Beth Luxton – Painting meets Animation

For this first stage of experiments, I started with an existing painting and paired animation. I was really excited to see them together for the first time, outside of a screen. I intentionally sourced a projector that functions well in bright light and a large space so I had more options and configurations to play with. Thank-you very much to Kosar Contemporary and Béa Kayani for allowing me to set up in the gallery for the day!

I mentioned in my last blog post, some of the questions I was looking to answer. The first of which was: how large do I want the projection? How does this change the interpretation of the work?

I first projected the animation onto a large screen, shown in the video below. The animation felt immersive; I liked that I could walk around and right up to it. The flexible, thin material seemed to compliment the imagery however the colours were muted.

Following this, I projected next to the painting at various sizes, example below.

What became obvious to me was that the best scale and location, whether close to the ground or at eye level, would largely depend on the imagery and content. In this instance, it felt right that the projection was close to the ground, where the animated ball falls, and larger than the painting, exaggerating the strangeness of the imagery, particularly as people have told me it reminds them of blood cells. What seemed more imperative to consider was the location in relation to the painting, and the question: Do I want the painting and paired animation to be in view of one another, or separate?

You can imagine the animation as a depiction of entering the painting, venturing beneath the surface of the paint and beyond. I wanted to experiment with reflecting this; the viewer first sees the painting, then moves forward and around or behind to unexpectedly find the animation. I found an interesting spot where I could do this, using a corner, as shown below.

Similarly, I liked the idea of continuing forward momentum by walking into another ‘space’. The closest I could get to this was in the set up below. Of course, the two are in sight of one another but the physical distance creates a journey of sorts. This is reminiscent of putting the video behind a peep hole however I’ve not gone down this route. I don’t want there to be a physical barrier, perhaps because the work is already frustrating but also because I want the audience to be as close to the imagery as possible, to feel as if they could touch it.

Lastly, I put the projection opposite the painting, at a large scale where it acts like a reflection. There is something interesting about having the audience in the middle, turning around to find themselves immersed in a ‘landscape’. There is an element of discomfort to it, but also play. Like using a corner, the two can’t be seen together easily; the painting and the animation have space to exist separately but they are connected. This is my preference, moving forward.

For my next set of experiments, combining painting and animation, I wanted to explore projecting directly onto my paintings. How could this be done practically, and what imagery would be effective?

This isn’t entirely new territory for me – I had a painting in my degree show back in 2015 featuring a band of projected yellow light; the light reflected off the surface and the colours changed depending on where you stood. I liked the interplay of the transitory digital imagery and the static painting however I haven’t combined the two again, until recently.

Initially, still working with ‘Puncture Wound’, I took the full animation and lay it over the painting. Rather than clashing, as I thought would be the case, the imagery blends together. The shapes and colours are so closely aligned that they clearly relate. Playing continuously, however, there’s no respite to view the painting alone; ideally there would be a break. I’m not convinced I prefer this over showing the painting and full animation separately as ultimately I think it’s too visually busy and detracts from the strengths of each medium.

I moved on to working with a recent painting, ‘I’m Torn’, and created animated elements of the painting in Blender.

For the purpose of working quickly, I created short animations and took screen recordings from the Blender file to save rendering them. Although lower quality, they were sufficient for me to play around with some ideas. Below is an example of this, and the same projected.

I play around with distorted perspectives and misjudgements of space and scale in my paintings, which I extended to the animations. With the next couple of examples, the elements ‘react’ to other areas of the composition, creating a false sense of weight and ground. The surface of the painting is transformed, temporarily, and the two mediums seem to interact however I feel there’s a risk of over complication and the projection becoming a gimmick.

Below is the start of the full animation for ‘I’m Torn’, projected onto the painting. It is a sparser and slower animation than ‘Puncture Wound’ which creates a nicer balance. Practically speaking, as can be seen in the video, I had issues with lighting. Not just for documentation, but the brightness needs to be just right to see both the animation and the painting clearly in person.

For my last set of experiments, I used ‘I’m Torn’, the painting and paired animation which I have been working on for this micro-commission. Below is the full animation, the longest I’ve made so far.

I wanted to create a more finalised version of how I might display ‘I’m Torn’ and consider whether objects would add or detract from the existing pairing. Given my work is so much about touch, space and imagined reality, it felt right to give it a go.

I enlarged the bare canvas shapes and put them alongside some long pink sections of carpet, some rose petals and a yellow light; I played around with having the canvas creep up and out of lying flat on the ground.

In terms of the set-up I wanted to recreate what I did in my initial experiments, trying two configurations. One, where I used a corner and two, where the animation and painting were opposite one another.

The space I used, Centrespace in Bristol, didn’t lend itself to using a corner in exactly the way I wanted but I was happy with the below. You can see the painting and the animation, but each demands its own attention; the viewed is encouraged to walk in and around.

Here are a couple of close-ups and different angles from the same installation.

I then moved the painting and projection opposite one another. There is a lot of space between the two and as a result this felt less successful; the painting and the animation too disjointed. At Kosar Contemporary the space was contained and dark creating an intimate, slightly claustrophobic space which I liked.

Below, I played around with layering the installation and projection, seeing what I could create and suggest with the shapes. The projection overlaps onto and away from the objects, as if connected.

To finish, I grouped everything together before slowly removing the objects, creating something new again. It would be easy to over complicate the installation and this was something I was considering.