Animoi-näyttelysarjassa on koko kesäkauden ajan nähty brittiläisen David Shrigleyn piirrosanimaatioita. Turun taidemuseon Pimiössä nähtävän animaatiokavalkadin aiheet ovat elämänläheisiä ja kuivakan humoristisia. Taiteilija vieraili Turussa kesäkuun alussa ja kertoi animaatioistaan ja työskentelystään myös Animoi-blogille.

You are best known as a cartoonist. How did you start to make animation? Or was it simultaneous development?
DS: It took me a long time to get around to making animation, having been a cartoonist of sorts for a long time. Animation is very different from making the kind of cartoons I make. My cartoons are made very quickly whereas animations take a long time, so I think it took me a long time to figure out what was interesting to me about animation and how I might go about making films that would 'fit' into what I was interested in.

What does animation mean to you?
DS: Animation is the opportunity to tell a story in a different way from drawing.

Could you tell how you usually start planning new art works and how the work proceeds?
DS: When I make animation I have an idea in the first place. Then I do a series of drawings and figure out exactly wheat will happen. Usually I then make the soundtrack, often in a sound studio with a sound engineer. Then I send all the stuff to the animator and he starts animating. He uploads the work in progress every day or two and we speak about it on the phone. The animating can take some time, but it's nice to work slowly as I can think carefully and make considered decisions. In that respect it is the opposite of the drawings that I make, that are done very quickly.

Could you tell about the technique you have used for the art works in this exhibition?
DS: All the work is made using Flash. I work with an animator called James Newport. I've worked with a few different animators over the years but James is the person who I always go back to. Animators tend to often try to do a bit too much, but I like working with James because he does things in a very simple way. We've made about 14 films together, so I guess his style has become my style, if you know what I mean.

How do your surroundings and culture around you reflect the subjects you work with? Are you for example influenced by music you listen to?
DS: I suppose I'm influenced by everything and I live in Britain so my work must reflect that somehow. But it's not something I'm aware of.

What would you like to do in the future with animation? You seem to work in all media, but would you like to do a longer film in the future for example?
DS: I'd like to make a longer film at some point. But all the films I have made are only as long as they need to be. So I need a reason to make a longer film.

You visited Finland recently. Did you have time to see things in Turku and how was the atmosphere in the European Cultural Capital 2011?
DS: I really enjoyed being in Turku. The Finns seem to have a reputation for being un-talkative and morose but I didn't find that to be true at all. Maybe it was because the weather was nice. I like the fact that the Sauna is so vital in Finland. It seems very civilised. I will certainly come back some time.


David Shrigleyn animaatioita Turun taidemuseon Pimiössä 4.9.2011 asti.

Turun taidemuseo, Aurakatu 26. Avoinna ti-pe 11-19, la-su 11-17. www.turuntaidemuseo.fi