The Pancake Epidemic and DreamWorks Animation are proud to present a newly commissioned work by contemporary artist, Dashiell Manley created for the Felix The Cat Room at TPE. An investigation into the moving image, the work highlights the animation process through a series of Preston Blair walk cycles. These works placed in the context of the Felix the Cat room underscore the longstanding relationship between Felix the Cat, cinema and contemporary art.
Small Walk Cycle (number)
Watercolor, gouache, ink, gesso, absorbent ground, aluminum, wood, paper, pastel, polymer medium, lighting gels, acrylic sheet, steel
These works were inspired by a moment in which I was trying to bridge two areas of my practice; painting and film. I was looking to come up with a physical yet static articulation of the cinematic moment, or cinematic event. While watching a projected film it occurred to me that the purest moment of cinema seemed to exist in the beam of light from the lens of the projector to the surface of the screen. This led me to consider the negative spaces that artworks occupy, the space between the back of the work and the wall, the bottom of the work and the floor, and so on. In addition, the works were generally finished with an incision, thereby creating an aperture in which light could pass ( the space between the lens and the screen).
For the last 5 years my work has dealt with animation in different ways, usually projects resulting in short stop motion films. I see this project as a proposal of sorts. While no actual film was ever made, I see the exhibition space that these works occupy as the projection screen, the works as mechanical aspects of the projectors, and the viewers as main performers. The figurative aspects of the works consist of reproductions of the Preston Blair walk cycle, both pointing back at the history of animation, in addition to nudging the viewer forward in their attempt to actually walk around the works.
Dashiell Manley