Abby Portner
Encyclopedia
Abigail Portner is a visual artist, designer
, music video
director and musician in the bands Rings and Hex Message and solo under the name Drawlings. She lives and works in West Hollywood, Los Angeles
.
. She started to make tour posters when they were still in High School together in Baltimore
, Maryland
. She later moved to New York City
to attend Parsons School for Design
, but continued to make record covers and still designs shirts, tour posters and merchandise for the band. For Animal Collective's most recent album, Merriweather Post Pavilion
, she contributed a music video for the song In the Flowers. In the summer of 2010 she built a live set for two Animal Collective shows in Prospect Park
in New York City
that contained large scale paintings and sculptures of jellyfish, tiki men, moving sharks and shooting water. The work was handmade by Portner in small parts with the help of friends in a working space in Bushwick, New York City, and put together on stage.
Besides drawing for Animal Collective, Portner worked on a wide range of visual art projects, including Tattoo
designing and Cartoons. In the end of 2008 she designed skateboard
s for the Ohio
-based brand Alien Workshop
. In mid-2010 Portner worked as a guest artist for the animated series The Velvet Mouse Show.
In early 2010, The Fader Magazine
featured Portner in the 65th issue with some artwork and a portrait. In addition, an interview and a slideshow with the artist's work was posted on the magazine's website.
According to herself, the inspiration for her imagery comes from sources like old photos of her childhood, children's magazines and Disney World. She points out the motif of play and playfulness as the main theme of her work. Accordingly, recurrent themes in her drawings are animals, masked children, Christmas
and Halloween
. In addition to this "childlike" approach Portner adds a dark, melancholic and often eerie undertone to her figures:
left the band. With Mehta and Rosko she started to write new material as well as playing shows around New York City and at the Midi Festival in France in August 2006. After changing the band's name to Rings, they eventually recorded the full length Black Habit in March 2008 at Rove Studios in Kentucky along with Kristin Anna Valtysdottir
who produced the record.
As the drummer of Ring
s and Among Natives, another musical project of hers, Portner was one of 77 drummers participating in the art project 77 Boadrum
in Summer 2007. A year later, she was also part of the follow-up 88 Boadrum
. In the meantime, Portner had also joined the four-piece jam
band Hex Message.
In the summer of 2008 Portner started her solo music project Drawlings:
Since then, she played solo shows mostly in New York City and Los Angeles
and opened for artists like Animal Collective
, Deakin
, Kría Brekkan, Foot Village
and Angel Deradoorian
, with her fellow Rings members joining her sometimes on stage.
In May 2011 Portner will play All Tomorrow's Parties
curated by Animal Collective in Minehaed, England
, along with Big Boi
, Beach House, Atlas Sound
, Gang Gang Dance
and Paw Tracks
bands like Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti and Black Dice
.
The only Drawlings release so far is the solo song Wolfie's Christmas on a 7-inch named Be Good to Earth This Season released on Paw Tracks in the end of 2008.
In an interview in 2010 Portner announced that she plans on recording a Drawlings full-lenghth in the following winter with her brother David Portner to release it on Paw Tracks in early 2011: "[...] I have a name for the record and the album art already realized. I just need to get the songs down."
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...
, music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
director and musician in the bands Rings and Hex Message and solo under the name Drawlings. She lives and works in West Hollywood, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Visual Art
Abby Portner's work is closely connected to her friends and especially to her brother David Portner's band Animal CollectiveAnimal Collective
Animal Collective is an experimental psychedelic band originally from Baltimore, Maryland, currently based in New York City. Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare , Panda Bear , Deakin , and Geologist...
. She started to make tour posters when they were still in High School together in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. She later moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to attend Parsons School for Design
Parsons The New School for Design
Parsons The New School For Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is the art and design college of The New School university. It is located in New York City's Greenwich Village, and has produced artists and designers such as Marc Jacobs, Dean and Dan Caten, Norman Rockwell, Donna Karan, Jane...
, but continued to make record covers and still designs shirts, tour posters and merchandise for the band. For Animal Collective's most recent album, Merriweather Post Pavilion
Merriweather Post Pavilion (album)
Merriweather Post Pavilion is the eighth studio album by American indie rock group Animal Collective, released in January 2009 on Domino Records. The album is named after the Columbia, Maryland venue, Merriweather Post Pavilion. At nearly 55 minutes in length, the album is the group's longest since...
, she contributed a music video for the song In the Flowers. In the summer of 2010 she built a live set for two Animal Collective shows in Prospect Park
Prospect Park (Brooklyn)
Prospect Park is a 585-acre public park in the New York City borough of Brooklyn located between Park Slope, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Kensington, Windsor Terrace and Flatbush Avenue, Grand Army Plaza and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
that contained large scale paintings and sculptures of jellyfish, tiki men, moving sharks and shooting water. The work was handmade by Portner in small parts with the help of friends in a working space in Bushwick, New York City, and put together on stage.
Besides drawing for Animal Collective, Portner worked on a wide range of visual art projects, including Tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
designing and Cartoons. In the end of 2008 she designed skateboard
Skateboard
A skateboard is typically a specially designed plywood board combined with a polyurethane coating used for making smoother slides and stronger durability, used primarily for the activity of skateboarding. The first skateboards to reach public notice came out of the surfing craze of the early 1960s,...
s for the Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
-based brand Alien Workshop
Alien Workshop
Alien Workshop is a Skateboarding company founded in 1990 by Chris Carter and Mike Hill.Based in Dayton, Ohio, this is a departure from the California-centric skateboard industry....
. In mid-2010 Portner worked as a guest artist for the animated series The Velvet Mouse Show.
In early 2010, The Fader Magazine
The Fader
The FADER, or FADER, is an United States-based music/culture/fashion magazine that covers hip-hop, reggae, independent rock, pop and dance music from around the world.-Overview:...
featured Portner in the 65th issue with some artwork and a portrait. In addition, an interview and a slideshow with the artist's work was posted on the magazine's website.
According to herself, the inspiration for her imagery comes from sources like old photos of her childhood, children's magazines and Disney World. She points out the motif of play and playfulness as the main theme of her work. Accordingly, recurrent themes in her drawings are animals, masked children, Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
and Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
. In addition to this "childlike" approach Portner adds a dark, melancholic and often eerie undertone to her figures:
Music
Portner joined Nina Mehta and Kate Rosko of the New York based band First Nation in June 2006 as a drummer, shortly after Melissa Livaudis of TelepatheTelepathe
Telepathe is an electronic pop duo from Brooklyn consisting of core members Busy Gangnes and Melissa Livaudis. The band also includes other occasional musicians, such as Ryan Lucero....
left the band. With Mehta and Rosko she started to write new material as well as playing shows around New York City and at the Midi Festival in France in August 2006. After changing the band's name to Rings, they eventually recorded the full length Black Habit in March 2008 at Rove Studios in Kentucky along with Kristin Anna Valtysdottir
Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir
Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir is an Icelandic vocalist and classically trained multi-instrumentalist. She is best known as a former frontperson of múm, and later on for collaborating with former husband David Portner as Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan....
who produced the record.
As the drummer of Ring
Ring (band)
Ring were an English psychedelic rock band active during the 1980s.The band is notable for having helped to launch the subsequent musical careers of Robert White , Michael "Mik" Tubb and Christian "Bic" Hayes .-History:Ring evolved out of the south London experimental...
s and Among Natives, another musical project of hers, Portner was one of 77 drummers participating in the art project 77 Boadrum
77 Boadrum
77 Boa Drum was a concert held on July 7, 2007 at 7:07 PM consisting of 77 drummers. The concert was organized by Boredoms. The title of the concert was a portmanteau of "Boredoms", "boa", "drum", and "77"...
in Summer 2007. A year later, she was also part of the follow-up 88 Boadrum
88 Boadrum
88 Boadrum was a duo of free concerts following 2007's 77 Boadrum, hosted by Japanese noise rock band Boredoms. The concerts took place at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California and the Williamsburg waterfront in Brooklyn, New York and featured a new 88-minute composition.Each concert...
. In the meantime, Portner had also joined the four-piece jam
Jam session
Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one...
band Hex Message.
In the summer of 2008 Portner started her solo music project Drawlings:
Since then, she played solo shows mostly in New York City and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and opened for artists like Animal Collective
Animal Collective
Animal Collective is an experimental psychedelic band originally from Baltimore, Maryland, currently based in New York City. Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare , Panda Bear , Deakin , and Geologist...
, Deakin
Deakin (musician)
Deakin is an avant-garde musician and a founding member of Animal Collective.-Animal Collective:Josh Dibb began writing and recording music with childhood friend Noah Lennox in 1991. While at The Park School in Baltimore, Josh met David Portner and Brian Weitz when they asked him to join their...
, Kría Brekkan, Foot Village
Foot Village
Foot Village is a tribal noise rock band from Los Angeles, consisting of four drummers of which two also do the vocals.Band members Brian Miller and Grace Lee come from the band Gang Wizard, Josh Taylor was in Friends Forever....
and Angel Deradoorian
Angel Deradoorian
Angel Deradoorian is a Brooklyn-based musician best known for her work with Dirty Projectors. Deradoorian's debut EP, Mind Raft, was released under her surname on May 5, 2009 by Lovepump United Records. Her last name is of Armenian heritage...
, with her fellow Rings members joining her sometimes on stage.
In May 2011 Portner will play All Tomorrow's Parties
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
curated by Animal Collective in Minehaed, England
Minehead
Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the border with the county of Devon and in proximity of the Exmoor National Park...
, along with Big Boi
Big Boi
Antwan André Patton , better known by his stage name Big Boi, is an American rapper, song-writer, record producer and actor, best known for being a member of American hip hop duo OutKast alongside André 3000. His work in the duo has produced six studio albums. During the duo's hiatus, he and André...
, Beach House, Atlas Sound
Atlas Sound
Bradford James Cox is an American musician best known as the lead singer and guitarist of Atlanta, Georgia-based psychedelic and ambient band Deerhunter. He also pursues a solo career under the moniker Atlas Sound. Cox formed Deerhunter with drummer Moses Archuleta in 2001. The band has released...
, Gang Gang Dance
Gang Gang Dance
Gang Gang Dance is an American experimental music band based in Manhattan, New York City. The band is known for its distinctive sound which features synthesized electronics and percussion, plus the varied vocal styles of singer Lizzi Bougatsos...
and Paw Tracks
Paw Tracks
Paw Tracks is an independent record label based in Washington, D.C. The label's website features artwork by Abby Portner ....
bands like Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti and Black Dice
Black Dice
Black Dice is an experimental electronic music group currently based in Brooklyn, New York, USA.-Early years:Black Dice formed in spring 1997 soon after guitarist Bjorn Copeland met drummer Hisham Bharoocha and bassist Sebastian Blanck when they were students at the Rhode Island School of Design...
.
The only Drawlings release so far is the solo song Wolfie's Christmas on a 7-inch named Be Good to Earth This Season released on Paw Tracks in the end of 2008.
In an interview in 2010 Portner announced that she plans on recording a Drawlings full-lenghth in the following winter with her brother David Portner to release it on Paw Tracks in early 2011: "[...] I have a name for the record and the album art already realized. I just need to get the songs down."