Blu

Jan Svankmjer, who was born in Prague in 1934, is one of the world's foremost animators. He studied at the institute of Applied Arts and an Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in the 1950’s. Jan made his first film in 1964 and created some of the most unique and memorable animations today. His objects (often made of clay, as in Darkness Light Darkness) come to life using stop-motion.

Many of his films use live action alongside Stop motion, such as his 1988 feature-length film of Alice (which won the 1989 Annecy International animated feature film award). One of his trademarks is the exaggeration of sounds, and he also often uses fast-motion sequences for people walking and interacting. Although many of his animations appear to be from a child’s perspective, they can also appear a little aggressive and disturbing. His most recent animation was released in 2010 and called Surviving Life and he has another project due to be released in 2015.

 BLU is an Argentinian street graffiti artist who became known for his spray paint artwork, carried out in the suburbs of Bologna. Although he began his work with spray paint, after a couple of years he began experimenting and started using house paint and large rollers which enabled him to create artwork on a much larger scale. He often works with another artist called Ericailcane. Blu is good at drawing characteristic human figures, and Ericailcane draws typical animals. Around the same time, (in early 2000), Blu also started experimenting with (stop motion) animation. His potential was noticed, but Blu declined requests to attend collective shows in art galleries, preferring to stay unknown. In 2005 Blu began to travel to different countries, spreading his horizons. He painted a large wall with a human figure created from bananas when arriving in South Africa. The painting was dubbed Hombre Banana, or Banana man, and it was particularly significant, reminding those who lived there of the time when workers went on strike on Banana plantations.


Blu went on to visit countries such as Brazil, Costa Rica and Peru, making his mark in each country. In 2007 in Bethlehem, Blu together with other artists including Ericailcane, Banksy and Mark Jenkins, painted part of a watchtower on the wall that separates the West Bank from Israel. The artwork shows a man using his finger to try to tear down the "open air prison".

Today Blu is well known for producing stunning artwork, particularly in the form of stop motion animation in the same style as his wall murals. Instead of using a blank canvas to paint each frame onto, Blu chooses to paint on walls and pavements. After drawing a single frame, he blanks out the previous frame, painting over it in a neutral colour such as white or grey. The process is time consuming, and the passing of days can be seen when looking at his animations, with changes to daylight and the colour of the sky.