London Bus-Tops caught my attention after watching a YouTube promo video and I thought to myself “I can do that, that’s right up my alley”.
I immediately stopped working on an on-going student film poster project called
ChitChatClick in order to get my work onto a Bus-Top in-time for the 2012
Olympic Games, which was the drive behind my motivation.
While studying Digital Arts at university I
crudely created my first 2D animated music video called Rat Radar that’s been
described as ‘Gorillaz’ after the stylized fictional cartoon band. It was
unfulfilled in terms of potential and I instantly knew the characteristics and
visual language would compliment the Bus-Tops requirements to a tea! I
conceived the crazy idea of giant Space Rats marauding around the moon while
walking home one night in the filthy west London suburb of Southall where I
used to live with my troubled father, looking up to the moon lit sky listening
to Action Radar by The Prodigy. I guess the image just stuck with me over the
years.
Before the Olympics were in sight I awoke from a cool dream one morning which for some reason featured Kit from 80’s TV series Night Rider, awaking with the name ‘Midnight Crisis’ etched into my brain. Normally it takes a little while to remember anything but those words ‘Midnight Crisis’ stood out, so I wrote it down. When the moment arrived I went to work on recreating and reworking my old character drawings in an attempt to recapture some of the imagination and spirit I felt.
The final output would be a low-res GIF animation but I made the decision to adapt my workflow for high-res print once the dramatic composition started to excite me. I worked diligently to expand the ideas and accurately reproduce the moon planet, deep space constellations and moody cloud cover by utilizing photographic resources from the NASA space program and recreate these elements in a manner that conceptually enhances the bold cartoon black and white Space Rats.
Now the work was complete I needed to ensure its
appearance on the Bus-Tops during the Olympics. I needed to catch the curator’s
attention by introducing the project to my 300+ friends, associates and peers
on Facebook. I setup a little message conversation with positive response apart
from one hate-mongering troll trying to spoil the vibe by publicly stating “Please
don't reply to this MSG, I don't want spam.” The culprit was met with a hostile
response as most people were fighting my corner and showing their support, this
made me happy and more importantly helped make a difference by motivating
people into debate, I couldn't have asked for more. Animated HD promo videos
and general networking followed the creation of my two submissions ‘Moon Rats
Midnight Crisis’ and sequel ‘The Moon Rats Have Landed'. The latter of the two was selected by London Bus-Tops and displayed all over London including Hillingdon, Camden, Harrow, Barnet, Bromley and Croyden during the Olympic period.
As a practicing artist my work has been exhibited in private gallery shows, public shows and recently published but never outdoors in a free to all open public space which is the kind of environment I want my art to exist, one of the biggest achievements on my C.V so far and a nice creative notch under my belt.
I told my friend Shim of my desire to get my work onto London Bus-Tops at a very early stage after discussing my art with her. After seeing the results for herself online and fulfilling my objective, she pointed out it’s a shame I can’t get any stable work as an artist and quit my part-time job hosting films for IMAX. I was forced to explain very briefly that I haven’t looked for a stable job yet, after graduating I was broke, lost my job, made homeless and suffered from severe anxiety which took some time so recover. It’s a creative choice not to pursue a full-time job yet until I feel I’m ready to make it a priority. Unfortunately I live in a society where your social acceptance is judged depending on your job and how much money you earn. My life as an artist is more than a career choice and its associated wealth, a job is not the light at the end of the tunnel. Money has never been the motivation although I do feel it will inevitably head in that direction but only on my terms, taking personal steps to forge a path that is solely my own. Creative freedom is a massive part of my life and hopefully will continue to be. I have a goal to achieve and a plan to realize that will prove I have true artistic spirit on the road to becoming the type of man I want to be.
Kazembe Hamadi a.k.a Yuyanda (search online)
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