Kathy Smith: Indefinable Moods
Artist(s):
Title:
- Indefinable Moods
Exhibition:
Creation Year:
- 2001
Medium:
- Animation
Category:
Artist Statement:
The direct physical expression of drawing and painting is still the most pure form for conveying the subconscious or dream world. I started to animate my images because I wanted to affect the senses of the viewer more strongly with the combination of image, movement, and sound.
In this work, I am exploring symbols and landscapes in nature and linking these to the psychological hopes, fears, and desires that exist in every culture. My approach to 3D work is greatly influenced by Renaissance and French Romantic painting. Artists of these periods created magnificent oil paintings that alluded to the 3D world through light, perspective, the study of the physical world of nature, and a desire for movement (animation).
Working with 3D software has allowed me to collapse, reconstruct, and journey through a landscape of symbolic narrative. This is similar to painting, where symbolic narrative is not represented in a linear cause and effect mode. The images are seen, passed by, and arrived at. It is the thought process that creates a static work, yet it incorporates the additional sense of sound with image movement and metamorphosis.
The advent of digital technology has generated the “Renaissance” of animation internationally, and the information technology age greatly parallels what happened during the earlier Renaissance: the sense of discovery and perception of our world via new exciting media and science.
Indefinable Moods was created using 2D oil-painted sequences mapped onto multiple planes and 3D forms. These were then further animated using Alias|Wavefront Maya. Additional software included Adobe Photoshop, Composer, and Chalice. Computer hardware was donated by Intel. Facilities and software generously provided by the Division of Animation & Digital Arts, School of Cinema-Television, University of Southern California. Musical sound FX composed and performed by Chris D. Halliwell. Soundtrack edited and mixed by Counterpoint Sound Sydney. Production Supervisor at USC: Mar Elepano.
