Project Description
Optical art (also known as OP art) is an artistic style that makes use of optical illusions to convey almost psychedelic imagery and movement through static pieces. I was tasked to create an animation that would honour the work of François Morellet, a French painter, sculptor, light artist and participant in the OP art movement. The final animation was created with the intention of being displayed at Place-des-Arts’ famous installation corridor.
Process
The first step was to truly understand Françcois Morellet’s artistic philosophy. I found that almost all his work revolved around the contrasting combination of planned out mathematical systems with spontaneity. Based on certain pieces, I took on the challenge of creating an animation that embodied both aspects of his work.
Creating a fitting audio was a big challenge but a fun one. Neither music or royalty free audio samples were doing the trick so I made the sounds myself, with help from various objects from around my house. After hours of sliding things across my counter and rolling objects into each other I created an authentic soundtrack that ended up serving as an extremely important element of the project.
Overall, the majority of the work came in the form of fine tuning little details to perfection, lining up sounds, creating realistic movements and adjusting the timing of everything so that the visual rhythm was spot on.
Outcome
The final result of the animation was very satisfying, mostly because I know that I own every aspect of it from visuals to audio. From introduction, to climax, to conclusion, the animation was able to tell an abstract story, follow a clear concept and operate with the same multi-dimensionality as Morellet’s work.
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