Worldwide
Jab Hook’s Boxing in Art #4: “Knockout – Food Animation“ by Bronwyn Maloney
Jab enjoys combining a few of his favorite things, like boxing and art. Only this time, he's adding a little mustard and ketchup. That is not an auto-typo or a demented confabulation, it describes the reality of this 4th edition of “Boxing in Art“.
A while ago Jab was surfing the web, he landed on Vimeo and found “Knockout – Food Animation“. Watching the animation the first two things were immediately apparent, this artist must be very patient to work with condiments as a film medium, and she knows something deep about boxing form and movement. Jab got curious and hungry at the same time. Within a few minutes it was possible to identify and contact Bronwyn Maloney, whose Irish-American name and red hair had already engendered affinity. Here is how that first chat went:
Jab- October 31st, 2017 (Messenger), Hi Bronwyn, I am fascinated, curious and knocked out by your boxer animation. Congratulations, and what inspired you with this theme and the animation technique? Peace, Joe Healy aka Jab Hook
Bronwyn- November 2nd, 2017,Hi joe, I did this little piece for a school assignment- we were using a range of materials on glass, with the camera pointed straight down, and rotoscoping found footage. I used ketchup and mustard because it’s what I had on hand, but practically, it’s just the paint on glass technique. I watched a lot of boxing videos- this was one of the quickest KOs I could find, and a good video quality for the technique. It was harder than I thought!!
Jab- November 3rd, Thanks so much for getting back to me. Your talent and style are wonderful. Ketchup, so you could say, “He put some mustard on that last punch!” Funny you say it was the quickest KO, as it was actually the last 16 seconds of a 12 Rd bout when Arthur Abraham KO'd Jermaine Taylor at the end. (Oct 17, 2009, Berlin, Super Six Tournament). I'm not just a freak for ART, boxing is also my passion. How many frames did you have to paint for the full video?
Bronwyn- November 4th, Of course, you’re right! I suppose I meant that I found that last punch especially satisfying. I believe there were 100 or so frames total. Maybe 110? Not a huge amount, as far as my medium goes, but the particular technique is so time consuming, I was about at my limit. The material also smelled really bad after a while.
Jab- November 7th, 2017,Hi, I haven't been able to touch mustard or ketchup lately…
The Artist:
Artist Bronwyn Maloney, whose work hooked in Jab Hook.
Bronwyn Maloney was born in New York, NY and lives in Los Angeles.
She is an artist, animator, and film maker who earned her Master of Fine Arts at the California Institute of the Arts in 2018 and her Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art and Design for Performance at Bennington College in Vermont.
In her young academic and artistic career Ms Maloney has already earned multiple grants, awards, and commissions for her art. Now focusing mostly on making her own films, her first short film “Serpentine“ from 2016 has been featured at American and European film festivals, garnering the 2018 Helen Hill Animation Award in New Orleans. “Serpentine“ and Ms Maloney's 2017 “Marshmallow Research, Inc“ have been screened dozens of times at international film festivals. She also has two forthcoming works, “Bone Meal“ in production and “Shannon“ in pre-production.
http://www.bronwynmaloney.com/
The Art: “Knockout – Food Animation“ by Bronwyn Maloney 2016
The Animation: Abraham vs Taylor, October 17, 2009
Rotoscoped stop motion animation in ketchup and mustard on glass.
MFA1, Experimental Animation, CalArts
Watch “Knockout—Food Animation” here.
The Bout:
O2 World Arena, Berlin, Germany, October 17, 2009
Arthur Abraham 30(24)-0 vs Jermain Taylor 28(16)-3(2)-1
This was the 1st matchup in the Super Six World Boxing Classic. “King“ Arthur had just moved up from middleweight vacating the IBF World Middleweight Title that he had defended 10 times including 7 stoppages. At super middleweight Abraham could relax with a smaller weight cut, but could he carry his power up 8 lbs?
This dramatic KO in the closing seconds of the bout seems to say he could retain his punch at the new weight. That victory was the peak of Arthur Abraham's career, as he lost his next bout on a disqualification for hitting a downed Andre Dirrell, later also losing to Carl Froch and Andre Ward within the following year and half as the Super Six World Boxing Classic concluded.
The peak of Jermain “Bad Intentions“ Taylor's career was in 2005 when he became the unified middleweight world champion by defeating Bernard Hopkins via split decision. Later that year he beat B-Hop again, this time by unanimous decision. Taylor defended the lineal championship 3 more times over the next 2 years.
Taylor was already on the decline in 2009, having lost twice to Kelly Pavlik and once to Carl Froch within the previous two years. The Super Six was supposed to be his big comeback. After the Abraham bout Lou DiBella resigned as Taylor's promoter, begging him to retire from boxing. Taylor's final KO loss was followed by two years away from boxing, where his “Bad Intentions“ and bad behavior caught the eye of the police a number of times.
The Knock Out:
Here below is a link to a video clip of the action that inspired Bronwyn Maloney's animation. It starts at 0:21 remaining in the 12th round. At 0:16 is the KO punch, a straight right hand that perfectly splits Taylor's high-guard, smashing into his chin. Please, take note of their stances, their movement and punches, then go back to Ms Maloney's condiment animation clip and compare it to the real boxing. She achieves an uncanny simulation of the gestalt and techniques of both actual boxers.
Jab Hook's moral of the story is that it's OK for kids and adults to play with food.
Boxing in Art is an ongoing series by “Jab Hook”, Aka“Brooklyn” Joe Healy, who is a boxing writer, an expert commentator for DAZN.de, a professional cutman from the BOXWERK gym, and a licensed referee/judge in amateur boxing. A lifelong aficionado born in Brooklyn and living in Munich, “The Sweet Science” is his passion.
Please feel free to contact him as Jab Hook on, FaceBook or https://www.linkedin.com/in/
