For the past 2 decades or so, I've been known mainly as a photo-collagist. That is, I put images together in order to break through the barriers of space and time inherent in still photography. No longer static "decisive moments," my photo-collages were rather "indecisive moments" (as I described them in my artist statements). Many friends & colleagues suggested I move into filmmaking. I insisted "No, I'm a still photographer! I'm interested in the final image." But perhaps that was a lie. Perhaps I clung to my old conviction simply because I hadn't yet discovered gif animation!
Marching Band, Veteran's Day photo-collage 2003
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Broken (PS x-ray), 2009 photo-collage
The era of my 1st cell phone pix, from a crappy Virgin Mobile phone.
Still in awe of taking pix with a phone, I embraced the quirky color-blind palette.
GIF -- short for Graphic Interchange Format, though pronounced jif as in jiffy pop by the 2 guys who invented it -- first entered our awareness as those manic dancing nude silhouettes in the periphery of our vision on early commercial websites. Today they're on the increase in advertising, with ever more elaborate graphics. Clawing for our attention, they instill aversion, even repulsion. But GIFs have also been taken up passionately by artists, illustrators & animators. Whole genres & memes have developed. Museums now include them in major exhibitions.
But that's not why I make them. I make them because that's what I was trying to do all along with my collages: Convey movement, transformation, progression. No longer stuck in Flatland, with GIFs I've broken through to the 4th dimension: Time.
This must sound comical to younger photographers who carry devices at all times that shoot stills or videos at whim, and have Photoshop & other apps on hand for easy transformations. Or to filmmakers who take for granted their movement through time.
But to a traditional still photographer like myself, GIFs opened a universe of creative possibilities. Making these simple animations brings me back to the joy I got in childhood making flip books of my prodigious drawings: making ballerinas turn, horses jump, dice tumble. Even many of my still drawings dealt with multiples and change.
Marilyn Stern drawing-game "Find the Odd One" ca.1962 (ca. age 9)
Sample retouched Scandicard.
Other versions include a cigar, piece of matzoh, a menorah.
In the original card, moon man was bare-headed & empty-handed.
My GIFS fall into these categories:
-- Photo animations: From my own photos or acquired ones from the internet, sometimes from video captures.
-- Postcard animations: These grew out of my business Scandicards, for which I did elaborate retouching of vintage postcards. The retouching involved multiple Photoshop layers, and the moving around & changing of elements within the image. The process itself was so much fun, I thought: Why not share this movement with other people? In my mind, I already saw the images moving, imagined short narratives.
-- Drawing animations: Only have a few of these so far as I seldom draw anymore, in the traditional sense. My drawing is mostly "re-illustrating" these days, all digital.
For now, I make GIFS for fun and to develop a "language" of my own. I have ideas for applications: Will keep you posted.
Enjoy. And please do comment and share!
MARILYN'S GIF GALLERY
My first GIF, of a multi-media sculpture by Tony Ousler at the Armory Show 2011.
What's missing is the audio: GIFs take us back to the silent era.
Kind of a relief, wouldn't you say?
Casper, 2011
A tribute to my grandfather Ben Levine who manufactured light fixtures
on Broom Street before I was born. Whenever I pass a lighting shop in the City I feel
connected with him, as if his ghost resides there.
This GIF: still using crappy pix from the Virgin cell phone.
Cyclops, Coney Island, 2011
In the DADA & Monty Python tradition
Avengers #2, 2014, from online video capture much manipulated
POSTCARD ANIMATIONS
First Flight, 2009
My first animated postcard
Champaigne, 2010-2014
Prototype e-card
Jugglers, 2011-2014
From a real photo postcard. In progress
Fadeaway at the Beach, 2014
A deltiology joke from a "fadeaway" card by Cole Philips
(Deltiology = the study & collection of picture postcards
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Fiddler, 2013-2014
All images & GIF animations [c] 2014 Marilyn Stern
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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