"Claudia Bitran: FRENZY"
March 2020, New york
Bitran’s Fallen stop-motion painting animations depict anonymous female teenagers in euphoric and anxiety-inducing states of inebriation. The compositions, gestures, and pacing of the paintings emphasize the instability of the characters as they lose control over their vomiting, falling bodies. The stills are layered over each previous iteration producing a final painting where the trauma of the actions in the animations is covered, yet still present.
In Frenzy , Bitran further explores the tipping point between euphoria and near death experiences. By painting each frame of these found videos, she is expanding time and analyzing each microsecond of the actions. The artist employs a wide range of painting strategies that both glorify and petrify the vulgarity of the actions, resulting in surfaces that are affected, thick and loaded with the poses of the young disoriented bodies. The final paintings are a ghostly metamorphosis of the source material, while the animations serve as documentation of the painting’s evolving stages. The process is both empathetic, and at the same time pulls back the curtain to reveal the invisible horror behind the subject matter.
In Frenzy , Bitran further explores the tipping point between euphoria and near death experiences. By painting each frame of these found videos, she is expanding time and analyzing each microsecond of the actions. The artist employs a wide range of painting strategies that both glorify and petrify the vulgarity of the actions, resulting in surfaces that are affected, thick and loaded with the poses of the young disoriented bodies. The final paintings are a ghostly metamorphosis of the source material, while the animations serve as documentation of the painting’s evolving stages. The process is both empathetic, and at the same time pulls back the curtain to reveal the invisible horror behind the subject matter.
Installation view of "Claudia Bitran: FRENZY" Spring Break Art Show booth 1022, curated by Lauren Powell, March 2020
