This interview was first published on medium.com, September 27, 2023

For MORROW collective’s exhibition All-Seeing Eye, the following Q&A is part of a series of short artist interviews. The showcase was on September 28, at the exhibition’s partner space Seeing Things on Alserkal Avenue, is paired with a drop on Foundation.

Exhibition framework: The concept of the all-seeing eye can be found across different cultures, religions, and philosophical systems throughout history. It is associated with powerful and all-encompassing attributes and is sometimes considered to symbolise a divine gaze watching over all of humanity. This exhibition lifts from those ancient beliefs to present a series of artworks depicting eyes that watch you as you watch them.

Ocular Rosacea by Dax Norman (still form a Gif)

by Anna Seaman

Dax Norman, known for making perpetual motion animation that conveys complex understanding of compressed time, frame by frame. Here he is in conversation with me, Anna Seaman, curator at MORROW collective.

AS: Your work is said to “demonstrate a complex understanding of compressed time, emanating frame by frame” — can you expand on this? What is your concept of time and how do you convey that in your work?

DN: I am explaining a very complex mathematics in time, using moving pictures. The recursive GIFs I draw are existing simultaneously in a zero state and a one state. By that I mean, the movements are not moving and returning, but also passing to another level. I see this as an example of zero point energy, wherein a system operates at a fluctuating state of energy conservation. They emanate frame by frame, as I draw every frame with no computer assistance. As you probably know, many people use computers to make art, as do I , but to make the points I need to make in my work, I use as Lo fi a process as possible, in order to get closer to the happening moment, that is the distance of time between my idea and the perpetual movement of the pictures.

AS: Your piece Ocular Rosacea is a looping cartoon animation of Mickey Mouse with Marilyn Monroe emerging from his nose. Can you talk us through the narrative behind this piece and explain how it aligns with our theme of the All-Seeing Eye?

DN: It is a tongue and cheek reference to capitalism, using pervasive pop art symbols. There is also a Marylin Monroe as a growth coming out of one of Mickey’s eyes. I like using symbols sometimes that are so pervasive that they can be cliche, but using the art form of animation so deeply that it transcends. My works always intertwine the personal with cultural symbols, as a way to relate to others. The title comes from a skin condition that I was recently diagnosed with, and it makes perfect sense to me that the Mickey character depicted is also a sort of self portrait as well. The symbol of the eye is so big, that the point of view is open to interpretation, as in we are both the watcher and the watched, with companies harvesting our data and so on… but I am not paranoid about those things.

This work has a fluid movement and rhythm that I enjoy, as it feels hypnotic, in a good way. I like to offer my version of beauty to share with the world in hopes it may grab their attention and drive them inward, maybe shake them away from the shock and stunning effect of social media into something positive and creative.

AS: I enjoy the way that Mickey’s nose also looks like an eye and in combination with the fragmented figure on his nose. Can you tell us how you use popular culture and surrealist imagery to make your point?

DN: Animation is naturally surreal. At least, the works that have inspired me, and the way I have explored the form, focusing on high impact optical effects for a surreal effect. Surrealism and dream realms/ non ordinary realities, are such a continuous well of inspiration for my art. I go to those places, and hope to bring something back to share with the world. I believe in it. The pop culture stuff can be a shorthand, a way to talk to strangers, I guess. I mean, I focus on my craft so much, that what is portrayed is almost secondary. It is in that space of curating themes and characters where the personal and culture can intersect, in a way to both play and make social statements as well.

AS: Finally, explain your process. It is both 3D and 2D, is it all hand drawn and then transferred into the digital realm?

Animation is naturally surreal. At least, the works that have inspired me, and the way I have explored the form, focusing on high impact optical effects for a surreal effect. Surrealism and dream realms/ non ordinary realities, are such a continuous well of inspiration for my art. I go to those places, and hope to bring something back to share with the world. I believe in it. The pop culture stuff can be a shorthand, a way to talk to strangers, I guess. I mean, I focus on my craft so much, that what is portrayed is almost secondary. It is in that space of curating themes and characters where the personal and culture can intersect, in a way to both play and make social statements as well.

My typical process is to begin with an image of some sort. This can be a sketch, a painting, a collage, a photo; almost anything.

I have a sort of algorithm I use in my head, and constantly test it by feeding into it ever more complex images as a way to challenge the skills of my hand and mind. I then deconstruct the image. It is in the way that I deconstruct the image that really lights up the magic for me, as I never really know how it will turn out, but it is always fun to watch the pieces evolve. I see these GIFs as all having these fractal elements. Each loop offers a unique array of challenges, but it is so fun to make art this way for me.

In animation terms, one of my big innovations I think, is that I have been able to figure out a way to do both straight ahead and pose to pose animation simultaneously. The process has many layers of stories inside, compacted like the big bang, watching each one is a little film, that sees time unravelling.

The time aspect that is so crazy, is that the story is like a spiral, and I go forward and backward in time as I draw, so these are little time proofs, that very much show proof of non linear time in their execution.

All Seeing Eye: Pervasive Pop-Art with Dax Norman