Len Lye
Len Lye (1901-1980) was a New Zealand artist best known in animation for his experimental abstract work. Lye directly drew and scratched onto film stock, reacting to a jazz soundtrack to create stimulating mood pieces.
Lye's work reached an unusually large audience for something so esoteric in the 1930s as he produced films for advertising. General audiences would have been introduced to abstract film art on the cinema screen for the first time. Lye's films ranged from promoting products for: The Post Office, cigarette companies, Imperial Airways, Shell Oil and the Ministry of Information.
Two examples of Lye's signature abstract films, drawing directly on the celluloid.
'Rainbow Dance' (1936)
Lye continued to experiment with abstract imagery and figurative motion. 'Rainbow Dance' has a sense of play and discovery that spills out of the screen. We can feel the joy of new techniques being tried and tested as he goes, and even when the result is a mixed bag of effects, the playful nature of it all makes the imperfection an asset. Again juxtaposed against fun, jazzy music, the short film works as a visual playground with figures dancing in and out. It's often films like this that may encourage us to try animation, when it's a bit rough around the edges and showing a pure unfiltered spirit of creation.
