Every Wednesday, Chris Robinson takes a look at short animation films. Today, Jesi Jordan's spellbinding hand-drawn video, 'Beneath the Air (2014)'
'Absolutely Free' by Jesi Jordan
Animator David Seitz suggested I check out the work of Canadian animator/artist Jesi Jordan. Now I don’t know squat about Jordan other than she’s a talented Toronto based artist who paints, animates, and does live performances dressed as a large doll/puppet...or something like that. There’s a big body of work to choose from on her site, but I was immediately taken with her music video, Beneath the Air (2014) for the band Absolutely Free. I love the casual, trippy lo-fi vibe of both the music and image. Sure, there’s a bit of Yo La Tengo meets Peter Millard, but it’s also something totally different, existing in its own unique world. Watching Jordan’s bright hypnotic colours come and go is like taking a stroll with your headphones on.... you just exist in your own comfort zone as colours, shapes come, go, morph, blend, separate. You don't know where you are or really where you’re going...well...beneath the air... within the air... breathing it all in and that’s fine...that’s perfect.
A well-known figure in the world of independent animation, writer, author & curator Chris Robinson is the Artistic Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
