Paul Neason, stills from Crystal Animation, 2008. Courtesy of the artist.

 

Paul Neason

9 March - 5 April 2009 in the Square² Gallery
Crystal Animation 2008

DVD, duration: 1 minutes, 10 seconds, looped. Courtesy of the artist.

Soundtrack:
I'll Read You a Story, by Colleen
Written by Cecile Schott (SACEM)
Used courtesy of The Leaf Label
By arrangement with Woodwork Music

Crystal Animation is the result of a number of trials revisiting the pseudo-scientific experiments of the artist’s childhood (growing beans in jars, salt and sugar crystals on strings, mould in lunchboxes etc). Time lapse photography is used for its potential ‘…to reveal the moments that were never visible to me as an inquisitive young man – the impossibly slow growth that happened between my visits to whatever experiment I had set up.’ The perspective offered is microscopic yet slightly indistinct, as if the over-eager eye peers a little too close to its subject.

In this work home-grown crystals were lit and photographed in animation. The lyrical precision of the work becomes nostalgic through the introduction of other small objects – a toy soldier, a model horse – familiar from childhood, but viewed as if through thick glass, a rainy day window pane or firelight. The soundtrack contributes to this mood, while suggesting the montage of images is almost a telescopic view from another world, a composition from a fairytale imagination, or a recollection.

Paul Neason was born and raised in the South Island and completed his first degree, a BA in Classics, at Otago University, before moving to Wellington to study graphic design at Massey School of Design, Wellington. Other recent work has included commercial graphic animations, graphic design, and a series of short experimental non-narrative films. The artist is currently working out of his lounge as a freelance graphic designer, illustrator and animator.

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