Jim Blashfield, the collage animation mastermind behind some of the most iconic music videos and textural aesthetics in visual art. In the mid-1980s, with the completion of his comic surrealist animated film SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES (the video above), Jim’s work caught the attention of some of the era’s most creative artists working in popular music. His short is an erratic experience of stop-motion madness, abstract symbols flying around a screen. the smooth execution of some of the animation makes for a very surreal and lifelike effect. and shifts from eerie and dreamlike to discomforting and unnerving. it challenges and bewilders. He would go onto work with a catalog of true greats; from talking heads to Michael Jackson, from Paul Simon to sesame street. his work with sesame street, in particular, is really colorful and far out in its own right. I wish this style was used more often.
he went on to do videos for Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush(Don’t Give Up), & even the track I Cant Wait by Nu Shooz. His work in music videos would gain attention and soon he was primarily doing music videos and less sesame street segments. Talking Heads (And She Said) a psychedelic video showcasing his surrealist collage style. reminiscent of the Monty Python and the flying circus opening sequences. in this music video, we see Blashfield having the time of his life playing with photos of David Byrne, flying limbs, the city and suburbs and flying house held technology slowly filling the sky.
Michael Jackson (Leave Me Alone) this one is full of great references and self aware humor in it. the video opens with an overview of what seems like Los Angeles or perhaps a Hollywood lot when a trailer blows up. from inside flys out Michael and then we cut to shot of various headlines about the pop singer. contrasted with the sights of luxury like peacocks, fine porcelain, vases, hanging garden like imagery. he lands back down in a kind of tunnel of love ride at an amusement park (which is later revealed to be Hollywood, which in itself is a circus). Notice the dogs in the suits and Michael refrain “stop dogging me around”, they appear throughout the entire video. then we transition to a different kind of luxurious atmosphere, a shrine to Elizabeth Taylor, his dear friend. its then revealed the extent of the circus/amusement park, that seems to exploit animals, oddities, and MJ. who of course has a dance sequence with the skeleton of the elephant man. and like the giant man in Gullivers travels we see Michael break free from the circus and stand over the ruins of the industry.
it won them both a Grammy for “best music video” in 1990, best special effects at both the Cannes film festival and MTV music video awards in 1990. this was the first time Blashfield explored his clients personality and in it created a landmark video.
I will say that Blashfield stands out to me for the drive it must have taken to complete these in the 80s and late 70s. the amount of focus and attention to detail is hard to comprehend in todays arena of creative tools. Just think about the process it would take. South Park, a series using collage stop motion animation, is recognized for its hard attention to detail it took to create. Blashfield does stop motion animation but takes it to another place with photography, culture jamming, collage art techniques, and narrative direction in a story. culminating in michael jacksons’ “leave me alone” video, he utilizes all the techniques of using his photography, props, altered photos, video clips, cgi, and a slew of other mediums. he does this all while following a story that reflects the song, michaels life, and his own style at the height of capability. To Quote Blashfields website “As director of some of music video’s most adventurously animated clips, Blashfield takes real objects from everyday life– newspapers, baby carriages, spatulas– and then photographs, Xeroxes, and animates them until they become hauntingly metaphorical. “
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