How reproduction and technological distortion can spiral into surreal chaos
#153: 90s Video Games, Harry Houdini and the Copy Shop.
Entering Arena & The Great Escape Artist
When I was a kid, I had a video game whose announcer proclaimed, ‘Entering Arena!’ every time you started a new level.
The graphics were so crude and bright that my eyes would go square after playing it.
It seemed kind of futuristic at the time with it’s cyber-grid aesthetic but as with everything, what once looked like a glimpse into the future now seems like a relic of the past.
Last week, I was in a supermarket and found a slinky in the Toy section. Originally I was planning to cover it in paint and print it. However, when I got back to the studio and started playing around with it, I realised it would be tricky to achieve the effect I wanted.
Instead, I fired up the old overhead projector and began pulling and twisting the spring to create interesting patterns on the wall.
I set up a camera on a tripod and photographed various different contortions.
The falling figure was taken from a Wet Floor sign that was sitting outside my studio. I used the handheld scanner to copy it and then printed it out. I cut out the body and head with a scalpel and stamped them individually with paint to add some texture to the piece.
This was used in addition to two photos of the slinky that I blended together in photoshop, and with these 3 simple elements the composition was complete.
Watch the process here.
Harry Houdini (1874–1926) was a legendary magician and escape artist known for his death-defying stunts and ability to free himself from seemingly inescapable restraints. Born Erik Weisz in Hungary, he rose to fame in the early 20th century with daring feats such as this "Water Torture Cell," in which he was suspended upside down in a locked water-filled tank. Houdini specialised in escaping from handcuffs, straitjackets, and sealed containers, often under extreme conditions and in full public view, solidifying his status as one of the most iconic entertainers in history.
Houdini’s posters have always inspired me. They were bold, dramatic and often featured vivid illustrations of himself. They used vibrant colours, exaggerated typography, and sensational taglines like "Nothing on Earth Can Hold Houdini a Prisoner!" to captivate audiences of the day.
With this canvas I wanted to evoke a sense of movement and struggle. The distortions of the face helped greatly, but I knew that adding multiple layers of paper would also enhance this feeling.
I sprayed the scanner with some glass cleaner and dripped water onto it. I blended both together and printed this out to use as an abstract addition to the original poster.
The blue paper was chosen to explicitly suggest the submerged escapologist, with the feet outside of the tank left in black and white.
Something I’ve been looking into
Julie Curtiss creates surreal, meticulously detailed paintings that explore femininity, identity, and the uncanny through highly stylised, fragmented imagery. Her work often depicts cropped female bodies, exaggerated hair, and disembodied limbs rendered in smooth, hyper-controlled brushwork. Domestic scenes become unsettling, as ordinary objects take on surreal qualities, and figures merge with their surroundings in unexpected ways. Women’s hair, often depicted as voluminous and sculptural, becomes a recurring motif, sometimes obscuring faces or transforming into other forms. Curtiss draws on Pop Art’s bold colour palettes and crisp outlines while infusing her work with psychological tension, creating eerie, dreamlike compositions that challenge traditional depictions of women in art.
You should definitely check this out
Copy Shop (2001) by Virgil Widrich is a stylistically unique short film that blends experimental techniques with a Kafkaesque narrative. The 12-minute film follows a man who works in a photocopy shop and accidentally duplicates himself, leading to an unsettling proliferation of his own existence. Created using a labour-intensive process, the film consists of nearly 18,000 photocopied frames, giving it a grainy, dreamlike aesthetic that mirrors its themes of repetition and identity. The black-and-white visuals, combined with the rhythmic, almost hypnotic unfolding of events, evoke a sense of both absurdity and existential dread. Nominated for an Academy Award, Copy Shop is a masterful exploration of how reproduction and technological distortion can spiral into surreal chaos.
Spotlight
This weeks creative I want to highlight is: mikemcmullen
Chasm of Understanding (2025)
Migrating serigraph on canvas
60” x 40”
“I often look to found images of space as direct representations of the struggle to comprehend existence. These images highlight the stark contrast between what we believe and what is actually true.
By reproducing and reinterpreting them, I aim to create a sense of physical distance between the viewer and a reality that will likely always remain beyond our reach.”
Cheers,
Joe