I was inspired to create this animation after attending a performance by Kathleen Supové at The Flea Theater. Aside from enjoying the performance, I was struck by how Kathleen Supové visually reminded me of photographs I've seen of Marjorie Cameron, who quite fascinates me, both as a haunting presence in Kenneth Anger's Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome and a unique player in the California art scene of the late 1940s and early 1950s. That scene possessed a naiveté/madness long since gone from the American art scene and, for that matter, from the global art scene as well. Now, I am not exactly saying I would have enjoyed participating in that scene; for, yes, it was defined by a certain naiveté. Nevertheless, the madness fascinates me. I wish I could channel it. Why? It's the romantic in me. There's just something bizarrely magical about the overlapping of art, spirituality, and politics in a scene combining the talents and chicanery of folks as diverse as Kenneth Anger, Marjorie Cameron, Jack Parsons, and L. Ron Hubbard. In the end what can I say but that a key inspirational figure behind the scene may have been Aleister Crowley?
Channeling Marjorie Cameron is my most technically demanding animation, absolutely requiring a high-speed Internet connection. Even with a high-speed connection, because it is composed of 528 frames (the most of any animation on Illumination Gallery) when the piece initially loads and triggers it won't run at the intended rate. The piece is a loop, meaning it plays over and over. While its duration is meant to be a shade under 4 minutes, the first time it plays it can take more than 10 minutes to run through. The second time around, given a high-speed Internet connection, it should play properly. Also, I recommend using Firefox as your browser.