Remember the little film about L’Artiste’s woes? It looks like it is going to be shown on the big screen at the Waiheke Cinema. I hope the quality is good enough. I’ve changed the ending to advertise that the Dedes are currently being shown on the island at the Upcycle Gallery and that I will have a talk there next Saturday. The Dedes are starting to take on yet another dimension.
Yesterday my friend and I went to Waiheke Island to deliver the Lil’Dedes to their temporary accommodation at the Upcycle Gallery. Here you see Lil’Devtoo on the ferry when he first spotted the island. He was really excited and proudly wore his new dress my friend had made. Doesn’t it look better than the tiger print dress Lil’Devil bought at the two dollar shop?
As skeptical as they all were in the beginning, I think they are very happy now that they have made the trip across. Nora, the lady who organised it all, is absolutely wonderful and loves them to bits (I hope she doesn’t spoil them too much). I am confident they will thoroughly enjoy their stay. I will go and visit them on the 7th when I have a talk at the Gallery about my work and my book.
I needn’t have worried. Monkey has already found a new friend to confide in: Lil’Piggy.
Lil’Piggy and Farmer John eloped together and set up camp in one of my hoody pockets. They looked so settled that I let them stay. This morning when I came into the kitchen Monkey was sitting on the floor telling Lil’Piggy his life story. Farmer John sat on the kitchen bench and watched them from afar. He reckons Monkey is attracted to the Lil’Dedes because the other Dedes never tired of laughing at his antics and always called him a monkey.
Well, I was wrong again. Last time I said the original Dedes and the Lil’Dedes didn’t want to know each other and they keep to their respective groups. Tomorrow the Lil’Dedes are leaving for Waiheke Island to be exhibited. When I started packing up you should have seen the monkeys. They didn’t want to let go of each other. Obviously they had forged a deep friendship in the few days they were together. They asked me for 10 minutes of privacy so they could say good bye to each other.
I feel really nasty now, that I break them up.
The Dedes are starting to run out of patience. They still haven’t moved into their new studio space. We are still busy sanding down window frames. I want to have the space perfect before I allow them to settle. Surprisingly, it was all good for a while. They seemed to be content as they could see the light at the end of the tunnel – or so I thought. I just assumed the Dedes know me well enough to sense how stressed I am and that it is not a good time to talk to me. I really appreciated that they gave me the space I needed and that they refrained from pushing me. But this morning it finally occured to me they don’t really understand that things take time. No! they have simply given up on me. All the projects that we’ve started came to a screeching halt. They have given up asking me about the tennis film and recording the Dada recitals and all the other fun things we had planned and were so excited about. Instead, they are terribly annoyed that I spend every spare minute making new Lil’Dedes for the upcoming exhibition. Needless to say, there is no love lost between the big ones and the little ones. The big ones keep to themselves and it is now very obvious that they are currently avoiding me!
This morning Devil and L’Artiste decided they couldn’t wait any longer and took action to speed things up. They went into the new space and had a good look at the sander. They discussed it, scratched their heads and figured out it will take at least two Dedes to shift the heavy thing. By the time they had dragged it to the window they were totally exhausted and needed a break. They still haven’t figured out how to switch the thing on. To be honest, I hope they never ever will…
I’ve got an email from Theresa with a brief report how Lil’Devil is doing. He is a bit shy and mainly sitting on her bookshelf reading books in English. Theresa says that with the speed he is churning through the books he will have to learn German soon so he can start on the German books. Learning German wouldn’t go amiss anyway. Otherwise he will have a hard time making friends. But then, most Germans speak pretty good English and are always happy to practise their language skills with a native speaker.
Last weekend they went to Gorinsee in the north-east of Berlin and I’ve been told he made quite an impression with his tiger-print dress.
Lil’ Devil has left for Berlin… and I will now reveal who he wanted to impress with his tiger print dress. (He would certainly blush if he knew I was telling you). He was a present for my lovely tutorial assistant, Theresa, and he really wanted to wow her.
Theresa is a gifted illustrator who won a scholarship to do her Masters in New Zealand. The programme she was enrolled in is a Masters by project. This means the students produce a new body of work and write an exergesis rather than an entirely theoretical thesis. In her project Theresa investigated living in a different culture and her final work was a graphic novel. Much to my suprise, one of the chapters was dedicated to the Dedes. In this chapter she processed the conversations we had and let the puppets do the talking. I have to say, she did a wonderful job capturing the Dedes (and the conversations). I only have a copy of the Dede chapter but you should have seen her other drawings: beautiful and elaborate cityscapes, with heaps to see and read and chuckle about. She is certainly one to watch out for. I have no doubt she will be very, very successful.
I hope Lil’ Devil is a good luck charm and he will watch out for her in difficult times. He promised me – in true Dede fashion – that he is ready to have a conversation whenever she feels like it :). Maybe she will even get him a new dress.
Lil’ Devil has left us as well. He is a lucky little chap as he is going to Berlin. (This is a long story which I hope I will get round to telling you sometime soon). I am a bit worried about him, though, as he is a tad naive sometimes. The day he left us, he went up the road to the Two Dollar shop to buy himself a nice dress for the journey. I shouldn’t have let him go by himself. He obviously has no taste. What did he come back with? A rag with a tiger print pattern. It really doesn’t suit his complexion, does it? I didn’t say anything as he was tickled pink with his choice. He said the sweet shop assistant remarked on how stunning he looked in it and that it brings out the devil in him. Rrraaarrrr!
He has a lot to learn!
I know, I’ve been rather slack lately about reporting what is happening in the Dede world. Nontheless, the Dedes are alive. I’ve got an email from Lil’Mouse who found a new home last week. He told me it is pretty cold where he is living now and everyone is wearing a tuxedo. So he went to a suit hire shop to get himself one too. He doesn’t want to stand out, he says. Can you spot him?
He then went to a photographer to have his portrait taken, to send to his friends he left behind. I think the tux suits him perfectly. I guess he still has to wear sunglasses to avoid snow blindness.
The King finally has some underlings he can command. So he is happy! Unfortunately, they don’t stay around for long. The cool Lil’Mouse with her sunglasses has already moved on and Lil’Devil will leave us this afternoon as well. I had to promise the King there will be more little mice and more little devils. Ah well, I’ll put it on my list!
dedepuppets 