Jim Ovelmen
Animation Faculty
One of my deepest and most steady concerns in creating art and animation involves how to reconcile the theatrical conditions and expectations of both moving and still images. Perhaps even more general is my interest in these very terms and the modes used to visually isolate storytelling techniques.
More personally, my own imagined icons, roles, and personas accrue into a specialized bank for meditation and fantasy, in which I hope the viewer of my work will be willing to engage.
Specifically, a project I recently performed in New York was a meditation on the paradoxically opulent and dreary interiors of a Gilded Age mansion of Astor/Vanderbilt fame. This short animation shows a kind of interplay of the inscrutable self-isolation and mindless frolicking of characters trapped inside the mansion. A foil to this mantle of this merry indulgence is a solemn character whose creation was inspired upon the late sing songwriter Townes Van Zandt. He takes a constant place in the mansion, strumming his guitar in the window seat while his partner takes skyward shots from his Winchester rifle.
In this nine-minute projected piece, there was a live musical performance in front of the screen. This had direct reference to early cinema and pit-orchestras that played during the film. The characters and background were initially drawn on paper with India ink and then apportioned and animated in 3D computer animation space. At once, characters, props, and backgrounds are deliberately flat and at rest, while the distinct space of dimensional interiors and objects and gives credence to this alternate fantasy.
Jim Ovelmen is a visual artist and animator. His multimedia work has been shown internationally. He has exhibited his work in numerous museums and galleries in Los Angeles, New York, Vienna, Tokyo and elsewhere. He was born in Illinois in 1970. He received his BFA from Illinois State University, and his MFA at CalArts, in a dual Interschool program of Art and Experimental Animation. After his CalArts MFA in 1997, Jim has been active in a dual career of exhibiting his artwork and performing 3D animation assignments for the entertainment industry. His Feature Film credits include The Rugrats Movie, Rugrats in Paris, South Park Movie Bigger, Longer & Uncut, The Wild Thornberry’s, to name a few, where he has provided 3D animated content to many otherwise 2D animated scenes. His drawings and paintings are owned in many private collections. His numerous exhibitions often include video projection, 3D animation, drawing and sculpture. Jim has taught 3D animation at many universities and colleges in the greater Los Angeles area before currently accepting a full-time assistant professorship at CSULA.