Handabbeisser (Blog)

” … ‘Exactly,’ all the noblemen agreed, though they could see nothing, for there was nothing to see. “

[Excerpt from “The Emperor’s New Clothes” by Hans Christian Andersen, 1837]

Handabbeisser” (German for: “one who bites off hands“, from the term: ‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you‘) is a blog and functions as production diary, sketchbook/portfolio-notes, news page, with occasional interviews included.

It was started in 2012, originally to communicate with a group of homeless youth in Oregon during a collaborative long-term /long-distance interview /blind-photo project (“Each reflection of myself echoes a different emotion at me”).
It is deliberately written in casual language that every average person can understand and relate to, making an effort to avoid “art-lingo” that uses language as status symbol and to create diversion addressing intentionally exclusively a particularly educated audience or one that likes to appear as such. It has been since twice deleted for various reasons and occasionally restarted again.

ホテル Hotel – Laila, Alexander’s mom

And so far Laila with hair, but not assembled yet and without make-up: Josiane Keller “Laila’s head with hair with

Some more street shots and new Mike Bradley marionettes – new Lincoln and Shagbunny

Some more street shots, such as this one: Josiane Keller “7th -Broadway crossing, early morning” (2016) and I came

ホテル Hotel – Viola’s black polka dot dress with rainbow sash (2016)

ホテル Hotel – Starfish’s black !EXPENSIVE® boots with red laces (2016)

Brief Interlude – Nominee at Spider Awards, an experiment: the doll as a substitute

By chance, because I am on too many art/photo/etc. related websites, get their newsletter, and admittedly not always read them

ホテル Hotel – field trip

I guess, one could call this a field trip. Which also means that I don’t have time to post daily. So much for now: it is

Andrei [*commission, SOLD]

Andrei, a small boy; commission /SOLD; starring in “little boy sulking”, to view please click: HERE Josiane Keller

Goebbels, the dog

Goebbels, stray dog, found by Larry and Chiaki one night outside of the hotel, but he bites everyone except Starfish; starring

Edie

Edie Weisslechner, Billy’s baby sister; starring in multiple Studio KOMOREBI productions, to view selected samples pleas

ホテル Hotel – Laila in the kiln and hair test

Laila’s fabulous chest (keep in mind, she just gave birth) caused me some issues, or rather the joint connecting neck an

NASA lied. No moon.

NASA lied. Josiane Keller “meteor S1 on screen” (2016) There is no moon. Josiane Keller “meteor S1” (2

A handful of crap art and “Starfish as a model” test prints

Here a handful of crap art. I produce tons of it (thank God for the shredder!), so I am considering to pack it in little plast

平太郎化物日記 Heitaro Bakemono Nikki, 天野天街, Tengai Amano,ITOプロジェクト (“ITO project”), Laila’s head and left hand and holding a photo of Vincent

I received a present! It’s a DVD of a puppet play 平太郎化物日記 “Heitaro Bakemono Nikki” , translat

ホテル Hotel – baby Alexander

Laila had her baby, Alexander; he was born ten days ago, today everyone is coming to visit the new baby. Vincent, proud god-

ホテル Hotel – Vincent is showing off his tattoo

Some people couldn’t see that tattoo Vincent has. So with help of a few after work glasses, I got him to show off, it is

ホテル Hotel – some Vincent pictures

Vincent’s suit proves to be a pain in…. anyways, tricky, let’s say that much. The thing is with these tiny p

ホテル Hotel – Vincent assembled and dress test

Vincent and Alexander are both assembled. Vincent needed some more hair: Josiane Keller “Vincent’s head with hair&

ホテル Hotel – Vincent and Alexander in the kiln

Vincent is the caretaker in the hotel. Maybe he is even part owner, who knows. He is very old, quirky, funny and wise, of cour

ホテル Hotel – Starfish aka Antony

And back. Here you can see a few images of my research on making eyes, without using glass in this case. These are my first at

お雪 Oyuki, お鶴 Otsuru, more 鶴 cranes and more tricky straw clothes, in particular winter boots: 藁沓 (waragutsu)

Meanwhile in Japan…. Josiane Keller – お雪 Oyuki – costume test (2015) the costume is not sewn yet, so far

飯室康一 Iimuro Koichi – あとりえミノムシ Atelier Minomushi, Kyoto – Vol. III

All together now: Josiane Keller “Minomushi marionettes – group” (2015) Finally, the Master in his studio, s

飯室康一 Iimuro Koichi – あとりえミノムシ Atelier Minomushi, Kyoto – Vol. II

As promised, here Volume II of the fabulous あとりえミノムシAtelier Minomushi marionettes and their creators. This one

飯室康一 Iimuro Koichi – あとりえミノムシ Atelier Minomushi, Kyoto – Vol. I

It took me a bit to get to show these, partially because of our own recent live performance, partially because this artist is

Gallery parabolica-bis show: 藤本由紀夫 Yukio Fujimoto –“処刑機械そして独楽 / “The execution machine and the spinning top”

Pictures of this show at Gallery parabolica-bis, Tokyo, (which I thought was particularly interesting), 藤本由紀夫 Yuk

Edo Marionette Compagnie Isshiza – Vol IV – some more Isshiza marionettes, posters and somehow everything seems on strings now

After our own performance went over well, back to my research with other, very interesting groups, and back to a last post on

Compagnie MaMa’s / The Lincoln Brothers “Night Truck” – live! – Many thanks!

Many thanks to those who made it out to last night’s show, you were a fantastic audience, we had a ton of fun and hope y

Compagnie MaMa’s ‘The Lincoln Brothers’: “Night Truck” – rehearsal – Vol. II

If you have been checking back for more info on the Japanese pieces and groups, I will write and show more about that, but thi

Meanwhile: Compagnie MaMa’s – The Lincoln Brothers “Night Truck” rehearsal

Continent hopping to U.S.A.: Compagnie MaMa’s / The Lincoln Brothers is rehearsing their first live performance “N

Edo Marionette Compagnie Isshiza – Vol III – Isshiza marionettes construction and some characters

Here some images of the Isshiza puppets, their construction, and some characters. You have seen already the specific Japanese

Edo Marionette Compagnie Isshiza – Vol II – 鈴ヶ森 “Suzugamori”

Here a few very interesting marionettes, these are playing (are they only playing?) rebels, rough guys, robbers, that sort of

Edo Marionette Compagnie Isshiza – Vol I

I am a lucky girl. Very lucky… I get to meet these fantastic people: traditional Edo marionette compagnie “Isshiza

Puppet development: the wood cutter and Yuki, and some more artist and art

More pictures of the puppet development, the wood cutter needed a little operation for reinforcing his ability to stand by him

Brief Interlude: Yakusa Usagi Gang in Gosho – in a tree and night procession

Here they are again, busy at their dark doings, the Yakusa Usagi Gang, this time in Gosho, and don’t ask me what they ar

More artists, teachers, art and puppets

My Manga professor, Satoshi Ogawa おがわ さとし教授 , is updating me on the newest trends: Josiane Keller – Pro

Brief Interlude – やくざうさちギギャング – the Yakuza Usagi Gang – dolls by Kazumi Seki

Due to certain private connections, a great deal of diplomacy and my very lucky fate I was given the unique chance to witness

Komori Fumio – Sumie and Japanese water colour painter

Some pictures (more than I had put up already over the years) on Komori Fumio, or Komori Sensei, as he is known by, painting,

The missing pictures – a man walking by at Kamogawa, 目箱 versus 目匣, and making the female puppet bodies

As promised, the missing pictures of my progress so far: Josiane Keller “puppet heads” (2015) Josiane Keller ̶

Making the puppets of the female characters and the crane and moon on wires

If you are used to daily updates on my BLOG and wanted to know how the puppets are coming along, I have to apologize for not p

About making the puppet of the wood cutter and also about ボーカロイド™ オペラ 葵上 VOKALOID Opera Aoi

And… I’m back. Josiane Keller – 私の窓からの眺め view from my window (2015) There are cats in the ne

More stormy weather: 神坂 雪佳 Kamisaka Sekka – Whirling Snow, and 日下部金兵衛 Kusakabe Gimbei – Girl in heavy Storm

Humans struggling again ts story weather seems a popular topic in Japanese art. Snow: 神坂 雪佳 Kamisaka Sekka “Whir