Nearly Ready

Despite the snow we have managed to get the editing sorted and sent to Hastings. Nick has been busy setting up the installation ready for next week. Here's what it's looking like....

Artist challenged to bring paintings to life

Six months ago, award-winning artist Nick Archer set himself a challenge. Inspired by an installation he saw in Paris by William Kentridge some years ago, Archer, a resident at The School Creative Centre in Rye, left his trademark large canvases behind and absorbed himself in the creation of a digital installation – part film, part animation – that will see him “bring [his] paintings to life”.

Archer had recently been working on a series of paintings based on winter and snow, and took these as his inspiration for Winter’s Tale. He says: “When I paint I usually work from photographic or scenic references, so it seemed a natural progression to take this work into film and animation – in some way completing the circle.”

His aim with Winter’s Tale was to recreate the process of making a painting, warts and all. “When I make a painting the image comes and goes and transforms into something else. At times paint flows effortlessly and at other times the image is hard won and fought over. It is only when the painting is finished that traces of the under painting and its history are evident in the complex surfaces and layers.”

Unlike the layers of his canvases, the use of animation allows Archer to play out each stroke like a time-based narrative. Images emerge and then change slightly or just get wiped away.

His approach to this project has been very different and a real learning curve. The images are hand painted on glass and the painstaking preparation required for each shot (of which there are more than 6,000) has been physically challenging and tested his patience. He says: “When working on canvas I have the luxury of being able to stand back and deliberate on each stroke but with this I need to work quickly and can’t stop.”

To master the technical side of making the animation Archer was helped by his sister Rebecca Archer, who is in her final year of studying animation at Farnham College of Art. In fact the production turned into a family affair as his other sister, also an artist, plays the part of the young girl in the film.

Provided with guidelines and a structure of how to work – which on one level were essential – in typical Archer fashion he found the rules were there to be broken. Rather than working with a storyboard he was much happier working spontaneously: “I never quite knew where any scene was taking me – a process much closer to painting.”

Set to Elgar’s ‘The Snow’, Winter’s Tale is a piece about memories in a winter landscape; at times empty and haunting and other times full of incidence and movement. The work will be presented on a 10ft gauze suspended so that visitors can interact with the piece, viewing it from all sides and getting a slightly different perspective from the double projections. Archer says: “This has been a real labour of love and a realisation of a long-held dream made possible by the help from The School Creative Centre in providing me with the space to work, equipment and the opportunity to showcase the project at their end of year extravaganza, Christmas Bizarre.

Winter’s Tale will be presented on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th December (open 10am-4pm, entrance is FREE) at The School Creative Centre’s Christmas Bizarre – a magical fair with beautiful hand-made crafts from highly original designers and makers. For more information about Winter’s Tale and Christmas Bizarre, go to www.theschoolcreativecentre.co.uk.

Nick Archer at The School Creative Centre

Winters Tale
11 December 2010 – 12 December 2010

New Road
Rye
TN31 7LS

01797 229 797

Opening Hours:
Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

http://www.theschoolcreativecentre.co.uk
http://www.nicholasarcher.com

The School Creative Centre is delighted to announce the exhibition ‘Winters Tale’ by Nick Archer. Graduating from the Royal Academy in 1999, Archer’ innovative paintings have been a constant on the British Art scene, winning Hunting Art Prize and BP Portrait Award amongst others.  He has been represented by Sarah Myerscough Fine Art London since 2001 and most recently shown with Louise Alexander Gallery Paris and Italy.  Archer is well known for his coloursaturated paintings referenced from photographs and films stills.

In August this year, Archer was invited to make a piece of work in response to the theme of Winter/Christmas as part of The School Creative Centre’s annual event ‘Christmas Bizarre’.

‘I had been working on a series of paintings based on winter and snow with something of a fairy tale quality to them.  It seemed a natural progression to take this work into film and animation.’

Nick has spent the last six months bringing his paintings to life; recreating the process of making a painting, ‘warts and all’, with the help of animator Rebecca Archer.

‘When I make a painting the image comes and goes and transforms into something else. At times paint flows effortlessly and at other times the image is hard won and fought over.  When the painting is finished only traces of the under painting and its history are evident in the complex surfaces and layers. With animation its history is consecutive rather than layered, therefore its history plays out in front of us releasing a time based narrative.’

The strictures of making an animation created new rules for Archer to break. The storyboard was discarded and in its place a process much closer to painting was developed, working spontaneously, yet painstakingly to create over 5000 individual shots to complete the 6 minute piece. What results is a moving piece of work about memory with an atmosphere of winter.  Sometimes empty and haunting, other times full of incidence and movement, set to Edward Elgar’s     ‘The Snow’.

Contact:

Nick Archernarcher07@btinternet.com

Youtube

I now have a youtube account to show people bits of my work without having to whack out the hardrive. I have edited out the shoddy parts and left in anything remotely decent to give people an idea of my progression....If anyone's at all interested that is...anyway do enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/user/RArcherProductions?feature=mhum

A bit of abstract film

I am currently the Producer/editor for an abstract film that I am doing with my brother Nick who will be the Animator/director. Nick is an accomplished painter and creates a variety of colourful and dream like paintings such as the work below:

www.nicholasarcher.com

The work is based on peoples thoughts to the world around them and how sometimes they can become overwhelming. In this case it is a young girl (my sister Lauren....we like to keep things in the family) floating through a snowy environment. Nick has been keen to discover what his work would be like in motion, so with the knowledge of animation I have acquired from my degree, we hope to Produce a 5 minute film set to a classical piece of music. It is set in winter time as we aim to show the work at the East Sussex Christmas Bizarre in December. 

Below are a couple of stills of Nick's progress with the animation:

The Adventures of Tintin

          
The real Tintin!

Completely forgot about this animated series.  The Adventures of Tintin....That takes you back. Obviously it pre-dates me by quite a bit but we always used to watch this when it was replayed on the telly and now it's being made into a 3D animated film! And with Spielberg as the the Director and Peter Jackson as the Producer no less....ka'ching! I'm not sure motion capture will really keep the integrity of Hergé's work though.....Can't wait to find out though: 

Spielberg revealed that he chose to use motion-capture out of his respect for Hergé, the author and illustrator of the Tintin graphic novels.

It was based on my respect for the art of Hergé and wanting to get as close to that art as I could. Hergé wrote about fictional people in a real world, not in a fantasy universe. It was the real universe he was working with, and he used National Geographic to research his adventure stories. It just seemed that live action would be too stylized for an audience to relate to. You'd have to have costumes that are a little outrageous when you see actors wearing them. The costumes seem to fit better when the medium chosen is a digital one.

Despite the heavy use of technology, Spielberg claims that audiences will still feel the humanity of the characters.

Read more about Spielberg Talks About the Motion-Capture Technology of Tintin by www.reelzchannel.com