Cult animator Mike Judge has released his first crypto artwork at SuperRare

Originally written by SuperRare

原文编辑：Virginia Valenzuela

Do you know Mike Judge? His name is unfamiliar to Chinese, and his wikipedia profile is only a few lines long. The titles of American actor, comedian, animator, screenwriter, executive producer and director do not understate Mike Judge's achievements.

Mike Judge is an American Cult animator. Cult film refers to a kind of film that is loved and respected by supporters in a small circle. Generally speaking, the shooting method is relatively unique, the subject matter is radical, with strong personal style and controversy, and it is not market-oriented. And it's this kind of film that has been able to win critical acclaim among certain young people in the subculture.

Mike Judge's work is exactly that, Frog Baseball, Beavis and Butthead, And King of the Hill all tell paradoxical and absurd stories through less-than-sophisticated visuals.

Now, Mike Judge is bringing his cult work into the Crypto world. Mike Judge's 2021 Dancing Dan is currently up for auction at SuperRare, but before joining the auction, let's take a look at Mike Judge and his cult career.

The animation opens with two weird-looking teenagers punching frogs like baseballs in a desert wilderness, no one knowing who their parents are, their eyes and mouths like memes that swept the Internet in the early 2000s. It was 1992, and rookie animator, professional blues musician and former engineer Mike Judge had just licensed an episode of his first cartoon to Liquid Television for $4,000.

Mike Judge loved creating cartoons as a kid, but he really got into it when he attended an animation festival and got the idea. In his spare time, he works with a 16mm film camera, some paper, a pencil and film. In 1991, he started sending tapes -- that's right, physical VHS tapes -- to movie studios, waiting for the willing to take the bait. Judge's style is somewhat rigid, the animations are hand-drawn and homemade, and his characters are superficially simple but easy to laugh at. Frog Baseball, for example, doesn't have a complicated story. However, the people at MTV loved it, and it was clear that their audience would love it, too.

Frog Baseball, by Mike Judge

"I'm not trying to create cool visuals to impress," Says Mike Judge. "I'm doing it for the character and the comedy." Mike Judge not only wrote and animated the short, but also voiced it and composed the original music.

I've been doing impersonations, and I wanted to do sketch comedy, and I almost did it, because right after MTV started talking about "Beavis and Butthead," I got offered the show Edge, and they wanted me to do animated transitions for sketch comedy, and I thought, My dream has finally come true.

- Mike Judge

That two-minute-long film eventually became one of the most iconic Cult classics of the '90s, and a short play called "Beavis and Butthead" still draws millions of viewers. Sometimes they're at school or playing truant, or watching TV on their hated couch, commenting that the world around them is "awful" or "cool."

Mike Judge

Mike Judge's work captures the moment in time in a folksy, unique and hilarious way. In addition to creating the adult animated series (did I mention he also created and narrated "King of the Hill" himself?) "He also wrote and directed classics like 1998's" Office Space, "which chronicled the chaos of cubicle culture during the Internet revolution. In 2006, Mike Judge created the blockbuster Idiocracy, a daring vision of an apocalyptic future in America where smart people are no longer favored and fast food, guns, pop culture, and monster trucks are king. In addition, Mike Judge wrote Silicon Valley (Mike Judge), which satirizes the world that engineers saw most of his early career.

Each of these has built up a loyal following for Mike Judge that has grown even more loyal over time. That's why so many people are so excited about Mike Judge's Genesis NFT Dancing Dan.

Cult NFT by Mike Judge

Looping videos of characters walking inspired Mike Judge to create a piece in which the characters dance, as Butthead put it, "really cool." The animation, still hand-drawn, shows a stumpy man wiggling his hips to a funky tune. The accompaniment is an original piece of music, a trio of guitar, double bass and drums, written and performed by Mike Judge himself.

"Dancing Dan" by Mike Judge, 2021

"When I was a kid, my granddad used to watch Lawrence Welk, which I hated so much, and for me, it's kind of an old way of dancing that I really wanted to capture," Mike Judge said. "And that song inspired me. I'm a big fan of swing music, so I keep my characters rocking and goofy."

"Dancing Dan" is unique in that it creates a sense of nostalgia, but viewers can't say what it is. It digs into a style of animation that does not pursue perfection but imperfection and uniqueness, making someone or something unique, and such uniqueness is very suitable for NFT.

Mike Judge's work happens to be related to a major cultural shift brought about by the digital revolution. But even with apps like ProCreate making animation a lot easier than ever, Mike Judge prefers paper, pen and camera.

Mike Judge, Variety, Vulture

"When CG came out, people were worried it was going to disrupt animation," Mike Judge told SuperRare. "Sort of, but I guess when photography came out, people thought painters were going to lose their jobs. "I think so far people are just fumbling with CG, not knowing what's going to happen in the future, and I think it's probably going to drive innovation and new explosions in art."

When the problem of depicting reality is solved, artists can observe different worlds through different "lenses" and conduct experiments and explorations.

Huh? "By Mike Judge

Mike Judge has been interested in NFT for years, speaking at the Decentralized Web Summit back in 2018: "I think NFT is key for emerging artists to succeed and connect directly with the audience. There aren't as many gatekeepers in this space and more artists need to be involved. I think it will enable people to share their work in a more efficient way."

As a medium, NFT can carry artists' work that previously had nowhere to put it, let alone sell it for money. Mike Judge fondly recalled how fellow animator Chris Prynoski, who worked on beavis and Butt-Head, hosted what he called "Five Second Day." "Animators would submit something that was five seconds long, and that really caught people's interest," Mike Judge said. This is a relief for creators in an industry that tends to require every work, every animation, to have a storyline and character development to be considered "complete."

"Some people say animation is boring because you have to draw a lot of pictures, but for me it's the opposite. For me, making your character move is not boring at all, drawing illustrations is boring. And I often have little ideas, like a looping animation." Now, this little loop animation is no longer an "animation waste," but a complete work.

Office Space, by Mike Judge

Mike Judge can always come up with some really bad ideas, and his work shows that they can be great. The movie version of Office Space was originally just a little cartoon. Beavis and Butt-Head started out just two minutes long. Like Mike Judge's idea, Dancing Dan started out as a joke. "Often when I get the urge to paint," he said, "it's because I see someone who's annoying and I want to make fun of them."

Maybe that's why he's been so popular and loved all these years. Mike Judge didn't want anyone to remember, but his satirical work has seared itself into the minds of millions. He was just an old guy with pencil and paper and animation, and he wanted to laugh out loud and invite us along.

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