Cyriak Harris, known mononymously as Cyriak (/ˈsɪriæk/),[6] his B3ta username Mutated Monty, and Mouldy in the Doom community, is an English freelance animator, artist, composer, and author from Brighton. He is known for his surreal and bizarre short web animations with the frequent use of the Droste effect.[1]
Cyriak | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) Cyriak in 2010 | ||||||||||
| Born | Cyriak Harris | |||||||||
| Nationality | English | |||||||||
| Other names | Cyriak Harris[1] Mutated Monty[2] Mouldy | |||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Animator, composer | |||||||||
| Years active | 2004–present | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2006–present | |||||||||
| Genres | ||||||||||
| Subscribers | 2.72 Million (combined)[3] (27 December 2023) | |||||||||
| Total views | 852 million (combined)[3] | |||||||||
| Associated acts | ||||||||||
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| Musical career | ||||||||||
| Genres | Electronic | |||||||||
| Labels | None | |||||||||
| Website | cyriak | |||||||||
Animations
editCyriak has been a regular contributor to the British website B3ta since 2004.[7] His YouTube channel was launched in March 2006.
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.[8] Most of his videos are made with Adobe After Effects and FL Studio.[9] 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 (a pitch-shifted excerpt from children's music artist Ann Austin's "The Poo Song") 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.[10]
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.[11][12] In 2015 he created the opening credits for the Netflix series W/ Bob & David.[13]
Cyriak has directed a number of music videos, including videos for Bonobo's "Cirrus"[14] and Bloc Party's "Ratchet" in 2013,[15] Flying Lotus's "Putty Boy Strut" in 2014,[16] Run the Jewels’s "Meowpurrdy" in 2016, and Sparks' "The Existential Threat" in 2020.[17] His videos "Baaa" and "meow mix" have amassed more than 100 million views. Other popular uploads on his channel include "Welcome to Kitty City," "Cycles," and "7 billion."
Music and other activities
editLong before Harris started creating animations, he composed a considerable amount of surreal music.[18]
On 19 August 2008, Harris uploaded a music video of the song "My Territory" by Grand Popo Football Club. It features a landscape that has been made entirely out of a woman's body, and is a metaphor for consumerism and the treatment of the female body.[19] 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.[20] 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.[21]
In December 2013, he released the mod "Going Down" for the 1994 first-person shooter Doom II.[22][23]
In March 2018, he started working on a partly crowd-funded book Horse Destroys the Universe.[24][25] The book was published in September 2019. It is about scientists who experiment on a horse named Buttercup until they are given superhuman intelligence, until they eventually become an omnipotent being and destroy the universe.
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.[26][27]
In August 2022, he released another Doom II mod titled "Overboard".[28]
Awards and recognition
editOn 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.[29]
In 2006 he also received a special mention in the results of a Photoshop contest run by the technology series Click.[30]
In 2012 and 2014 he was awarded with two Cacowards, an annual online awards ceremony which honours the year's most prominent modifications of Doom, being recognized for his outstanding level design and sophisticated technical approach to achieving complex sequences and impressive comedic timing.[31][32][33]
In 2022 he was awarded with another Cacoward for his mod "Overboard", which was praised for its silliness and fast-paced gameplay.[34]
McDonald's advertisement feud
editIn 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 67 million views.[35][36]
Filmography
edit| Year | Song | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | "Beggin' (Pilooski Re-Edit)" | Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons |
| 2008 | "My Territory" | Grand Popo Football Club |
| 2010 | "We Got More" | Eskmo |
| 2011 | "True Loves (Cereal Spiller Remix)" | Hooray for Earth |
| 2012 | "Yellow Bridges" | El Ten Eleven |
| "Putty Boy Strut" | Flying Lotus | |
| 2013 | "Cirrus" | Bonobo |
| "Ratchet" | Bloc Party | |
| 2015 | "Wind and Rains is Cold" | Cardiacs |
| 2015 | "There's Good Cud" | Cardiacs |
| 2015 | "Occupy" | Gong |
| 2016 | "Meowpurrdy" | Run the Jewels |
| 2017 | "UFOholic (Acid Abduction Mix)" | Denki Groove |
| 2019 | "Like and Subscribe" | Adam Buxton |
| 2020 | "The Existential Threat" | Sparks |
| 2022 | "Betray" | Light |
| 2024 | "Polkamania" ("Helena Polka" segment) | "Weird Al" Yankovic |
References
edit- ^ a b 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.
- ^ a b "About cyriak". YouTube.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Power Users List - Cyriak Harris (animator)". Image-Line. Archived from the original on 21 July 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
- ^ "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). Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ Cyriak (director), Sparks (composer) (3 July 2020). The Existential Threat (YouTube). Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
- ^ "INTERVIEW: CYRIAK HARRIS". grafill.no. 7 April 2012. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
- ^ "YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
- ^ "Amateur YouTube sleuth reveals Derren Brown's lottery numbers trick". 16 September 2009.
- ^ "Reasons.to 2019". Reasons to. Archived from the original on 29 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.
- ^ Harris, Cyriak (August 2019). Horse Destroys the Universe. Unbound. ISBN 9781783527601 – 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. Archived from the original on 30 January 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ^ "Overboard". DoomWiki.org. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Ryerson, Liz (29 January 2018). "The Doom Mod That Best Describes Our Uncanny Reality". Vice. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ "Doomworld -- The 19th Annual Cacowards". Doomworld. Archived from the original on 7 January 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
- ^ "Doomworld -- The 21st Annual Cacowards". Doomworld. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
- ^ "Top Ten - Page 3". Doomworld. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Cyriak Harris | Animation Department, Additional Crew, Director". IMDb. Retrieved 14 July 2023.