Cyriak
Cyriak Harris is an English freelance animator and composer known mononymously as Cyriak (/ˈsɪriæk/)[5] and his B3ta username Mutated Monty. He is known for his surreal and bizarre short web animations frequent use of the Droste effect.[1]
Cyriak | ||||||||||
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Nationality | English | |||||||||
Other names | Cyriak Harris[1] Mutated Monty[2] | |||||||||
Occupation | Animator, composer | |||||||||
Years active | 2004–present | |||||||||
Home town | Brighton, England, UK | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
Channels | ||||||||||
Years active | 2006–present | |||||||||
Genre | ||||||||||
Subscribers | 1.6 million (combined) (March 8, 2020) | |||||||||
Total views | 400 million (combined) | |||||||||
Associated acts | ||||||||||
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Musical career | ||||||||||
Genres | Electronic | |||||||||
Labels | None | |||||||||
Website | cyriak |
Animations
Cyriak has been a regular contributor to the British website B3ta since 2004.[6]
Cyriak's YouTube account features a compilation of his animations, which have been popular throughout the blogosphere and noted by Wired's Eliot Van Buskirk.[7] Cyriak's animation "MOO" has featured on the front page of Wired. His 2009 video "poo pants" features an animated sample of broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh singing a repeated refrain from the bowls of a series of toilets, some of which fly through space.
As a freelance animator, he has been commissioned by the video sharing website Sumo TV, and a music video for Grand Popo Football Club, among others.[8]
Cyriak made the "Spaceology" animation in the third episode of the fourth season of the TV series The IT Crowd and the "Goth to Boss" animation in the sixth episode.[9][10] In 2015 he created the opening credits for the Netflix series W/ Bob & David.[11]
Cyriak has directed a number of music videos, including videos for Bonobo's "Cirrus"[12] and Bloc Party's "Ratchet"[13] in 2013, Flying Lotus's "Putty Boy Strut" in 2014,[14] Run the Jewels’s “Meowpurrdy” in 2016, and Sparks' "The Existential Threat" in 2020.[15]
Music and other activities
Long before Cyriak started creating animations, Cyriak composed a considerable amount of surreal music.[16] He features the music in his animations, for which he has typically used FL Studio.[17]
On 9 September 2009, British illusionist Derren Brown, live on UK television, claimed to predict the National Lottery numbers. Cyriak uploaded a possible explanation, to his YouTube channel, which gained half a million views within a week and attention from national press.[18] In September 2010 he appeared at "Flash on the Beach" in Brighton and in September 2014 appeared at "Reasons to be Creative", also in Brighton.[19]
On December 2013, he released the mod "Going Down" for the 1994 first-person shooter Doom II.[20][21][22]
In September 2019, he published the partly crowd-funded book Horse Destroys the Universe.[23][24]
On 8 February 2020, Cyriak showcased his music for the first time, as he performed as a disc jockey at the Zanzibar Club in Liverpool.[25][26]
Awards and recognition
On 3 December 2009 Cyriak was announced as the winner of the 2009 E Stings competition, run by television channel E4, with £5,000 for his video Recursive Culture.[27]
In 2006 he also received a special mention in the results of a Photoshop contest run by the technology series Click.[28]
Controversy
In 2016 Cyriak accused fast food chain McDonald's of plagiarizing his animated video "cows & cows & cows". The studio that animated the advertisement, Buenos Aires-based Juan Solo, openly admitted that they used Cyriak's work as "reference". After Cyriak's tweets about the theft went viral, the advert was pulled. The original video, featuring dancing cows, had received more than 37 million views.[29][30]
See also
References
- Bradshaw, Peter (31 March 2010). "The surreal YouTube genius of Cyriak". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
growing cult following for his brilliant bursts of surrealism and drollery ... notably winning awards for his sting designs for E4, and for TV ads ... miniaturist genius
- "b3ta.com user mutated monty". b3ta.com.
- cyriak's Channel, archived from the original on 3 March 2011, retrieved 3 March 2011
- "Cyriak's YouTube stats". Social Blade.
- "Cyriak - Name's Meaning of Cyriak". name-doctor.com. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- "B3ta member profile". B3ta.com. Retrieved 9 December 2007.
- Van Buskirk, Eliot (20 October 2006). "Friday Fun: Cyriak's Animation Mix". Wired.com. Retrieved 9 December 2007.
- "20 fantastic film and TV idents". 27 January 2017.
- "IT Crowd – Spaceology". Cyriak. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
- Holmes, Kevin (13 September 2010). "Mind Melting Animation". The Creators Project. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
- Joe Berkowitz (24 November 2015). "How Digital Artist Cyriak Gave "W/ Bob & David" The Trippiest Opening Credits Ever". Fast Company. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- "CYRIAK". Retrieved 24 October 2019.
- "Music video for Bloc Party's Ratchet: More crazy work from Cyriak » Lost At E Minor: For creative people". Lost At E Minor. 2 July 2013. Archived from the original on 30 September 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
- Cyriak (director), Flying Lotus (composer) (25 June 2014). Putty Boy Strut (YouTube). Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- Cyriak (director), Sparks (composer) (3 July 2020). The Existential Threat (YouTube). Retrieved 3 July 2020.
- "INTERVIEW: CYRIAK HARRIS". grafill.no. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
- "Power Users List - Cyriak Harris (animator)". Image-Line. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
- "Amateur YouTube sleuth reveals Derren Brown's lottery numbers trick". 16 September 2009.
- "Reasons.to 2019". Reasons to:.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
- Ryerson, Liz (29 January 2018). "The Doom Mod That Best Describes Our Uncanny Reality". Vice. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- Hamilton, Andi (10 December 2018). "The cult of Doom: the thriving mod scene behind id's classic". PC Gamer. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- Zak, Robert (10 December 2018). "The 10 best Doom mods you should play on its 25th birthday". TechRadar. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- "Horse Destroys the Universe" – via unbound.com.
- Harris, Cyriak (22 August 2019). "Horse Destroys the Universe". Unbound – via Amazon.
- "Chemtrail Party Mix: Cyriak, DJ Gurl Power, Bongo and Furness, Monad". Residentadvisor. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
- "CHEMTRAIL PARTY MIX: CYRIAK / DJ GURL POWER / BONGO & FURNESS". Melodicdistraction. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- "E4 Finalists". Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2009.
- "Click Online competition results". BBC News. 12 May 2006. Retrieved 9 December 2007.
- "McDonald's Pulls Commercial That Copied The Work of Animator Cyriak". 4 August 2016.
- "Animator accuses McDonald's of plagiarising his viral (and surreal) dancing cow video". 4 August 2016.