Downtown Tucsonan - February 2008 - (Page 19)

Identity Graphic Design Web Design (520) 770.7744 out of the sunlight glaring off of the Institute’s unshaded walls and into the massive square of blackness inside. there used to be sparse furniture inside, I remembered, and a hulking stage; when my eyes adjusted this time I saw that was all gone. In its place, sprawled across the room were sculptures: stuffed animals wired to car parts bolted to scissors that chop-chop in the graceful form of a bird when the piece is plugged in. Metal glinted in the low light and plastic jutted across the most careful footfalls. In short, the sculptures had taken over. “this is the family room,” he said, pointing out a rug surrounded by Happy sad Boy, with the wire-sculpted Roman nose, and his mother, of the tire-rim face and lampshade wings. across the room, pathways and lighting were arranged to accommodate the sculptures and their wheeled movement, because they are the “characters, costumes and instruments” that populate Bevelvision. also starring in Bevelvision is Mat Bevel himself, in the guises of his 48 human-based characters. smooth walter Ego, mattress rattling Pan Man, the neurotic new non-Prophet, and all the rest. the tour moved to Bevel’s office, a back room with walls of trinket art and corrugated cardboard. shauna’s square glasses looked frosty from the cold. we thawed ourselves around the space heater, then sat in front of the computer and logged onto matbevel.com. there are many sites that use Flash software these days for artistic effect, and many of these are flashier than Bevel’s. But I don’t think anyone approaches Flash web graphics the way he does. Bevel’s site’s centerpiece is a sinusoidal stirling engine, a heat engine created using advanced functions of electrical engineering. He dedicated exactly the same precision to creating this graphic that he would to creating the real thing. Few people go to this level of detail in graphic design unless the design is part of a patent process. For Bevel, though, it’s not about ownership; it’s about inspiration. “this can be used to teach science. Podcasts for kids!” he shouted, consumed by another spectacular idea, and excited— for once—that it was one he could accomplish on his own. In tucson, the Mat Bevel Institute is known to be one man. Everyone knows his real name is ned schaper, and we’ve all stood behind him in line for coffee at the Epic. over the years we have watched Mat Bevel painstakingly embodying one or two characters at a time, when in his mind they are all together in one eloquent mechanized jungle. so I hope Bevelvision really can become Bevel’s vision. “when you find me through the internet,” he says wondrously, “you don’t know if I’m a colony of white people making kinetic sculpture. If I’m a healer, a doctor, a video game. I could be any one of those things.” or a lone artist in a dark warehouse in tucson? I’m tempted to add. But I don’t. Really, who would ever guess? Log onto www.matbevel.com to see Mat Bevel’s characters, sculptures, and sinusoidal Stirling engine. New works and footage should appear periodically. www.creativetornado.com february.08. downtown tucsonan 19 http://www.peachprops.com http://www.creativetornado.com http://www.peachprops.com http://www.providenceinstitute.com http://www.providenceinstitute.com http://matbevel.com http://www.matbevel.com

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Downtown Tucsonan - February 2008 Contents From the Editor Downtown Lowdown Vital Signs Downtown Restaurants & Cafes Downtown Live Arts Galleries Performances Film Events Museums Historic Downtown Downtown Travelogue Billboard Classifieds

Downtown Tucsonan - February 2008

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