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Written, animated and directed by: Jack Myers

Starring: Karen Shapiro

Running Time: 12 minutes

Original Format: Mini DV (available upon request)

Description: Food is an experimental short exploring the food chain, natural selection and the relationship between consumer and that which is consumed. It pays homage to daytime television, bad horror movies and obtuse art films. It also contains cute birds, a telekinetic houseplant and meatloaf. Watch as the protagonist is threatened with eating utensils! Marvel at the lively and colorful anatomy lessons! Thrill at the refreshing lack of handheld cinematography!

Food was shot entirely with a consumer level digital video camera and animated and edited on a Macintosh. It has absolutely no budget other than the year spent learning forbidding video programs. Other than the dazzling actress, Karen Shapiro, all sets and props were composed from stock photography or 3-D generated. The lofty soundtrack was also derived from stock and public domain archives.

Artist's Statement: Birthplace: San Diego, CA. My parents, hoping to raise healthy children, moved us to Hot Springs, Arkansas when I was 4 years old. Much to my parents' wonder, the southern climate seemed to nurture bizarre behavior. I started making puppets and monsters for video shorts and school shows, which ultimately granted me special status as a "weirdo". These puppets led me to art college in Memphis, which led me to art college in San Francisco, which eventually led me to New York. I currently live with my wife, Matthew and son, Otto, a gray tabby in a sunny neighborhood in Brooklyn where plastic flowers bloom year round and piroghi are plentiful.

My current work analyzes and embraces clichés from made-for-television dramas, commercials, and special-effects laden movies to create a dissonance where one can't quite tell if there's a structural narrative or not, if it is serious or comedic, and if it's real or synthetic. I am drawn towards banal objects of everyday life, often granting them certain powers, significance and symbolism beyond their daily utilitarian existence; and what better way to apply these powers than with special effects? Effects convey a certain epic quality (and commercial value) beyond the content of the work. "Was that necessary?" or "Why would they put so much work into that?" are comments I hear after typical Hollywood fare. The unnecessary use of a device perceived as inaccessible or expensive confounds. Taking this one step further thrills me. If I hear comments such as "What in the hell was that?" or "How and why did you make that?" I am pleased.

My videos often emulate the texture and depth of commercial film while suggesting an artificiality due to their application of flat photography and 3-D generated objects. The work is not about the video format itself, and is decidedly not trying to indulge the documentary look of video; it is more about circumventing the budgetary and conceptual limitations of an old medium through the capabilities of personal computers. The accessability of digital video has allowed me to approach the creative process in a completely different way - the way I would naturally approach painting, sculpting or graphic design. The medium is plastic and should, in my opinion, be stretched to the limit.