Wrestling with the Blob Beast

An artist from Brooklyn, New york named Ezra Johnson created Wrestling with the Blob Beast. He created sixteen different screen savers. Each one is available for viewers to install off of his website. Each screen saver represents Wrestling with the Blob Beast in a different way. Johnson started out as a painter who did fixed images, but he discovered how to use animation as a new means of viewing paint. One of the screen savers is a painted ocean that is moving calmly until being disturbed by a painted boat.

After watching some of his screen savers, I noticed how each piece is painted in the same way. He has a messy way of putting his images together, but the animation makes it work. Its as if he is taking the viewer through the process he goes through when he paints. His paintings are very expressionistic and although there is technique used, they seem child like. My favorite one was the more literal one. It was to hands actually wrestling with a blob of paint that turned into a beast. For me, this piece makes sense of the title of the site. I enjoyed watching these animations and each one evoked a different emotion and feeling.