a big one. Happy Birthday, bro. Here's to staying passionate, and doing what you love (really effing well!).

Karl's recent projects include the Phrena lamp, produced by Artecnica, and the Animal Box series (pictured below), for Areaware.

Lucian Freud, 1922-2011

Regarded as one of the greatest modern figurative painters, Lucian Freud's career was defined largely by his penetratingly raw, nude portraits, painted with thick brushstrokes and an almost putridly warm palette of yellows and browns. Discomforting at times to peer into, his human subjects reveal exhaustion, vulnerability, and even distress. By contrast - and one of the things I have always been drawn to in his work - his depictions of his dogs, Pluto and Eli (whippets, who appeared regularly in his paintings and prints) have an exceptionally sensitive, grounded quality to them - not that they are any less exposed or gritty than the humans they sit with, but their honesty is of a different brand. They're achingly beautiful. Perhaps Lucian inherited a special empathy for canines from his grandfather, the iconic psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. The elder Freud had a soft spot for Chows and believed strongly that dogs possess a keen sense for determining character - an astute ability for stripping away exterior defenses and projections to reveal a deeper, more vulnerable truth... 

The exceptional Lucian Freud passed away yesterday at 88, in his home in London. 

Above: Double Portrait, 1985-1986 (oil); Below. clockwise:
Eli and David, 2005 (oil), Pluto, 1989 (etching); Eli, 2002 (etching).

Glorious Headwear

Breathtaking work from young milliner Ashley Lloyd... A woman after my own heart, and a recent graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, she uses a seductive combination of  traditional ribbons, feathers, and flowers, alongside skulls, horns, and taxidermy to emphasize the "contrast between decoration and decay". Excuse me now while I fantasize about grand entrances and masquerade balls - I like a little more coverage than nude-colored nickers, but I know what I'd be wearing on my head... 


Photos by Ned & Aya Rosen and Manolo Ceron - see www.ashleydlloyd.com for more info.

Tiny Horses by Amy Jean Porter

Amy Jean Porter's illustration drips with a coolness that I have always lamented not being able to infuse my own art with. It lives in a contemporary, popular culture that I simply don't gravitate to when I pick up a pencil. Don't get me wrong, I like my comparatively traditional style, and I've learned over the years that attempting to make art that doesn't come naturally to you is generally a very frustrating, ultimately loosing battle (skill and mastery of technique notwithstanding)... but I love Amy's work for all the things that make it so different than my own. The fact that she uses her distinct style to depict animal subjects, and is in the middle of a massive series of small drawings and paintings titled "All Species All the Time", is just the icing on the cake (and qualifies her for a mention on this very animal-centric blog). I've selected a handful of horses here from her "Tiny Horses Say What" series - a subset of the ASAT theme.

See more of Amy's really, really fun, crazy-bright, and awesome artwork at her website: www.amyjeanporter.com

Berlin Zoo-book Leiben

While bumbling around the interwebs researching vintage photos of hippos last week, I discovered Leszoosdanslemonde - roughly translated, it appears to be a catalogued portal to information about zoological parks all around the world (and there are a LOT of zoos on the planet). Since I can't read French, my exploration of the site was limited to the visual, but along with an expansive gallery of contemporary zoo animal photography, there are heaps of images in an archive containing old photos, postcards, and guidebook images sorted by continent > country > zoo. Many zoos have only one to a handful of images to their page, but for a choice few of the older, more successful/popular world zoos, great collections of scanned images are included - some at lovely large size (for the web). When I clicked onto the Berlin Zoo page I audibly gasped in awe at a series of images (5 of them here) spanning over 30 years of annual Berlin Zoo guidebook covers, all illustrated by the same artist (with the exception of the Indian elephant cover at lower right, which matches the style perfectly, but appears to have a distinctly different signature). Unfortunately, the primary artist's signature is illegible to me, and I couldn't find any more info by searching for history of the guidebooks themselves... if, by chance, someone reading this can shed some light on the identity of this illustrator, please comment or contact me - I simply can't take my eyes off these paintings... the mark-making is so beautifully expressive, while maintaining admirably tight anatomy - they have a handsome 60s/70s illustration style that I really gravitate to  - and the COLOR...! Wunderbar!!


The 150 year-old Berlin Zoo is the oldest zoo in Germany and contains more animal species than any other zoo in the world (close to 1,500) - roughly 16,000 individuals in total. Admission to this already popular tourist attraction jumped 30% in 2007, after Knut - the world's most photographed polar bear - was born and his story circled the globe. Rejected by his mum, Knut was hand-reared by dedicated keepers and instantly became the most celebrated animal in Germany - he even had a Vanity Fair cover all to himself, shot by Annie Leibovitz.