USA Projects

I am seeking your support to help fund the research, development and production of my first animated film. Entitled “Nocturne”, this short hand-drawn film will animate a series of recurring images that have haunted my paintings and drawings over the past decade.  This film will debut as a projection alongside a series of related paintings during my next NYC gallery exhibition in 2013.

The premise for this animated film did not emerge from a particular narrative, but rather from a set of specific images. For the last ten years I have been making paintings and drawings that explore the iconography of nostalgia - gardens, moons, dark skies, mountains, sculptural fragments, books, birds, moths, rain, windows, curtains, etc. I mine Soviet-era Russian children’s books, Victorian scrapbooks, Japanese/Chinese prints, and Dutch botanical illustration in search of the bittersweet, the quaint, the melancholy and the picturesque. These sources are re-imagined, reorganized and refashioned into a space where disparate histories, images, events, dreams and desires collide.

My decision to venture into animation is not to replace, but to complement my painting practice. I intend to create this animation by working on a series of canvases - utilizing  lithography, monoprinting, graphite, charcoal, oil paint, watercolor, collage and xerox transfer. Each canvas will represent a sequence in the film. The production will not involve a script or storyboard. The narrative structure will emerge out of the animation process itself. Ultimately, I am motivated by a few basic questions: what if I could turn the pages of a book, collapse a sculpture, wither a plant, make a bird fly, project a moonbeam, climb a mountain, draw a curtain, open a window, change the weather, or turn day into night. Furthermore, what would all this sound like? What stories would unfold?

Your support will go toward the purchase of camera equipment, lighting, laptop, editing software and a digital projector. Any funds beyond the $8000 goal will be set aside for hiring an editor to assist me in the post-production phase. Thank you in advance for your interest in this project!