Brummbaer
Encyclopedia
Brummbaer is a German
digital art
ist who has done work as an art director
, designer
, graphic artist, and 3D modeler. As an actor he has appeared in various German TV movies, and also produced and directed. In the latter part of his career he became focused on computer graphics
, and has since created several short computer-generated animations and has done visual effects for movies.
magazine Germania
brought him recognition in Europe during the 1960s, and he orchestrated light shows for musicians such as Frank Zappa
and Tangerine Dream
. He found his most expressive medium when he discovered the computer.
He was one of the primary computer animators responsible for the special effects in the Tristar
motion picture Johnny Mnemonic. He also created an innovative opener for SIGGRAPH
’s 1995 "Electronic Theater," and has long been a pioneer in the world of digital animation, where he has been noted for his signature hallucinogenic
style.
In the autumn of 2003 he was diagnosed with Head and neck cancer
. During several months of chemo
- and radiation
-therapy he wrote a semi-biographical novel titled RUNAWAY JESUS, which recounted his experiments with the drug dextromethorphan hydrobromide (DXM), followed by What's so Wrong with Love and Peace- Adventures in the European Underground 1965-67. Both available as E-books at Amazon, itunes, etc. He survived the Head and neck cancer
, but in 2007 was diagnosed with bladder cancer, which was treated with two bladder resections. At the moment he is cancerfree. 2011 RUNAWAY JESUS was published in a German translation as DER GAMMLER. (Werner Piepers „Der Grüne Zweig“)
. He later moved to Frankfurt
in 1968 where he designed psychedelic
posters and founded Germany's first lightshow-company, the “Exploding Galaxy.” They performed for Tangerine Dream, Amon Duul, The Fugs, Frank Zappa, etc. They also shot a Lightshow film: “Astronomy Domine” with Knollfick, (music Pink Floyd).
Due to his large and rare collection of underground comics, Brummbaer translated and edited Robert Crumb
’s first book in Germany. With the success of the book he was able start a comic-book-company "Brumm Comix." With the profits of comic-book-company he was able to publish “Germania,” an underground German magazine. It was during this time that Brummbaer was politically involved in the squatting
of houses for the homeless and the legalisation of marijuana and other nonaddictive soft drugs.
From 1972–1973 he spent nine month writing and recording “Maschine Nr.9,” a radio play with Wolf Wondratschek
and Georg Deuter.
, Dr. John Lilly, and his wife Tony. Since the introduction of the personal computer he promoted and exercised digital design, creating art for games and special effects for movies. In 1988 he worked on Futique Inc.'s "Cyberpunk Interscreen/The Mind Movie" in collaboration with Timothy Leary. Stubbornly insisting to only design on computers allowed only for a modest living by generating covers for books, records and magazines.
During 1991–1993, Brummbaer served as the Art Director for the game Darkseed, in the style of, and in collaboration with H.R. Giger. For the movie Critters 4
he created the computer graphics on a PC. The "Digital Be-In
" in San Francisco and the Zero-One Gallery
, Los Angeles showed his first exhibition of electronic paintings, hosted by Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary's last book "Chaos and Cyberculture" contains many illustrations by Brummbaer.
(1989), Wolfpack
(1990), Robo Sport (1991), Comanche
(1992), Q*bert (1992), Shrek 2
(2004), True Crime: New York City
(2005) and Kung Fu Panda
(2007).
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
digital art
Digital art
Digital art is a general term for a range of artistic works and practices that use digital technology as an essential part of the creative and/or presentation process...
ist who has done work as an art director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
, designer
Designer
A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...
, graphic artist, and 3D modeler. As an actor he has appeared in various German TV movies, and also produced and directed. In the latter part of his career he became focused on computer graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
, and has since created several short computer-generated animations and has done visual effects for movies.
Life
Brummbaer's fine art and undergroundCounterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
magazine Germania
Germania
Germania was the Greek and Roman geographical term for the geographical regions inhabited by mainly by peoples considered to be Germani. It was most often used to refer especially to the east of the Rhine and north of the Danube...
brought him recognition in Europe during the 1960s, and he orchestrated light shows for musicians such as Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
and Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The band has undergone many personnel changes over the years, with Froese being the only continuous member...
. He found his most expressive medium when he discovered the computer.
He was one of the primary computer animators responsible for the special effects in the Tristar
Tristar
The term Tristar may refer to:* Tri-star * Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, a widebodied airliner** Lockheed TriStar , L-1011-based tankers used by the Royal Air Force* TriStar Pictures, a film production company...
motion picture Johnny Mnemonic. He also created an innovative opener for SIGGRAPH
SIGGRAPH
SIGGRAPH is the name of the annual conference on computer graphics convened by the ACM SIGGRAPH organization. The first SIGGRAPH conference was in 1974. The conference is attended by tens of thousands of computer professionals...
’s 1995 "Electronic Theater," and has long been a pioneer in the world of digital animation, where he has been noted for his signature hallucinogenic
Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants
This general group of pharmacological agents can be divided into three broad categories: psychedelics, dissociatives, and deliriants. These classes of psychoactive drugs have in common that they can cause subjective changes in perception, thought, emotion and consciousness...
style.
In the autumn of 2003 he was diagnosed with Head and neck cancer
Head and neck cancer
Head and neck cancer refers to a group of biologically similar cancers that start in the upper aerodigestive tract, including the lip, oral cavity , nasal cavity , paranasal sinuses, pharynx, and larynx. 90% of head and neck cancers are squamous cell carcinomas , originating from the mucosal lining...
. During several months of chemo
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
- and radiation
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy , radiation oncology, or radiotherapy , sometimes abbreviated to XRT or DXT, is the medical use of ionizing radiation, generally as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells.Radiation therapy is commonly applied to the cancerous tumor because of its ability to control...
-therapy he wrote a semi-biographical novel titled RUNAWAY JESUS, which recounted his experiments with the drug dextromethorphan hydrobromide (DXM), followed by What's so Wrong with Love and Peace- Adventures in the European Underground 1965-67. Both available as E-books at Amazon, itunes, etc. He survived the Head and neck cancer
Head and neck cancer
Head and neck cancer refers to a group of biologically similar cancers that start in the upper aerodigestive tract, including the lip, oral cavity , nasal cavity , paranasal sinuses, pharynx, and larynx. 90% of head and neck cancers are squamous cell carcinomas , originating from the mucosal lining...
, but in 2007 was diagnosed with bladder cancer, which was treated with two bladder resections. At the moment he is cancerfree. 2011 RUNAWAY JESUS was published in a German translation as DER GAMMLER. (Werner Piepers „Der Grüne Zweig“)
Career
Between 1964 and 1967 Brummbaer traveled Europe as a pavement-painter and in 1967 he had his first exhibition of paintings at the Art's Lab in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. He later moved to Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
in 1968 where he designed psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
posters and founded Germany's first lightshow-company, the “Exploding Galaxy.” They performed for Tangerine Dream, Amon Duul, The Fugs, Frank Zappa, etc. They also shot a Lightshow film: “Astronomy Domine” with Knollfick, (music Pink Floyd).
Due to his large and rare collection of underground comics, Brummbaer translated and edited Robert Crumb
Robert Crumb
Robert Dennis Crumb —known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb—is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded...
’s first book in Germany. With the success of the book he was able start a comic-book-company "Brumm Comix." With the profits of comic-book-company he was able to publish “Germania,” an underground German magazine. It was during this time that Brummbaer was politically involved in the squatting
Squatting
Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....
of houses for the homeless and the legalisation of marijuana and other nonaddictive soft drugs.
From 1972–1973 he spent nine month writing and recording “Maschine Nr.9,” a radio play with Wolf Wondratschek
Wolf Wondratschek
Wolf Wondratschek is a German author. He was born in Rudolstadt in Thuringia.-Life:Wondratschek grew up in Karlsruhe. From 1962 through 1967, he studied literature, philosophy and sociology at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, Georg-August University of Göttingen, and the Johann Wolfgang...
and Georg Deuter.
Actor
- Der Allerletzte (1979) (TV) (as Brummbär)
- Die Sweethearts, (1977) (TV)
- Warum der Himmel kein Flugzeug ist
Director
- CyberWorld (2000)
- The Last Trip to Harrisburg (1984) (aka "Die letzte Fahrt nach Harrisburg")
Production Designer
- Klaus Lemke: Idole 1975 (TV),
- Die Sweethearts, (1977) (TV),
- Moto-Cross (1977) (TV),
- Der Allerletzte, (1979) (TV),
- Arabische Nächte (1979) (“Arabian Nights”)
- Dark Seed (1992) (VG)
Other
- Illustrator: German Edition Magazines - PlayboyPlayboyPlayboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
, Penthouse, Transatlantic - Painter: Exhibition at Gallery Klinzer, Munich, Magic Realism
- Animator: German Television "XX, Clip-Cafe": Production design, openers, bumpers, and stage design for Youth-oriented shows.
Computer Graphics
In 1986, the International Synergy Institute in Los Angeles invited Brummbaer to be artist in residence to work on their Fairlight CVI computer where he created several ¾" videos: "New Worlds,” “Orient Ma Mind An Touch Ma Hal,” “Pretty Please." Another reason to live in LA was his friendship with Dr. Timothy LearyTimothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...
, Dr. John Lilly, and his wife Tony. Since the introduction of the personal computer he promoted and exercised digital design, creating art for games and special effects for movies. In 1988 he worked on Futique Inc.'s "Cyberpunk Interscreen/The Mind Movie" in collaboration with Timothy Leary. Stubbornly insisting to only design on computers allowed only for a modest living by generating covers for books, records and magazines.
During 1991–1993, Brummbaer served as the Art Director for the game Darkseed, in the style of, and in collaboration with H.R. Giger. For the movie Critters 4
Critters 4
Critters 4 is a 1992 science fiction comedy horror film starring Don Keith Opper, Terrence Mann, Angela Bassett and Brad Dourif. It was directed by Rupert Harvey and written by Harvey, Barry Opper, Joseph Lyle and David J. Schow. It is the fourth and seemingly final film in the Critters series...
he created the computer graphics on a PC. The "Digital Be-In
Digital Be-In
The Digital Be-In is an ongoing San Francisco-based event that began with a mission to carry forth the ethos and values expressed at the 1960s' Human Be-In, and bring them into the world of multimedia and Internet technology. It served a role through the 1990s as a venue for the San Francisco Bay...
" in San Francisco and the Zero-One Gallery
01 gallery
01 Gallery is a contemporary art gallery located in downtown Los Angeles, California, U.S., founded by art dealer and curator John Pochna. The gallery is known for its contributions to the lowbrow art movement, as it frequently exhibits pieces with heavy graffiti and street art influences...
, Los Angeles showed his first exhibition of electronic paintings, hosted by Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary's last book "Chaos and Cyberculture" contains many illustrations by Brummbaer.
Sony Pictures Imageworks
- 1994 Johnny Mnemonic (Opener/Cyberspace)
- 1995 L.A. SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater (Opener) "The Craft" (butterflies)
- 1996 Odyssey into the Mind’s Eye (Opener for "Mind’s Eye”), "Computer Animation Classics" (Opener for "Mind’s Eye Classics”), "Dark Skies" (TV Series pilot) "Jonny Quest" (cartoon)
- 1997 L.A. SIGGRAPH "Electronic Theatre" (Opener) SDDSSDDSSony Dynamic Digital Sound is a cinema sound system developed by Sony. Compressed digital sound information is recorded on both outer edges of the 35 mm film release print. The system supports up to eight independent channels of sound: five front channels, two surround channels and a single...
Logo (Cinematic Opener) "En Vogue" MTV video
Other film work
- 1998 2½ minutes IMAX/3D CyberWorld (2000)
- 1999 Bill GatesBill GatesWilliam Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
' Basement (animated short) - 2000–2001 "Thru the Moebius Strip" with Jean Girard Moebius - 3-Minute trailer http://www.cg-nauten.de/klex/adam/films/moebius/moebius_nauten.htm
- 2001–2002 Researching "Non-Photo-Real Renderers" Toto's Dream -- Animation short
- 2003 The Story of Computer Graphics (Dir. Frank Foster, Opener/Closer)
Games
Brummbaer is credited for several games he worked on including SimCitySimCity
SimCity is a critically acclaimed city-building simulation video game, first released in 1989, and designed by Will Wright. SimCity was Maxis' first product, which has since been ported into various personal computers and game consoles, and spawned several sequels including SimCity 2000 in 1994,...
(1989), Wolfpack
Wolfpack
Wolfpack or wolf pack may refer to:* Pack , a group of wolves that live, feed, and travel as a family groupIn entertainment:* Wolfpack, a Battletech novel written by Robert N...
(1990), Robo Sport (1991), Comanche
Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
(1992), Q*bert (1992), Shrek 2
Shrek 2
Shrek 2 is a 2004 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film, produced by DreamWorks Animation and directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon. It is the second installment in the Shrek film series and the sequel to 2001's Shrek...
(2004), True Crime: New York City
True Crime: New York City
True Crime: New York City is an urban sandbox-style action-adventure videogame published by Activision and developed by Luxoflux for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube consoles and Windows based computers. It is the second game of the True Crime series, released after True Crime: Streets of LA...
(2005) and Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated action comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures...
(2007).
Awards
- Imagina - Monte' Carlo - Content graphics (1997)
- International Monitor Award - Openers/Closers (1998)
- "Bill Gates Basement" - Siggraph Animation Theatre (1999)