Director, painter and photographer Graeme Whifler was flung through strange circumstance into the orbit of the mysterious, anonymous San Francisco music group and arts collective known as The Residents in or around 1978 – even he isn’t entirely sure when. During the four-ish years that followed, Whifler cranked out a constant stream of some of the most twisted visual art to ever accompany not only the Residents’ work, but that of their other label mates, MX-80 Sound, Snakefinger, Tuxedomoon and Renaldo and the Loaf.

byNWR’s lead Restorationist, Peter Conheim, sat down with Mr. Whifler at his dining table in a canyon in Glendale, California, in May of 2019 while on a break from a color timing session bringing his various films made for Ralph Records and the Cryptic Corporation back to their glorious original detail.