Cleveland-based mixed-media artist Kasumi is best known for her complex, multi-layered film and video works, which use found mass-media images as the raw material, although that’s only part of what she does.
Her work can be serious and thought-provoking, but she’s got a playful side as well, which fuels her newest project, an app called ShuffleHead. It features an array of cartoon-like images and music loops, which you can color and rearrange in thousands of ways. You can buy additional ShufflePacks to create even more combinations.
“Mix Albert Einstein with Marilyn Monroe and an octopus, Elvis Presley with Franz Kafka and a soft-serve ice cream cone, Tiffany Haddish with Bruno Mars and a house cat!” she promises. “Then color your masterpiece from palettes of hues, select your music loops, and press on the screen to reveal a unique story using the art you’ve created.”
Along with Kasumi, the ShuffleHead team also includes app programmer Tony Calabro, website designer Matt Beckwith, and promoter Ian Zeigler of Photonic Studio, whose collaboration was based in their connections to the Cleveland Institute of Art.
“The pandemic is making it manifestly clear that we’re all linked together and affect each other in ways we hadn’t imagined,” says Kasumi. “I wanted to express this unification in a fun and creative way. And just in time to give people stuck at home an innovative way to unleash their artistic impulses.”