Addi Somekh

Last updated
Addi Somekh
Born (1972-08-01) August 1, 1972 (age 52)
Hollywood, California
Alma mater
Known for
Style improvisation
Website

Addi Somekh (born August 1, 1972) is a self-taught balloon artist who has been twisting balloons since 1991. [1] Best known for his balloon hats, Somekh's other signature pieces include the balloon flower, balloon ring, and large-scale balloon sculptures. In addition to his balloon twisting, Somekh is an author, university philosophy instructor, and musician. With photographer Charles (Charlie) Eckert, Somekh traveled around the world creating balloon hats for people of various backgrounds, cultures, and beliefs in an effort to demonstrate the power of joy and laughter. [2] These journeys have been photo-documented in calendars, books, and films.

Contents

Background

Somekh was born in Hollywood, California, in 1972. As an undergraduate, Somekh attended UC Santa Cruz, where he met painter Mary Holmes, who became his mentor. [2] Somekh later published a book about Mary Holmes’ artworks with photographs by Charlie Eckert and interviews with the artist. [3]

In the early 1990s, Somekh's balloon twisting began as a means to “pay his car insurance” and make extra money when he was 19-years-old. [4] While attending graduate school at the New School for Social Research, where he majored in human resource management, he continued developing his talents and made a living twisting balloons at bar mitzvahs, elementary schools, and corporate parties. Somekh said he enjoyed balloon twisting as a profession because he didn't have a boss and could make cash improvising balloon hats and keeping the job interesting without having someone looking over his shoulder. [2]

Balloon hats and improvisation

Somekh's style of balloon hat making is in large part based on improvisation. He says that he reads a person's aura; he then measures the head as a foundation and builds from there. [4] Somekh claims to colors and shapes coming out of people's heads, and says he recreates these patterns and plays upon them with the balloons. [5] In a 2018 TEDxPaloAlto talk titled "Balloon Art and the Mysterious Nature of Joy," Somekh claimed that balloon hat improvisation leads to joy, which he describes as an instinctive and therapeutic reaction. [6] Somekh credits the NYC jazz quartet Sex Mob and the photographer James Nacthwey as his improvisational inspirations. [7]

Travels and publications

Somekh met amateur photographer Charlie Eckert in 1995. After witnessing the effect they had when wearing balloon hats to a Halloween party, [8] they planned to travel the world making balloon hats for people of divergent cultures and backgrounds. During their travels, they tested their theory of the universal response of joy and laughter. [4]

They visited 34 countries and 20 of the United States on a self-funded balloon hat world tour between 1996 and 1999. [4] These travels are documented in three calendars (2002, 2003, 2004) titled “The Varieties of the Balloon Hat Experience,” and a book called The Inflatable Crown, released by Chronicle Books in 2001. Their journeys were covered by InTouch Weekly , [9] the Los Angeles Times , LA Weekly and Bizarre (magazine) . Somekh and his Balloon Bass appeared on NPR on September 3, 2003, in an interview and segment produced by Rory Johnston. [10]

Exhibits

Somekh's balloon art has been displayed in several museum and cultural center exhibits. In 2008, the Skirball Cultural Center hosted The Inflatable Crown, a show of Eckert's photographs of Somekh's balloon hats and a documentary highlighting their travels. [11] Balloon sculptures by Somekh were later displayed at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History for a fall 2017 show. Ballooniverse featured three changing installations crafted entirely out of balloons: Balloon Garden, The Elephant and Six Blind Men, and Balloon Graffiti with Spray Paint Artist Cernesto. [12] At the end of 2017, Somekh also helped produce The Great Mystery Show, an exhibit at the American Visionary Art Museum featuring the work of blind South Korean balloon artist HongSeok Goh. [13] Together, the artists collaborated with seven other balloon twisters to create a giant sculptures of turtles, elephants, and dragons. [14]

Teaching

During an art residency at Cowell College of UC Santa Cruz in 2012, Somekh founded the Balloon Art Brigade, an organization aiming to teach people how to make balloon art and use it to spread joy in their communities. [15]

In 2014, Somekh began teaching a philosophy course at Cowell College. [16] His course, "Meaning, Paradox, and Love: Mary Holmes and Beyond", has grown from 13 to 130 students in four years. [17]

Balloon Music

Somekh credits his balloon twisting to his lack of talent as a musician and childhood dream of becoming a jazz musician. [2] Balloon twisting eventually led him back to music in the form of the Balloon Bass, an instrument that Somekh has played in his band, Unpopable (aka “Balloon Bass”), since 2005. For every performance, Somekh creates a new balloon bass and pops it at the end of the show. [2]

The first Unpopable album The Gift/Curse Combo was released in 2007. [2] Somekh started Unpopable with guitarist Henry Bermudez in 2005, but the band is currently composed of Somekh on balloon bass and Joey Maramba on electric bass. [18] In 2014, the band released an album called The Unpopable Trio with Alfredo Ortiz, and in 2018, they released an album called Tunnel Buddies with several percussionists. [18]

Somekh crafted the balloon bass after contracting Lyme disease during a photo shoot for Martha Stewart Magazine in August 2003. Afterwards, he moved to Los Angeles while bedridden for 8 months. During this time, he learned to play the balloon bass, as he could still move his fingers while stuck in bed.[ citation needed ]

In 1992, Sean Rooney devised the principle behind the balloon resonator and invented an instrument he called the Balloon Guitar. In 2000, Rooney showed Somekh how to make the resonator, which Somekh then modified several times to make the Balloon Bass. [19] Somekh has since created othdr balloon instruments, including drums and flutes, and has composed music and improvised with a variety of balloon and non-balloon musicians, such as New York-based jazz drummer Kenny Wollesen, Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, Money Mark, [20] Alfredo Ortiz, [18] and the Jamaican dub engineer The Scientist (musician). [18]

Film and television

In 1997, filmmaker Andy Vermouth met Somekh and Eckhert in West Africa and made a documentary about their travels. [21] The Balloonhat Movie, released in 2005, follows Somekh and Eckhert for two years as they traveled through Brazil, Bosnia, Serbia, Israel, and on to Egypt and the American South. The film won several awards including the 2005 Creative Spirit Award at the Santa Fe Film Festival and the 2006 Best Feature Documentary at the Durango Independent Film Festival. [22]

On Monday, February 7, 2011, The Learning Channel (TLC) debuted The Unpoppables, a reality show detailing the exploits and adventures of Somekh and his balloon decorating company, New Balloon Art. [23] The team of Somekh, Katie Balloons and Brian Asman are recorded taking on an array of challenging balloon commissions. The show was produced by Authentic Entertainment. [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Tenney</span> American composer and music theorist (1934–2006)

James Tenney was an American composer and music theorist. He made significant early musical contributions to plunderphonics, sound synthesis, algorithmic composition, process music, spectral music, microtonal music, and tuning systems including extended just intonation. His theoretical writings variously concern musical form, texture, timbre, consonance and dissonance, and harmonic perception.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Douglas (trumpeter)</span> American jazz trumpeter, composer, and educator

Dave Douglas is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and educator. His career includes more than fifty recordings as a leader and more than 500 published compositions. His ensembles include the Dave Douglas Quintet; Sound Prints, a quintet co-led with saxophonist Joe Lovano; Uplift, a sextet with bassist Bill Laswell; Present Joys with pianist Uri Caine and Andrew Cyrille; High Risk, an electronic ensemble with Shigeto, Jonathan Aaron, and Ian Chang; and Engage, a sextet with Jeff Parker, Tomeka Reid, Anna Webber, Nick Dunston, and Kate Gentile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George E. Lewis</span> American composer, performer, and music scholar

George Emanuel Lewis is an American composer, performer, and scholar of experimental music. He has been a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since 1971, when he joined the organization at the age of 19. He is renowned for his work as an improvising trombonist and considered a pioneer of computer music, which he began pursuing in the late 1970s; in the 1980s he created Voyager, an improvising software he has used in interactive performances. Lewis's many honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the American Book Award received for his book A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music. Lewis is the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music, Composition & Historical Musicology at Columbia University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One-man band</span> A musician who plays various instruments

A one-man band is a musician who plays a number of instruments simultaneously using their hands, feet, limbs, and various mechanical or electronic contraptions. One-man bands also often sing while they perform.

<i>Frostys Winter Wonderland</i> 1976 Christmas TV special

Frosty's Winter Wonderland is a 1976 animated Christmas television special and a standalone sequel to the 1969 special Frosty the Snowman, produced by Rankin/Bass Productions and animated by Topcraft. It is the second television special featuring the character Frosty the Snowman. It returns writer Romeo Muller, character designer Paul Coker, Jr., music composer Maury Laws and actor Jackie Vernon as the voice of Frosty, while Andy Griffith stars as the narrator with the rest of the cast consisting of Shelley Winters, Dennis Day and Paul Frees. The special premiered on ABC on December 2, 1976.

<i>Frosty the Snowman</i> (TV special) 1969 Christmas television special

Frosty the Snowman is a 1969 American animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. It is the first television special featuring the character Frosty the Snowman. The special first aired on December 7, 1969, on the CBS television network in the United States, airing immediately after the fifth showing of A Charlie Brown Christmas, both scoring high ratings. The special aired annually for the network's Christmas and holiday season until 2023. After 55 years, NBC acquired the broadcast rights to the special, and continues to air it yearly.

<i>Rudolph and Frostys Christmas in July</i> 1979 American-Japanese feature film/television special

Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July is an American-Japanese Christmas/Independence Day film produced by Rankin/Bass Productions, featuring characters from the company's holiday specials Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) and Frosty the Snowman (1969), among others. It was filmed in Japan using the company's trademark "Animagic" stop-motion animation style. The film was originally a theatrical film released through Avco Embassy Pictures, where it ran for only 2–3 weeks and was considered a box-office flop. Later that year, on November 25, 1979, the film premiered on television in the US on ABC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Townsend</span> Musical artist

Lee Townsend is an American independent music producer, curator, artist manager and co-owner of Songtone, specializing in recordings of singer-songwriters, contemporary composers, improvising musicians, and cross-cultural musical collaborations. He is also a psychotherapist in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Koons</span> American sculptor and painter (born 1955)

Jeffrey Lynn Koons is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror-finish surfaces. He lives and works in both New York City and his hometown of York, Pennsylvania. His works have sold for substantial sums, including at least two record auction prices for a work by a living artist: US$58.4 million for Balloon Dog (Orange) in 2013 and US$91.1 million for Rabbit in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenny Morris (musician)</span> British drummer

Kenneth Ian Morris, known professionally as Kenny Morris, is an English drummer, songwriter and visual artist. He was the first studio drummer of Siouxsie and the Banshees. He joined the band in January 1977; he had attended their first live appearance at the 100 Club a few months earlier and had been impressed by their performance. Morris's first studio recording with the group was in November 1977 when they recorded their first John Peel session for BBC radio. Music journalist Kris Needs said : "Like as a rhythm machine for feet and guts Kenny Morris' drumming is unorthodox, primitive and far removed from the clicking hi-hats of the fly-strength paradiddle merchants".

Marina Rosenfeld is an American composer, sound artist and visual artist based in New York City. Her work has been produced and presented by the Park Avenue Armory, Museum of Modern Art, Portikus (Frankfurt), Donaueschinger Musiktage, and such international surveys as documenta 14 and the Montreal, Liverpool, PERFORMA, and Whitney biennials, among many others. She has performed widely as an improvising turntablist, and served as co-chair of Music/Sound in the MFA program at the Milton Avery School of the Arts, Bard College, from 2007 to 2020. She has also taught at Harvard, Yale, Brooklyn College, and Dartmouth.

Unpoppables is a television show on TLC, featuring three balloon artists that aired for six episodes in early 2011. The show portrays their work for the company New Balloon Art, based in Los Angeles, California. Season one premiered on February 7, 2011.

Daniel Vee Lewis is an American musician and bass player, perhaps best known as the bassist for the Santa Cruz, California-based group World Entertainment War. His current projects include Dreambeach, with cofounder & vocalist, Pipa Piñon, and performance work with Solcircle, The Joint Chiefs, and The Al James Band.

Kevtone is an American musician, percussionist, and songwriter from Seattle, Washington. Performing live and in studio, his rhythm style may best be described as improvisational, melodic, progressive, and bluesy, reflecting influences from many genres of music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Kastning</span> Musical artist

Kevin Kastning is an American guitarist, composer and musical instrument inventor. He plays the 36-string Double Contraguitar, 30-string Double Contraguitar, 30-string Contra-Alto guitar, 24-string Double Subcontraguitar, 18-string Contraguitar, 17-string Hybrid Extended Classical guitar, 15-string Extended Classical guitar, twelve-string guitar, six-string guitar, fretless guitar, 12-string extended baritone guitar, 6-string bass-baritone guitar, alto guitar, the 14-string contraguitar, the 16-string contraguitar, the 17-string contraguitar, 12-string soprano guitar, mandolin, piano, and bass.

Katie Balloons is a New York City and Washington, D.C.–based balloon artist and entertainer best known for appearing in TV series The Unpoppables.

Elizabeth Murray, born Elizabeth Heaphy, was a British watercolourist. She primarily painted portraits and landscapes of the Canary Islands, where she lived for ten years. She was a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and was one of the founders of The Society of Female Artists in London in 1857.

Kade L. Twist is a Cherokee Nation interdisciplinary artist who works with video, sound, interactive media, text, and installation. Twist serves as the vice president of the Native Networking Policy Center. He is co-founder of Postcommodity, a Southwest Native American Artist collective, with Steven J. Yazzie. His work has been displayed nationally and internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiki King</span> American artist and musician

James Patrick Baron, also known as Tiki King, is an artist, musician, and luthier. He was an artist in the tiki revival scene of the early 1990s. As a luthier he created the pineapple cutaway double octave ukulele and has designed ukuleles for celebrities such as Greg Hawkes and Bette Midler. He released three solo ukulele CDs as well as one with his lounge band Tiki King and the Idol Pleasures. He currently plays bass drum and ukulele in Tribal Celtic band the Wicked Tinkers who have released a total of nine albums.

Mary Adams Holmes was an American artist and art history professor. Her work integrated Greek mythology, Jungian themes, biblical figures, tarot imagery, and literary references. She taught at the University of Iowa, Ohio State University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, Santa Cruz.

References

  1. ↑ Vietnam Investment Review, Timeout, Issue #85, November 24–30, 1997, Balloonatics
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Seven McDonald, LA Weekly, April 13–19, 2007, Vol 29 No 21, Inflatable Ego
  3. ↑ Mary Holmes, Painting and Ideas, Somekh and Eckert, Very Press ISBN   0-9708298-1-7
  4. 1 2 3 4 Balloon Magic Magazine, Issue 21, The Varieties of the Balloon Hat Experience
  5. ↑ Rebecca Patt, MetroActive, "Twist and Shout" http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/03.06.02/balloons-0210.html
  6. ↑ "Balloon Art and the Mysterious Nature of Joy". YouTube. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  7. ↑ New Balloon Art Website, http://www.newballoonart.com
  8. ↑ Jessica Hundley, Los Angeles Times, April 8th 2004, A Twisted World View
  9. ↑ InTouch Weekly, April 18th 2005, Spreading love with balloons
  10. ↑ NPR Interview: Addi Somekh demonstrates his balloon music, Archived 2012-11-05 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ↑ "Good, Twisted Fun with Balloons". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Ballooniverse". Santa Cruz MAH. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Blind Balloon Artist HongSeok Goh Shows Off Massive Work at AVAM". Baltimore. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  14. ↑ "A blind balloon artist from South Korea opens his first U.S. exhibit, and it's awesome". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Balloon Maker Enjoys the Joy His Art Brings". Santa Cruz Sentinel. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  16. ↑ "UCSC Students Interview Local Seniors for Final Project". Santa Cruz Sentinel. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Class Honors Mary Holmes' Life of Meaning, Paradox and Love". GoodTimes. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Balloon Bass http://www.balloonbass.com
  19. ↑ Sean, Rooney. "Balloon Maestro". Balloon Maestro. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  20. ↑ YouTube video, "The Making of Air, Rubber, and Soul" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNkrzFXy46k
  21. ↑ Brett Marlow, The Columbia Chronicle, "Twisting and turning laughter around the world" Volume 43 Number 10, November 5, 2007
  22. ↑ Balloonhat Movie Website: http://balloonhatmovie.com
  23. ↑ "Episodes". The Unpopables. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  24. ↑ TLC Press Release: http://press.discovery.com/us/tlc/press-releases/2011/tlc-takes-balloon-art-new-heights-unpoppables-1090/%5B‍%5D
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.