Drawing Blood, Drawing Poison, Drawing Fire - a pre-launch Q&A with the artist, Simon Grennan.
Funded by the Arts Council and led by artist Simon Grennan, ‘Drawing Blood’ is a new collaborative art project that creates a new online exhibition of twenty new, original animated artworks. Hosted by Gladstone’s Library, the online exhibition will also be available at Contemporary Art Space Chester and at Aura libraries in North Wales, including Broughton, Buckley, Mold, Deeside, Holywell, Connah’s Quay and Flint.
The new artworks are inspired by a book Simon found in the Gladstone’s Library collections. Dating from 1878, Gladstone from Judy’s Point of View collects cartoons satirising one of the hot topics of the period – liberal political opinion. As one of the major Liberal politicians, William Ewart Gladstone is often in the firing line of Judy’s cartoonists. In the tradition of political artists everywhere their pens puncture any political pomposity, drawing Gladstone (and others) not as respected statesman but as wobbly juggler, unstable acrobat, indecisive whirligig, pram-pushing lady, and many more.
Ahead of the exhibition’s launch, Simon gave us some exclusive insights into the production process. They’ll be posted on this blog each week: for a full list, please visit the project’s home page: https://www.gladstoneslibrary.org/reading-rooms/digital-gladstone/drawing-blood-drawing-poison-drawing-fire
What should we look for when we watch the animations?
I’d suggest paying attention to the multiple layers of the animated drawings. Beyond the immediate impact of the action in each animation, which is built for quite coarse humour, I have also animated the Victorian cartoons around and through which the stories run. Each animation is short, so take another look at each of them and pay attention to the black and white as much as the colour.
Beth ddylen ni chwilio amdano pan fyddwn yn gwylio’r animeiddiadau?
Byddwn yn awgrymu rhoi sylw i’r amryw haenau o’r lluniau animeiddio. Y tu hwnt i effaith uniongyrchol y camau ym mhob animeiddiad, sydd wedi’i ddatblygu ar gyfer hiwmor gweddol fras, rwyf hefyd wedi animeiddio’r cart?ns Fictoraidd a ble mae’r straeon yn rhedeg drwyddynt. Mae pob animeiddiad yn fyr, felly gallwch gael golwg arall ar bob un ohonynt a rhoi sylw i’r du a’r gwyn gymaint â’r lliw.