Oneika Russell's homepage

shadow drawing

2011-06-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

Screen capture from 'A Natural History 1', 2011

I am now working on a video about experience and feeling of a place and identity in flux. As complex as that sounds I am actually seeking a very simple, rough or handmade feel. Being in Japan, I am always thinking on a daily basis about language and communication and what goes wrong when those two things become impossible or extremely difficult. What happens to the sense of self when these two given parts of life disappear. I am also thinking about what languages I can express myself in and what parts of me those languages reveal.

The work is the first video in the 'A Natural History' series and seeks to find the 'primitive' in the element of drawing. I am also returning to focus on more complicated sound design and more simple imagery as I last achieved in Baby Ophelias of 2006. Hoping for it to find its completion in time to submit to Animated Encounters Festival.

Porthole goes to Washington

2011-01-19T09:37:00.000-08:00

One or two of my videos from The Sea series will be in the show 'Wresting with the Images: Caribbean Interventions' at the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington D.C. The show opens on January 21st and goes until March 10th'. Again another show I couldn't make it to because of other trips I have planned soon and short notice. However, I kinda like being the phantom artist. Although as far as contemporary art scenes go, the more you are out there the better. Anyway so if you have a chance please go and see it as there are tons of exciting Caribbean artists exhibiting also.

About the show on Facebook

press release:

'Wrestling with the Image: Caribbean Interventions forms part of the About Change emerging artists’ program, an initiative of the World Bank in partnership with the Inter‐American Development Bank, the OAS, and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat. About Change is a series of juried exhibitions of contemporary art from Latin America and the Caribbean that will take place throughout 2011 and 2012 at different venues in Washington, D.C., including the World Bank, the Art Museum of the Americas, and the galleries of the Inter‐American Development Bank. It has been organized by the World Bank Art Program under the auspices of the World Bank Vice Presidency for Latin America and the Caribbean Region.'

Arts Bar@Rissei

2010-11-29T18:06:00.000-08:00

Had a chance to exhibit again in Kyoto with the annual University Arts Exhibition. The space is an old, abandoned primary school with textbooks and chalkboards etc. all still in tact. Its a really large, nice old building with a whole lot of history on the walls. Each classroom was given to one university to exhibit in. My work was set-up in the corridor space and used a few bits of the furniture left around the building. The exhibition ran from November 19-28th.

DRIFT 2 begins

2010-11-23T03:04:00.001-08:00

'in a way a puppet is a very rough kind of actor...'

- some famous artist

An interesting choice

2010-11-09T06:38:00.000-08:00

I didn't have a chance to attend the show in Martinique but I got some photos of it taken by participating artist, Christopher Cozier. I saw that the prints and the videos I submitted were displayed in the same space and thought it was an interesting way to display the work. It never occurred to me before to put the prints in the same darkened space as the video but now I see the outcome, I can't think why not. In my mind prints or 2D wall mounted work particularly paper work was to be displayed in a white cube...but why? Why is this the only space. Perhaps this is where the work leaves off being a single piece and becomes an experience. I particularly like the weird illumination coming of the plasticky surface of the laminated prints.

The Creole language says ici-là (“here-there”) doubtless to extend the forces of “here” towards the infinite. It often instists on ici-là minm, (“right here there”), nowhere else but here which is nevertheless over there or up there (whence the Creole language gets là minm, “right there” meaning “right now, immediately”) as if to make a clean break between “here” and its near or far surroundings. (2 ) How do the artists of the Caribbean perceive this “nowhere else” which is theirs, but which remains an exotic and faraway “over there” whose location is vague to all but the natives? During my successive visits to the United Kingdom, my friends ran through lists of innumerable exotic islands in an effort to remember where I lived, but all they could recall was that it was a tropical island somewhere, which they wouldn't be able to find on a map. For those who come from these tropical islands, who live in these islands in the sun (4), Paradise has a different face: The burden of the context, the burden of history, burden of the place of origin. It’s tiresome to repeat it, all the more so because it’s true, but it is the burden of being born in a small outlying region where one’s personal sensitivity is hemmed in on all sides by ideologies, national myths, stereotypes, by all the complex expectations generated by what it means to be an artist from the Caribbean living in the Caribbean.
(5) Christopher Cozier’s drawings in the series Tropical Nights, variations on the theme of being from and in the Caribbean, communicate his perception in the manner of a personal diary with images, daily notes, stream of consciousness. What world do these images suggest? A disconcerting island? A sinister island? A funny island? The works gathered for this exhibition entitled Vous êtes ici [you are here] are all the expression of a critical view.]

Animation Installation

2010-07-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

I went to National Museum of Art, Osaka to see two exhibitions. The one I will talk about now is that of Tabaimo. She plays with space and perception through her video installations and even in her drawings. Prolific as she is with a very large room lined with her drawings on lightbox, I felt the push. Honestly my work has slowed down since leaving the residency I did in 2008 in Singapore. I wasn't sure what to do after and planning and trying to execute my film DRIFT has taken a lot of time but its still important to keep drawing. Thanks to this artist I rediscovered the importance of this.

DRIFT Part 1 debuts

2010-05-12T07:05:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

I am attaching an invitation to an exhibition my work will be featured in. This show is at the National Gallery of Jamaica and its called Young Talent 5. I will be exhibiting a history of the videos I have created in my very short career as an artist. One of the videos on show will be the work that I am collaborating on with Tanya Davies, Jamaican screenwriter. Luciana Michell, Argentinean artist also provided music and sound for this film. The video is part one of a longer 4 part film that is now in production. This work was written and conceived in Jamaica but made in Japan at Kyoto Seika University. If you have the opportunity to attend please do so. That exhibition will have some of the best local contemporary artists on show.

a quick look - http://www.vimeo.com/11610898

Best wishes

Oneika

Homemade Aesthetic

2010-03-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

Still from 'Sita Sings the Blues'

All through the 90's and early 2000's while people marvelled at the ever increasingly 3D and CGI effects being pioneered and pushed even farther with the release of each Pixar, DreamWorks and other productions, I felt not much. I was impressed that we were now harnessing the power of computers and digital technology to represent the world in a new way but I felt like the non-starter left standing in the dust after a race starts. I didn't start. I chose to stay there fixed in place as I saw a steady race towards the more real than real aesthetic. I stayed there focusing on a more traditional concept, evidence in the image of the artists hand.

Still from 'Home Movies'

Disney closed its 2D hand drawn- animation department down and all animated summer films became a 3D blur. Over the years I did begin enjoying 3D works that seemed to use technology as a showcase for the creative imagination. In some cases the realism of technology sometimes seemed a substitute for creativity and good writing however. I do have a handful of works that I enjoy because they seem like they were made thoughtfully for the 3D medium and not because it was the easiest method of creation. I like 'Finding Nemo' and 'Pocoyo' and a few others for the strength of design and writing etc. but not a whole lot else. That is not really fair of me as I avoided watching most. I couldn't help that I just enjoy style and a feeling of vulnerability about an image. For this reason along with great writing 'Duckman', 'Kipper the Dog', 'The Wild Thornberry's' and 'Dr. Schwartz' were some of my favourite tv shows. Sometimes 3D work can provide you with that hard plasticky shell but sometimes its quite great. Nonetheless I sigh at the replacement of the older Winnie the Pooh tv series with the new 3D versions. I guess its really down to an issue of why I enjoy good 2D animation more than 3D. It has something to do with keeping the presence of the artist in the final work. For me 3D often seeks increasingly to close its gap with reality and 2D seems to in the digital age be trying to assert its belief in drawing and imagination.

Still from 'The Fantastic Mr. Fox'

I treasured those few feature animations that while being digitally composed and finished, still retain an insight into the 'art' of the project. 'Belleville Rendezvous', 'Atama Yama', 'Persepolis' are films that come immediately to mind. Having recently watched 'The Fantastic Mr. Fox', I can also add this to my list. I was really impressed by the 'homemade aesthetic' that Wes Anderson chose to use. This isn't surprising as it can be seen in his other films. I think his allowance of pure bits of unstudied imagination to be seen in a Hollywood film seems to be a main reason for the popularity of his films. The 50's style knife-fight dance choreography of a rat with an American southern-accent, the flicker of the young foxes ear when he is displeased and the balletic grace of Mr. Fox are reasons for this movies appeal but for me its the handmade craftiness of it all.

New Exhibitions and plans

2010-03-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

This month I exhibited 'In the Night Garden' and 'What the World Needs Now' at ART FRESH, Mutual Gallery's new revamped contemporaries show. I couldn't attend but hope it went well. I stopped painting at a point because of the troublesome nature of maintaining an oil painting studio and protecting and transporting the works. Looking back on it, that may have been less than wise. My new digital prints aren't proving any less problematic as I negotiate how digital prints function as art products for exhibition. With all this in retrospect, I am slowly picking up the paintbrush again.

In the meantime I am preparing a video for The National Gallery of Jamaica's Young Talent exhibition opening in April. Lets see what happens with that. My website is also in need of some TLC, hopefully I can negotiate my way around new web formats to do this. To Joomla or not?

The Outside Women

2010-01-07T08:23:00.000-08:00

In October 2008 when I first met Seema and Luciana in my Japanese language class at Kyoto University we started to form the idea of exhibiting together. They were both artists as well and the unification of our efforts seemed strategic. Over time the reason for showing together became more about our shared interests and experiences than anything else. So one year later, in December 2009, while Kyoto was emptying out and offices were closing down for the Winter holidays we went portfolio showing. We met many and galleryists and over time the right exhibition space appeared. So now, if you happen to be in Kyoto during January 20-24, I invite you to come by the Kyoto International Community House's gallery to see a group exhibition of 3 overseas artists.

Episode 1 concept

2009-11-29T21:00:00.000-08:00

In the process of putting all the bits together for Episode 1 of DRIFT and this image emerged.

Colouring and Painting

2009-10-30T00:24:00.000-07:00

Just finished colouring all the drawings for segment 1 of DRIFT. Now comes the scanning. Slightly tedious but completely worth the results. Things are actually taking shape now and the rest is the editing it together digitally and sound. Hopefully this work will be ready in time for Rockstone & Bootheel. I am thinking about the appropriateness of presenting a work in progress...hmmn.

While I was colouring on the deep muddy black of the hooded figure, I started wondering if what I was doing was really not painting instead.

shark

2009-09-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed drawing this frame of DRIFT. It is where the passive suit character transitions. It was good to start a new scene after drawing quiet scenes for so long. This also means I am quite close to finishing drawings for episode 1 of DRIFT (sigh). Next up I put my pencils down and turn to my macbook.

Manga Doll

2009-09-23T21:38:00.000-07:00

I recently came to a point where I needed a mannequin for some of the DRIFT scenes. So I immediately went on Amazon Japan to see what was available on a tight budget. Unbelievably the fully bendable and detailed manga dolls were cheaper than normal clunky wood mannequins; and they were certainly easier to find. I started thinking that there may be a bit of difference between the stylized child bodies and the Pre-Raphaelite English Rose I am seeking to represent. Then again, maybe it isn't so much of a leap of ideas. The tragic child-woman of DRIFT could also quite possibly be a Manga Doll.

ROCKSTONE AND BOOTHEEL

2009-09-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

Porthole and Episode 1 of DRIFT will be exhibited in this exhibition curated by Kristina Newman-Scott and Yona Becker @ Real Art Ways. The show opens on November 14 2009 and runs until March 14, 2010.
‘Rockstone and Bootheel tells a story about the social, economic, and political conditions influencing artistic production in the West Indies. It also illuminates how artists are drawing from their lives on the islands, or as first and second generation Anglo-Caribbeans living abroad…The exhibition examines the region’s complicated colonial history. It’s a history filled with conflict, but also one filled with constant transformation and cross-cultural exchanges, informed by evolving technology and economic necessity.’
url: http://www.realartways.org/visualarts.htm#rockstoneRockstone and Bootheel

A teaser or a preview

2009-08-13T08:09:00.000-07:00

The first of a handful of previews that will be released on Vimeo. As I complete each of 4 segments, another preview will be released. Hope to post another soon.

DRIFT: 1st preview from Oneika Russell on Vimeo.

A Test

2009-07-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, my Sound Design class switched into a hand Animation class, both fear and excitement. I used the opportunity to face fears about making DRIFT, approaching full drawn animation and just getting on with it. I was able to complete it, an 11 second test made from about 330 drawings. I used the pencil test and did the masking in Flash. This test will soon be put up. Check back soon.

A beginning

2009-06-07T08:05:00.000-07:00

Today, I started the long process of producing DRIFT. I have been working on my Sea series for about 2 years now, producing photos, prints, videos, drawings, installations etc. Now I start the process of making an ending to the series. Believe it or not myself and Tanya started talking about making the film in 2007. two years later, lots of planning, applications, proposals, change of country, process etc., I have made a start on the actual tangible work. Granted I have only begun working on how the opening scene should look and sound.Thanks to Luciana Michell also for contributing to the score of it.

How should I begin? How do you begin a project you have been thinking of for two years and one that will be the most technically challenging? I began simply. I had to remember my excitement about the idea by revisiting the storyboard and footage, and just began. There are fears that creep in but I have made it simple and manageable by cutting it into segments. So now instead of thinking I am making my first narrative animation, I am just making 4 short videos, each with its own scope. So now DRIFT begins…

whats drawing anyway.

2009-04-14T08:01:00.000-07:00

When I went to college for budding artists, I put my silly scratchy drawings away. I did it because there came a kind of unwritten rule that drawings had to look like this and had to be done like that. I did it but I never liked it, I hated it. I didn’t see what was so great about trying desperately to mimic reality. I always found the most imaginary, idle looking images the most interesting. I can remember reading about The Twits in grade school and of course seeing Quentin Blake’s illustrations. In college of course I couldn’t quite work out how those images that I loved could find a place in my ‘repertoire’. Years after art school and slowly or quickly I put the large gestural oil paintings away and pulled out my ball pens and discovered joy in my Japanese sharp pencils. Now I find the images I am making in their scratchy linear rawness to be the things that fill my thoughts.

I remember being asked by a tutor once if I knew what drawing was. Then my response was rejected but now I see that drawing really is making a mark.

Twice- Little Dragon

2009-03-05T07:52:00.000-08:00

I saw this video on a couple different sites and I thought how powerful sound is. The visuals are so strong yet simple and the meaning is a bit loose. This together I think makes it a very powerful work. It allows the thought to occur to us once more that animation doesn’t have to involve huge amounts of technology and digital media to be effective. On YouTube, the whole debate is about the meaning of the video. Its hard to let go of wanting to find definite meanings for things. I suppose because of the kind of media we are exposed to daily but this one is just like an airy experience I will let wash over me.