Another one of my building site images. It shows Nothing. I particularly like the scratch marks around the nothing :)
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Nothing
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Sadly I won’t be able to do much art this weekend. We have to attend to our renovations. We are half way through and I am so over it! I went around the site this morning to take some images. Yesterday the glass for the windows was delivered. All the panes are leaning against the wall with little blue stickers on them. Through the lens it looked like they were floating.
The Dedes might complain about the lack of consultation, but I decided to have one day per week where I put up images unrelated to the Dedes and I am starting today. (Nothing in my life is entirely unrelated to the Dedes, or to put it another way, the Dedes are very much part of my life.) If Devil was here he would tell me off now for waffling, so I will leave it at this.
Anyway, the image I have put up today is from a photo series called “worst friend ever.” For this series, I photographed mementoes of people who once were dear to me, but I have long lost touch with. I have a lot of these (mementoes and people I have lost touch with). The title of the series is of course a reference to me, not the friends I’ve lost touch with.
This little glass penguin is shown larger than it is in reality. It is in fact only about 1 centimetre tall, but it is larger than life. It was given to me by one of my dearest friends when I was in my early twenties. He brought it back from his first trip to Italy. It was an extremely significant trip for him, as it was the first time he was allowed to leave the country after he was realeased from prison. I can assure you this precious one centimeter high piece of glass carries an entire book inside.
I am finally ready to tell the story of Fairy Godmother. It is a long story and I have to briefly recap the whole Dede story.
You might know the Dedes have been around for just over a year. I started doing them in December 2011 and they immediately took on a life of their own. Within a week I had created 15 characters. They instantly set forth and forced me to drop everything else I was doing at the time and take pictures of them. When the images turned out well, they went on to demand a story about our relationship. So I sat down and wrote the book “Hermit’s Web or the few friends I need I hand-craft myself”. Their initial success made them so vain that having the book distributed to my close friends wasn’t good enough for them any longer. They wanted to take on the world…
Unfortunately they can’t do it themselves. They have to work with me. And I am the one who is holding it all up, so they tell me. If they had chosen a different artist, if they had landed in someone else’s studio, they would be out there enjoying fame and fortune (or at least, that is what they are constantly telling me). I can assure you they are not always plain fun. They are needy, demanding and ungrateful at times. They are holding me hostage – but that is a different story. I wanted to let you in on the appearance of Fairy Godmother.
The Dedes, – when the book was published – heard or read somewhere that New Zealand was Guest of Honor at the tremendously important book fair in Frankfurt. Of course their demands didn’t stop with the publication of the book. The next thing was they wanted to go to this big fair. My plea that we were a little late didn’t cut it with them. “That is what we want, make it happen.” they said.
I was extremely fortunate to find someone who still had space on their booth and was willing to take the Dede book to Frankfurt after I had described it as an art book over the phone. I was so overjoyed about the good news that I immediately had to sit down and create the Fairy Godmother for good luck. The head wasn’t even dry when the lady, an academic, rang me back to tell me that my book wasn’t an art book. She said the book was rather childish. Whimsical I prefer to call it, but the word eluded me at the time. I was speechless. Here we are again: what is art?
Anyway, the book went to Frankfurt in the end. When I put the skin on the Dede Fairy Godmother I named her Mrs Esta Blished. Look at her. She turned out to be a tired old Fairy Godmother, who is busy protecting her own achievements. Her wand is gathering dust in the attic. Personally I think she is a beauty, but she might not appeal to other people. Just like art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Yesterday I had lunch with a good friend of mine who I hadn’t seen for a while. While she is a real Dede fan, she is not keen on reading online and doesn’t read the blog regularly. So I usually give her the run-down on what has happend in the Dede World since we last met. Of course she hadn’t heard about my latest scheme. When I told her about the coffee mugs she got quite excited and immediately thought of a friend she could give a Monkey cup to. The problem was, there was no Monkey cup planned as yet. In the afternoon I sat down and created a second series with just head shots of a few puppets. They are ones who I definitely know have fans out there in the big wide world.
I don’t really want to talk about the Zazzle store every day. Unfortunately that is what is on my mind at the moment as I need to get my head around it all. I promise next week I will move on to other stuff again.
I went really wild yesterday and took lots of images. Now I have to sift through them all to find out which ones are our heros.
Though all the Dedes were watching, some of them are still not convinced it is the right idea. Pirate likes the idea, but is miffed, as he wanted to be my manager and suggested exactly the same thing in January. Back then I wasn’t keen on the idea at all. But now circumstances have changed and one has to adapt, right?
For the “Embrace Diversity” series I asked Harvey and Foxy Lady to pose together. Everybody knows hares and foxes usually avoid each other. Much to my surprise they immediately started to tango and what a lovely couple they were. Everybody clapped at their performance. Only Pavlova, who stood right next to me, wasn’t impressed. “I will call you a pimp from now on”, she said under her breath so only I could hear. “I can assure you, I certainly won’t take part in such silliness!”
It’s easy for you, I thought, you have a job in the lab.
Yesterday the three volunteers and I went into the studio. And, boy, did we have fun! The images I had envisaged are simple clear cut full body shots of the individual puppets. They bring out their character and can be understood without the background knowledge of the book or the blog. The three characters I dealt with yesterday couldn’t be more different. I took the images separately and what you see above is a composite.
I started off with Mouse. She is a cute little thing and yesterday came across as a little needy and, dare I say it, childish. While I was taking the images I was thinking about what kind of short caption would go with each of them. Mouse on the right definitely wants to have a hug. That is so her.
The second one was Alien. He is such a showman and a perfect model. No matter how he posed he always radiated enjoyment and fun. Below is a composite of just a few of his images. He is so cool and his smile is simply infectious. I can tell you it is so much easier to work with someone who is plain fun. (I don’t know how reliable he is though. But as a model he did a fantastic job!)
The last one was Devil. He is – as you certainly all know by now – one of my favourites. But he turned out to be a grumpy old fart in the studio. I just couldn’t tickle a smile out of him yesterday. Maybe he was a little envious because he had just watched me having so much fun with Alien, who is such a natural. But Devil shouldn’t be worried. I appreciate him for his own values and in particular his honesty. On the other hand I can’t take Alien seriously at all. And anyway, in the very beginning when I created Devil, I fell in love with him and wanted to print his face on a hoodie for winter. New Zealand isn’t terribly cold in winter (except the houses, because most of them are poorly insulated). Outside you won’t need a heavy coat. You get away with a sweatshirt with a hood to keep the wind off your ears, particularly when you are out walking.
I don’t know what got into Devil yesterday. I said to him he should look straight at me but he couldn’t even manage that. He argued a lot and always looked past me. Maybe it is not such a good idea to try and direct a devil on how he should pose. I will take him into the studio again today and hope he is in a better mood and just let him be himself.
In the end I asked Alien to get together with Devil for one last image. I thought he might be a good influence and cheer him up. It didn’t work, but I still love this image. I immediately thought of a caption for it: “Embrace Diversity”.
This caption is the essence of the Dedes. And for me this image says it all. So, if Devil doesn’t shape up today, this might be the one I will print on my hoody!
I woke up this morning with the thought of expanding on the idea of “Embrace Diversity”. There are a few pairings that wouldn’t speak to each other in real life. A prime example would be Rob D Light, the robber and Bobby the policeman. Or Mouse and Push Push, the elephant. Even Professor and Pig, the poster boys of the Dedes, are an unusual couple.
Once again, I will just tell them that this is what we are going to do. I am not fluffing about anymore. I have to show better leadership skills here. No more discussing things until the cows come home…
I got a request via facebook yesterday. The question was whether I could set up the Alien mug so that one can print their own name on it. I looked into it last night and yes, it is possible. So I will set this up later today. Thank you for the suggestion. I think this is a brilliant idea… if your name is on the Alien mug and you take it to the office, it certainly won’t disapear :).
Phew, I hope you enjoyed this little insight on how we work. We have heaps to do today and I better get on with it! 
The last image is of Mouse who never loses faith in the Dedes. She is a strong believer we are winners. Thanks Mouse!
No news from the Dedes. They are still in lock-down. I had to entertain myself last night, which was very difficult, as they were in the only room that still has a light. You might know that we are currently remodelling the house. When I was walking from one end of the house to the other I thought I saw an alien spaceship through the window in one of the empty rooms and I had to grab my camera. I finally realised how much I miss taking photographs of subjects other than the Dede puppets. They better be careful. Their strategy meeting might backfire if they don’t tell me soon what’s going on. I might rekindle my love for photography.
On closer scrutiny the glowing spaceship unfortunately turned out to be the old bathtub illuminated by the lights from the room where the Dedes had their meeting.
I knew it, I knew it! The Dedes can’t make up their minds about what they should do for their anniversary. Even worse, they are quarreling over whose idea is best. They are not used to brainstorming I guess. They are poo-poohing each other’s ideas and at any one time, one or the other puppet is sulking because they think their opinions don’t get the respect they deserve.
Sure enough, last night Deutsch Fraulein visited me in a huff. Her idea was shot down in flames. Of course, she is convinced her idea is the most wonderful one and she tried to lobby me to take up her case. Deutsch Fraulein would really like to have a photo competition called “My Dede World”. All the Dedes would be eligible to take part and enter one photograph, an interpretation of what’s important to them as a Dede. The viewers could judge which photograph is the best. Needless to say, Deutsch Fraulein has recently taken up photography and is out and about with her camera all day long. It’s a typical trait of the newly converted: She is overdoing it a bit and is getting on everyone’s nerves.
She showed me one of her latest photographs. “So what do you want to say with this?” I asked
“I don’t know, it’s just pretty, isn’t it?”
“There’s more to photography than just snapping something that looks pretty!”
Sure enough, On Sunday the weather was much better (at least between the showers). Devil pestered me all morning to go on our outing. I did not have the time, I really couldn’t fit him in. In the end he got very miffed with me. He didn’t leave the sofa at all but made heaps of snide remarks while I was pacing up and down the hallway trying to get organised. At one stage I had enough and told him off for his upsetting behaviour. When I talked to him he looked a bit meek, and now he is curled up in the corner of the sofa and feeling sorry for himself. He will be okay when I come home tonight. I am sure he will be back to his devilish self in no time. But seeing him how he is right now, makes me feel really bad…
dedepuppets 