Wednesday 9 March 2011

Silhouettes and Shadows

I find myself drawn to silhouette imagery. I've been watching lots of Lotte Reiniger's cut-paper stop motion animations recently. The images above are from her 1922 animation of the classic fairy tale "Cinderella". I've become a big fan of hers since I saw a screening of 'The adventures of Prince Achmed" in the Barbican a couple of years ago. It's astonishing to think this was made over 80 years ago. It still looks so fresh and inventive. The visual economy imposed by this form of animation accentuates the charm and elegance of her figures.

The shadow's and silhouettes in Reiniger's work reminded me of the Shadow Catchers Exhibition I saw last month at the V&A. Floris Neusüss' life sized photograms were my personal highlight from the show. His figures are ethereal beings which inhabit a dream world somewhere between waking and sleeping. There are so many wonderful textures in these images with some areas of the figure appearing pin sharp whilst other parts are corrupted and abraded.

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