Arlene Ducao
Head of Hair, Penetrating Needle
In Arlene's writing about her 3D animation work she starts with the same presumption that I've always held about this medium: so much effort for so little output. But then she delved into it and found it offered the exact right combination of tools for her particular vision. She wanted to combine her chamber opera compositions with her expereiences modeling in clay and her instinct to subvert scale and space, like a diminutive deployment of Wagner's gesamtkunstwerk.
She also talks about her penchant for narrative and in comparing these two works I was reminded of Truffaut's stated strategy of always trying to work on a dramatic film and a comedy at the same time. Penetrating Needle and Head of Hair share much in terms of style, but one seems to be a reflection on the complexities of relationships while the other is a clever one-liner.
And of course if you view her other works online (arlduc.org) you'll be overwhelmed by the volume of her output. (I'm always impressed by artists who can include serious music composition as a sidebar to their artistic output.)
We're glad that Arlene will be attending the real-world launch of Frail at the Fabulous Festival of Fringe Film and that she'll be available to talk about her work. We'll try to get some of that online in this post...
In Arlene's writing about her 3D animation work she starts with the same presumption that I've always held about this medium: so much effort for so little output. But then she delved into it and found it offered the exact right combination of tools for her particular vision. She wanted to combine her chamber opera compositions with her expereiences modeling in clay and her instinct to subvert scale and space, like a diminutive deployment of Wagner's gesamtkunstwerk.
She also talks about her penchant for narrative and in comparing these two works I was reminded of Truffaut's stated strategy of always trying to work on a dramatic film and a comedy at the same time. Penetrating Needle and Head of Hair share much in terms of style, but one seems to be a reflection on the complexities of relationships while the other is a clever one-liner.
And of course if you view her other works online (arlduc.org) you'll be overwhelmed by the volume of her output. (I'm always impressed by artists who can include serious music composition as a sidebar to their artistic output.)
We're glad that Arlene will be attending the real-world launch of Frail at the Fabulous Festival of Fringe Film and that she'll be available to talk about her work. We'll try to get some of that online in this post...
Geoffrey Shea
posted by geoffrey
2 Comments:
There is a certain brutality in both Arlene and Shié Kasai’s work. Likely due in part to the influence of Soutine’s plalette, Arlene’s is on the surface much darker; though this also reflects the darker and more violent aspects of her vision of the organic and nature, as well as the human psyche. Beneath the light surface air of Shié’s piece there is the violence and tedium of the repetitive task inherent within a factory, and the exploitation that this implies.
(The following are excerpts from an edited transcript of Arlene Ducao's gallery talk that took place at the Durham Art Gallery on August 26, 2005 during the Fabulous Festival of Fringe Film. We screened Arlene's two animations and Arlene talked about her process and fielded questions from the audience.)
Excerpts from Discussion Transcript:
“Head of Hair was one of my earlier animation efforts... In the background one can hear fragments from Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal being recited. My personal interpretation is that the head being consumed by its hair reflects those intrinsic parts of you that can be self-destructive or can consume you; though they are parts of you, they can also be parasitic…
“If I had it to do over now, the only things I would change are technical as I have developed much more technical proficiency since I created this piece. I used the soundtrack to cover up some of the visual glitches, so now I would be freer in my composition. However, though I am becoming evermore proficient in the techniques of animation, these days I find myself wanting to simplify my toolbox and employing simpler means to express myself. Even though you can do many things with animation, the deeper I get into it what appeals to me most are the simplest elements within the animator’s toolbox...
“The Penetrating Needle was originally conceived as the first of a two-part animation, the second part was to be entitled The Penetrated Needle. I find it funny that a needle can both penetrate as well as be penetrated, much like a hermaphrodite.
"Two ideas informed the creation of this piece: one’s relationship with one’s art and one’s relationship with other people. First I was interested in reflecting the process of creation, which is a sort of a Pygmalion relationship. You work intensely on a piece to the point of falling in love with it, simply out of extended exposure to it. Then, even though you are attached to it, you must let it go. And just like when constructing a piece of art, the process of getting to know another person involves constructing an idea of who that person is. Your own mental construction is then superimposed on that other person –whether your own version is real or not. So I wanted to investigate how disorienting a situation can be when one’s idea of another doesn’t jive with who they actually are…
“The original music I had composed for Penetrating Needle was conceived as a fairly traditional chamber opera, but like the original idea – the Roald Dahl story, Skin – the end result is vastly removed and has very little to do with the original conception.
"One of the inspirations behind the characters is the painter Chaim Soutine, whom Dahl incorporates in his short story. The textures and palette were thus originally influenced by Soutine’s paintings. All of the models are distorted heads. Parts of the face get pulled out to become appendages, the ears become arms, another’s forehead is distended to form womanly legs, and another’s brow protrudes to create a grasping hand-like appendage. Dahl’s story is about a tattoo artist, which may explain the figure’s rapid puncturing of the other figure in a gesture not unlike the needlework used when tattooing…
“There is a certain erotic element to this piece as well. I wanted there to be a contrast between the paler outer world being and the more visceral inner world...
“The dark grittiness of both these animations was necessary to create the appropriate atmosphere. As a 3D animator, I am very aware of what is going on in the mainstream popular practice of this medium. To make a broad generalisation, in mainstream animation there is an effort to create a realness: either it looks real or it looks like it should be real. So in reaction to this, I decided to attempt something with a grungier feel. The projects that I am working on now lean the other way, things feel ephemeral as there is a lot of translucency and things that are so lacking in materiality that they can’t accumulate any dust or dirt. So my choices are informed by an awareness of what is going on in the mainstream; for even though people regularly see 3D and digital animation in commercials, television and movies, they still often ask me to explain what it is that I do and so I find myself referring to popular movies like Shrek etc. to explain the various techniques and methods that I use...
“I am pretty loose about how my work is presented. One can watch a movie in the theatre, then rent the DVD and watch it on TV, and another time sit down and watch it on a computer, but I don’t find any of these to be the 'definitive' setting for each has its own pros and cons...
“Most decisions that I make during the creation of a piece are not made intellectually but rather simply based on what feels right. The love of the actual doing overrides most decisions both pre- and post-, and so most influences are not conscious, though they may appear apparent after the fact.”
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