Styrofoam Stop-Motion Is The Next Beautiful Thing

Somewhere between El Anatsui's tin tapestries and HA Schult's trash people lies the work of Mikey Please. The animator and director makes movies using mostly styrofoam. The familiar packing material -- so bad for our environment -- turns out to be a fabulous visual material, at once crisp and soft, like the love child of ice and frosting.

Please's latest film, Marilyn Myller, hit the internet this week after earning raves on the festival circuit. The 6 minute short takes a satirical view to artistry. The title character, Marilyn Myller, has great powers of creation; like Please, she crafts whole worlds out of glittery white foam. But to get anyone to notice her, Myller must turn a spontaneous moment in the studio into a neutered, replicable presentation. It's an arc any art student should recognize... that is if they can pay attention in the midst of all that magical styrofoam.