Animation

Below is a selection of animations and GIFs. To view more video-based work by Forrest Russell visit their offsite portfolio “illustrated connection“.

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Mark

A short moving painting done using two red and blue sharpies and a damp q-tip. A group of cells shuffle through a linear vein. As they converge, form together and separate they must at the same time navigate the obstacles of a personal terrain.

(16mm film)

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Manual Selection/Automated Choreography

Manual Selection/Automated Choreography is a work that explores the relationship between movement, isolation, and technology. The choreography displayed is not only shown through shadows and movement but also within the editing process of a digital product. How we define movement and dance is altered through the ways in which we modify and showcase it. The virtual world can limit our human connection and physicality, altering the way we curate our given creative dialect. How process can become the body of work is a core element behind this deconstructed piece. Manual Selection/Automated Choreography displays single frame images of a filmed performance done in a constrained space. The process of editing the footage, selecting and deleting frames in itself creates a new animation of choreographic movement. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, performative arts have had to find a new home in virtual space. This collaboration between dancer, shadow and technology explores this artistic isolation but also the possibilities of alternative process during these uncertain times.

A portion of this film was chosen to be featured in a larger project titled Hereafter by the Concordia Photography Collective in collaboration with Quartier Des Spectacles Montreal. The project featured the work of other talented artists and was projected onto a building outside of Saint-Laurent Metro Station throughout the month of May 2021.

(This film was a collaboration with contemporary dancer Madeleine Atkinson)

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Shadow Puppet Theatre

A snippet of a work-in-progress animation. Drawn with ballpoint pen on 3 x 5 in. cue cards. Shadow Puppet Theatre is a nostalgic escape that brings the viewer back to my childhood home. Flashlight-driven storytelling on the walls of my youth. These poor images of adventure; encounters with various animals provide unobtainable views during the times of Covid-19 and isolation. The process of creating these images brought me back to a nearly forgotten place that I hope to always remember. A time where escape and exploration, like today, seem like distant futures. This is my personal theatre within Habitat 23.

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