Messenger, 2017

This work was the initial animation I developed for The Scorpion Gesture, and it became a gateway to how I approached the project. I wanted to create a sense of dimensionality and depth within the graphic visual languages presented here. The paintings tend to feature varied representations of scale and depth, with multiple narrative vignettes on the same pictorial plane, interlocked in a tight composition. The movement between two- and three-dimensional space is achieved through loosening fragments of the dense visual imagery in paintings from the Rubin’s collection, integrated with my own drawings through new camera angles and environments. This is visible in the long life ritual elements on the upper left and the worshippers below. The mandala form functions as a point of entry from the Museum space into the diegetic animation space, which the viewer passes through like a space time vortex, such as a black hole or the rings of a tree. I was also inspired by visually resonant moments from the literature and texts, including biographies and historical interpretations, that I read during my research process, such as the story of Namkhai Nyingpo gliding up on a sunbeam with peaceful and wrathful deities in tow.