Monday 16 April 2012

Animator Profile: Phil Mulloy


Fig 1: Phil Mulloy

   British animator Phil Mulloy, studying in the art of film creation and painting, has always understood his profession and has directed numerous animated shorts and feature-length films. The award-winning animator studied at the Ravensbourne College and he excels in the world of animation, creating his own dry-humored and adult-rated films.
   “The provocative work of multi-award-winning animator Phil Mulloy stands as a model of satiric grotesque unparalleled in British animation.” (BFI, <no date>)
   Mulloy seeks to incorporate issues of every-day modern culture within his work, sending messages to the viewer while also exposing them to his uniquely sketchy style. Political, social and often shockingly satirical, his animations aim to displease or even disgust audiences. There are few animators like him who prefer not to tread beyond the bounds of what is socially acceptable. Mulloy freely breaks these boundaries, creating animations which are shocking and, yet intriguing and thought-provoking. Mulloy seems to swap between these at will.
   “Phil Mulloy’s work exists somewhere between the realm of the scatological sophomore and the defiant artist. At any moment, the British animator can be offensive, clever, bizarre, obvious, muddled, smug, distinct, or any combination of those traits.” (Matthews, 2009)

   Mulloy uses a simplistic style completely unique to his own hand which is used not so much to direct focus on the characters as it is towards the story itself, which relates to how the characters are drawn: brash and straight forward. Sean Gandert examines:
   “Not only that, but the style fits perfectly with Mulloy's brazen storytelling, as it's endlessly and undeniably in your face.” (Gandert, 2009)
The art form is a surreal contemporary form of art, using simplistic animation via crudely drawn, yet somewhat intriguing stick figures.
Arguably one of his most well-known works to include his morals and stylization, ‘Intolerance’ is memorable for its bizarre storyline

BIBLIOGRAPHY
BFI, (Unknown) Phil Mulloy: Extreme Animation 



Sean Gandert, (2009) Salute Your Shorts: Phil Mulloy’s Extreme Animation : Films by Phil Mulloy http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/07/salute-your-shorts-phil-mulloys-extreme-animation.html (Accessed 16/04/2012)

Mathews, Jeremy, (2009) Extreme Animation : Films by Phil Mulloy http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/39395/extreme-animation-films-by-phil-mulloy/(Accessed 16/04/2012)

IMAGERY

Figure 1. Phil Mulloy. At: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/Phil_mulloy_94330004_G.jpg (Accessed on 2/4/12)

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