Benjamin Waights
St Benedict's Catholic College
THE EMPTY CONFUSION
Collection of Work
Oil on canvas, stop motion animation
My body of work explores the process of memory loss and the fear and anxiety that a person going through it would experience. My work uses a stop motion animation and a series of oil paintings to represent the internal thoughts and feelings of an individual with Alzheimer's disease. I created everything in the animation: the set, the puppets, their clothing, the props and the music.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Zdzisław Beksiński, Ivan Seal.
Marker's Commentary
The Empty Confusion is a highly engaging collection of works, expressing incisive ideas that are elaborated and sustained across nine oil paintings and a time-based submission. There is a strong connection between the linking of both material and conceptual practice in this body of work. The sensitive and stylised paintings not only create a coherent narrative but also act as a storyboard for the animation. The work explores the fear and confusion one experiences when suffering a brain disorder; destroying memory and thinking and the ability to carry out the simplest of tasks. Visual interest is successfully represented through the varied compositions and size of each painting. The dramatic use of tonal rendering, monochromatic colour palette and gestural brush strokes in the paintings come to life in the animation, further pulling the audience into a world of fear and confusion. The puppet and props in the time-based submission demonstrate an extensive understanding of animation conventions. There are multilayered references to memento mori, Goya, Munch’s Scream, aliens, horror scenes from graphic novels and Tim Burton films.