Two of the most powerful and most well-known works in Fred Stuhr's videography legacy are the two videos he either directed or co-directed for the rock band Tool.
Fred's association with Tool started while he was still an animation and art student at Art Center School of Design in Pasadena.
One of Fred's most disturbing and impressive pieces, "The Screaming Wall" was originally created for the first Tool e.p. "Opiate."
That's Fred's face right there in the middle of everything...a life cast was made and used as the basis of the piece.
I first met Fred when I did an interview with him for Animato! Magazine. He was working on "Prison Sex" in a studio in Hollywood the band had rented for the purpose. Neither long days and nights working on the video nor family crisis nor a major earthquake could stop him from completing it. It turned out to be one of the most powerful things he ever did. Much of the video was conceived and envisioned by Tool band member Adam Jones, and rightfully the video should be credited to both Fred and Adam. But there is no denying the strong presence of Fred's unique vision and unique animating style, from the surreal sets and character designs to the fluid motion of the puppets to the use of unusual materials for constructing the puppets, including raw meat.
However, arguably the most powerful of the two is "Sober."
This set module and puppet are both from the video "Sober" and photographed by the Webkeeper at Fred's studio in Pasadena. The harrowing video depicts the gradual unhinging of the mind of an old man living in a decaying house. Although the sculpted head has no moving parts, it was designed to give the impression of changing expressions by changing the angle and diffusion of light. The puppet has many, many articulations, including each finger.
We are pleased to have found links to official video clips of these two videos. We now present them for your viewing pleasure. You must obtain the QuickTime plugin or ActiveX applet (although if you are running ActiveX you're a braver person than I) before you can see them if you don't have it already.
| Sober just under 1MB in size |
Prison Sex something like 1.5MB in size |
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All art on this page © 1994,1996 Fred Stuhr, renewed 1997 Fred Stuhr estate. All rights reserved by the Fred Stuhr estate under international and US law and convention. Photos by Michelle Klein-Häss. No images can be used or linked to without the permission of the Fred Stuhr estate and the Photographer.
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Page last updated 1/15/1998
This web site was built by Catseye Creative Services, Ink.