Animator Ryan Larkin (1943 – 2007) does a visual improvisation to music performed by a popular group presented as sidewalk entertainers. His take-off point is the music, but his own beat is more boisterous than that of the musicians. The illustrations range from convoluted abstractions to caricatures of familiar rituals. Without words.
His movies truly capture motion and creativity. He really had a unique style which inspired many great artists of his time and continuing to this day. His style of morphing in countless forms of animation and cartooning. Larkin truly gave his mark on animation and creativity.
Canadian animation legend Ryan Larkin passed away on February 14th 2007 from brain cancer. Larkin directed and animated the 1969 Oscar-nominated short Walking, as well as Syrinx (1965), Cityscape (1966) and Street Musique (1972). The news of Larkin’s passing comes from Ottawa International Animation Festival artistic director Chris Robinson who heard the news from Chris Landreth, director of the Oscar-winning short Ryan (2004), which documented Larkin’s amazing art and troubled life.
Larkin had recently been making a comeback into the animation world; his most recent pieces “A series of three interstitials” had appeared on MTV Canada in December 2006. Ryan’s official website is RyanBango.com.