Original EXOTIQUE artist Liam Kemp extends his own Wonderful Life, creating gritty CG reality with The Normals.
After the cyber girls of Maxims moved on, Liam Kemp has gone on to work on 'The Normals',
another personal project a little closer to the gritty reality of life. 'The Normals' tells a tale of an experience in a public lavatory. "Nothing too sordid," explained Kemp.
This is a look at a small group of normal people, as opposed to the glossy models from the previous major project for Maxims. A football crowd perhaps. The 'every man.' The Normals. More images from the project, which is still in production, are below. The Normals has been a full-time commitment for the past three and a half years for Liam. “During this time I've taken on occasional contract work in order to give me just enough money to fund the project,” h e explains. “Very fortunately, I have always been compulsively creative, and so have never had to deal with any kind of artist's block.
When I decide to start a project, I don't allow myself the option of turning back. This gives me a clear path ahead for progressing with whatever I choose to do.
While working, I do feel I get 'inside' my projects, as opposed to them being inside me; though this does have its benefits and consequences in equal measure."
Clip from 'The Wonderful Life.'
Liam Kemp admits to being continually fascinated by human behavior and everyday life, and this is a key to what drove each of his projects. “When I was an art student," he explains, "we were told to carry a sketchbook around with us and just draw people in public places.
I was always more interested in just observing the behavior of these people. I would imagine what kind of lives they lived, what kind of characters they were. With my animated projects, my aim has always been to create 'real' people; characters that are three-dimensional from the inside.”
The Normals is less of a story and more of a snapshot of life, capturing the behavior and conversation of three middle-aged men in the few minutes that they spend inside a public toilet just going about their business; the slight interactions they may have with each other as they pass by. "During the facial/muscle system R&D stage, I had to turn down all work as I needed to remain focused on problem solving, and splitting myself in two would have been a destructive influence to the process,” he said.
Liam took the sober path, trying to have his work accepted for the result, and not just for the sex-appeal. “What I'd like to achieve is to create an 'untold story,'” Liam describes.
“To set the scenario which will become the foundation, whereupon the 'real' story will actually develop within the mind of the viewer.”
“The short movie will be a mixture of the banal and bizarre. I see it as a comedy, though my intention is not to force this on the viewer, but instead let the comedy present itself to those who are receptive.
The characters play their roles straight, without saying or doing anything that could be described as funny. If the movie is able to make the viewer laugh while I keep the comedy 'invisible', then I will have succeeded in my aim." Liam decided to only take on additional work only during certain points of the project - the less intensive periods where a break in continuity wouldn't severely affect the momentum he says he'd already built up.
