Cropped Will Cardini artwork

January 28th, 2011

Hypermorph – Bathanklyopod

Filed under: Sketchbook Pages — Tags: , — William Cardini @ 7:07 am

I drew another Hypermorph in pencil (you can see my previous ones here):

Hypermorph - Bathanklyopod
This Hypermorph’s name is Bathanklyopod. Over ten thousand years ago, on a nameless planet in the Hyperverse, a bat was dying in a cave near where two powerful Hyperbeings were battling. In a desperate move, the Hyperbeing Kygargz dropped a twenty gigaton transmutation bomb to distract its opponent so that it could escape. The bat was caught up in the resulting mutation wave and Bathanklyopod was born. She’s wearing armor she pieced together from parts of other Hypermorphs that she has killed in battle.

I like drawing Hypermorphs. I just start at the top and let my pencil wander.

November 12th, 2010

Stop #107 on the East Austin Studio Tour: First Weekend

Filed under: Artwork — Tags: , , , , , — William Cardini @ 7:48 am

The annual East Austin Studio Tour is this upcoming weekend and the following. Studios all over the east side will be open from 11am to 6pm on Sat Nov 13th, Sun Nov 14th, Sat Nov 20th, and Sun Nov 21st. Glade and I are participating just like we did last year. We’re Stop #107 on the tour (1807 E 22ND ST). We’re gonna have another Aaron Flynn installation in the garage but unfortunately Alison Kuo moved to NYC so she won’t be here to install by our couch again, but we do have one of her drawings from her solo show at SOFA. Everything in our living room will be completely different from last year – we’ll be showing all of my work that didn’t sell at my Domy show, our artwork from our show at End of an Ear, and our engagement art.

As some of you may recall, several weeks ago I went to my parents’ house in Houston and cleaned out my old room. I brought some boxes of my old stuff back, which made my normally cluttered studio an impossible-to-navigate mess. I’ve spent the last week cleaning and getting rid of stuff and I thought it would be fun to post before and after shots.

So, here they are:

BEFORE:

The View from the Entrance of my Studio before Cleaning
The View from the Entrance of my Studio before Cleaning

AFTER:

The View from the Entrance of my Studio after Cleaning
The View from the Entrance of my Studio after Cleaning

Click here to see more before and after shots

November 2nd, 2010

Hypermorph Animation – Rough Cut

Filed under: Artwork — Tags: , , — William Cardini @ 7:34 am

This concludes my series of posts of installation shots of my show Hypermorph at Domy Books, Houston.

On the southern wall, I painted the title of my show and had a TV playing an animation on a loop:

Hypermorph Installation at Domy Books Houston, Southern Wall
Hypermorph Installation at Domy Books Houston, Southern Wall

Here’s the animation that was playing on the TV (it doesn’t have any sound):


Hypermorph Animation – Rough Cut

I’m calling this a rough cut because I intend to go back in and expand/refine this animation and have my brother do some music for it.

October 29th, 2010

Stuffed and Drawn Frogheads

Filed under: Artwork — Tags: , , , , — William Cardini @ 7:57 am

My series of posts of installation shots of my show Hypermorph at Domy Books, Houston continues.

Here’s a shot of the western wall at the opening:

Hypermorph Installation at Domy Books Houston, Western Wall
Hypermorph Installation at Domy Books Houston, Western Wall

Click here to see close ups of the artwork

October 26th, 2010

Hypermorph Drawings and Miizzzard versus Wojrollox Paintings

Filed under: Artwork — Tags: , , , , , — William Cardini @ 7:56 am

My blog and site are mostly done, but I’m still tweaking. I’ll let y’all know when I stop tinkering with this. Please let me know if anything’s broken or looks weird.

I went to Houston this past weekend to clean up my old room at my parents’ house. I had to sort through so much artwork, so many drawings of cyborg dragons and spike- and muscle-ridden dinosaurs. It gave me some ideas. I’ll scan some of my old drawz to post eventually.

More importantly, my Hypermorph show at Domy Books Houston went down on 10/21 so I’m free to post everything. Over the next week I’ll be posting what was on each wall. Here’s a shot of the opening with the eastern wall that I’ll post details from this time:

Hypermorph Installation at Domy Books Houston, Eastern Wall
Hypermorph Installation at Domy Books Houston, Eastern Wall

Click here to see close ups of the artwork

October 15th, 2010

Hypermorph Work on Sale

Filed under: Events — Tags: , — William Cardini @ 9:13 am

Hey y’all, Domy has posted by work from my show Hypermorph for sale online here.

Also, if y’all aren’t in the area and can’t make it out, you can also see most of the work at that link.

October 12th, 2010

Review of Hypermorph on The Great God Pan Is Dead

Robert Boyd reviewed my show Hypermorph at Domy Books Houston on his blog The Great God Pan Is Dead. I appreciate his thoughtful review, you can read it here.

In his review, Boyd quotes my description of the Hyperverse from the press release and then says that his “first reaction to this is that it seems pretty dumb.” Ha! I can dig that. Boyd goes on to say that, what makes my approach to genre dumb is that, unlike the Fort Thunder artists that I am (all-too clearly, I know) influenced by, my work lacks does not take genre ironically or satirically. Well, that’s true. I definitely take genre, even the most ridiculous parts of it, extremely seriously. If you want me to get all metaphorical on you, I feel like I do live in, to quote my description of the Hyperverse, “a realm filled with immensely powerful inhuman beings who battle over worlds with strange geologies and hoard advanced technologies” where “mountains shift from molten to crystal between moments and clumps of rock are inhabited by malevolent intelligences ready to hurl face-melting spells,” a cosmos of constant flux, “of constant magical warfare.”

I mean, look at these photos by Edward Burtynsky:

I’m just reflecting the world as I see it.

And I have a response to Boyd’s final question:

So, if creating boyish sci-fi worlds is an aspect of the whole Fort Thunder aesthetic, can we say that aesthetic is inherently male? And if we accept that, is there a female counterpart? And if so, are plush frog heads a part of it?

I definitely wanted Glade to be a part of my show. I’m well aware of how much of a “boy’s club” all of the collectives that I am a part of (Totally Wreck, The Gold County Paper Mill) slash admire (Okaymountain, Fort Thunder), with some exceptions, are, and it’s something that I don’t like about them. All I can say is, I am going to make sure that my first long-form comics narrative passes the Bechdel Test.

September 28th, 2010

Hypermorph Opening

Filed under: Recaps — Tags: , , — William Cardini @ 7:38 am

The opening of my show Hypermorph went splendidly, thanks to everyone who came out!

Here are some shots of the event, taken by my dad:


left to right: Michael Miles, me, my brother Peter Hensel


left to right: Glade Whitworth, Meg Mata, Karen Cassidy, Chase, some d00d, me, my mom Carol Hensel

The show closes on Oct 21st, so you still have about four weeks to go see it. If you need some enticing, check out this write up in the Houston Press (and yes, it’s true, I was working on my show until the last minute). I’ll post more pics once the show closes.

September 24th, 2010

Hypermorph Opens this Saturday at Domy Houston, 7-9pm

Filed under: Events — Tags: , , , — William Cardini @ 7:43 am

Look into the eyes of the Miizzzard:

Hypermorph, new work by William Cardini, opens 9/25 from 7-9pm at Domy Books Houston

Here’s the official invite for my opening:

Hypermorph, new work by William Cardini, opens 9/25 from 7-9pm at Domy Books Houston

I hope to see y’all there!

September 21st, 2010

Hypermorph Process Shots

Filed under: Artwork — Tags: , , , , , — William Cardini @ 7:23 am

I’ve been super busy preparing for my show Hypermorph at Domy Books in Houston. It opens September 25th from 7-9pm, y’all should come check it out if you’re in town.

Here’s a shot of the prep table, you can see the skin for the froghead pillow that Glade is making for me, Kevin Huizenga’s Fight or Run (definitely an inspiration), one of my boots, and the froghead boutinnières.

Here’s Glade stuffing the froghead pillow.

We decided to leave some of the stuffing hanging out. You can also see part of one of my drawings for the show in the following pic.

Here’s the froghead pillow chilling with my face pillow.

Here’s an in-process shot of one of the paintings that I’m doing.

Aight I gotta peace y’all and go read the prologue for Towers of Midnight, I’ll check y’all later.