The Shifting Holograms of the VIDKIDZ
rendered by OS OVNI
photograph by Linda Flores
Issue 2, Illumination
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‘When they first fired up the love light blaster Lord Kid Vid from the BK Kidz Club appeared to them and blessed their beams.’
If you were around in the early 1980’s, the VIDKIDZ might have been a part of your shadowy neon night life. They created some of the finest midnight arcade games ever: Hyper dimensional futuristic 25 cent players such as Robotron 2084, Defender and Stargate with buzzing spaceships and pulsating laser blasts all put in colorful bit-landscapes that changed the way people see reality in the way of games and visual art.
If you live in Austin Texas circa 2010-2011, the VIDKIDZ currently haunting local sonic dives might also remind you of the game designers they borrowed their name from. There is a definite connection of visual brain melting between the two that shifts the past into the present in a static line usually saved for sci-fi story lines. While this is not a fiction, their studies of vision are a science.
Today’s VIDKIDZ, a young couple in their early 20s, known as Zak Loyd and Melanie Clemmons, are carrying on with the love of new realms within sound and vision at a blinding near-nightly free force that in most realities would be classified as top secret light-as-information carriers.
Surrounding on stage local ATX freak sound makers such as Daniel Johnston, Zorch, Missions, Boyfriend, Bodytronix and other unique tone artists in eyeball screaming psych waves within color jumping forcefields blending into the watchers mind as new travelers to planets unknown.
“Some bands might not seem like they would meld well with our conventions and vibes, but some strange synesthesia will arise out of a sort of dissonance between us as visualists and them as musicians. We feel most comfortable projecting for acts in the loose meta genres of electro(nica), psychedelia, noise, witchhouse, synth; but we have projected for all kinds of music.” -VIDKIDZ.
When you stand in the vortex between the music, the performers and the ‘for-the-love-of-the-eyes’ backdrop that the VIDKIDZ create, you know you’re witnessing sincere creative realms from an artistic heart carrying on the promising past clouds into future ozone’s in real-time. Stimulated by outer space images, primitive 3d wire-frames, slit-scan video, early CGI, animated GIFs, feedback and op art, Or as the say: “maximalist rainbow glitter exclamation point (!) aesthetics and net surf funz.”
While the VIDKIDZ seemingly create a universe of digital galactic webs of infinite psychic beings calling from beyond. There are visual influences from afar and more close to home such as Jeremy Blake, Steina and Woody Vasulka, Ryder Ripps, Paper Rad and fellow creative ATX visual designers such as Juan Cisneros, Scott Gelber, Lori Varga and Lars Larsen, the fantastic modern analog video synth creator for Neon Indian had this to say: “For new media artists they are very conscious of the bricolage of influences from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 00’s and weave them into their work effortlessly.”
With 200 plus shows under their gravity belt, the future of the VIDKIDZ are an odyssey of visual art that has only begun. They are currently working on a dvd they describe as ‘transcendent visuals and audio that will act as a sort of a/v meditation.’ Also they mention talks of moving to the mountains of Colorado, which is well known as a hiding place for portal jumpers and time lords. Rising the suspect that they may not be your usual mortal earthlings. Can you find someone similar to these adventures? Human!? Alien!? None of the above!? New levels of thinking should be pondered for this duo of ‘Love Light Blasters.’
Leave your rock and shell while you can…There is a realm of wonderful color that awaits you in the VIDKIDZ dimension.
Lindsey Prince, Zachariah Holte, and the VidKidz, featured artists in the second issue of Glim Magazine.
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If you would like to be a featured artist on glimmag.com, please submit the following to submit@glimmag.com:
1. One image from your works (high quality, jpeg between 500 KBs and 5 MBs)
2. For the submitted piece: medium type, month/year produced, size and name of your piece
3. Your name and contact information, including website
Also, in order to be considered, please answer at least one of these 3 questions:
1. Describe the evolution of your creative process. (This is up for unique interpretation and could be about your process, your mediums, your mind, just your current project, etc.)
2.What is a piece or series that you feel most proud of or attached to? What about work by other artists?
3. What inspires you?
We will post our favorite submissions onto our blog at glimmag.com. As we approach our next print issue, we will make our final decisions and three lucky artists will be featured in print. You’ll get your portrait taken (local Austin artists), your work photographed (if necessary), and a lengthy article will be written about you.
Sculptures by Seo Young Deok
Beautiful sculpture. Almost reminds me of this nostalgic toy.
(via tylervarsell)
Damien Hirst for Garage, and other artists who’ve moonlights as magazine cover designers.
‘Imagine’ 2011, 2.5’ x 4’ oil on canvas
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Featured Artist//”…spiritual or intellectual enlightenment.”
Glim Magazine: How does your work reflect our theme of Illumination?
Yessenia Hernandez: llumination can be defined as a spiritual or intellectual enlightenment. My work revolves mainly around music and influential people who, through their music, give their fans and society a more illuminated view on the world around them encouraging peace and kindness within us.
Yessenia Hernandez is a graphic designer currently living in Irving, Texas. Thanks to her recovery from “artist’s block” you can view her recent paintings and sketches here.
As artists, we constantly strive to create exposure…of our hearts, our minds and our ideas. The non-profit Critical Exposure is teaching the youth about art as a platform for social change. I love how the arts are being injected back into schools through organizations that refuse to let art studies be sidelined due to funding…it’s a beautiful world people, keep capturing it. -@mBeR
