Every once in a while a Reality TV Show discovers a new talent. Be it Susan Boyle or in this case, Kseniya Simonova.
The 24 year old artist was a contestant on “Ukraine’s Got Talent”. She started working with sand and it eventually developed into the talent that won her the competition: creating animated films with sand. She tells an entire story by creating stunning sand drawings and with the help of accompanying music, this is as good as any short film and that much more mesmerizing because you’re see it being created and destroyed with every movement. Truly stunning work.
Big kudos to Michael Sheen, yes, that Michael Sheen, for the first video.
Three of Simonova’s shorts are tucked under the seat!
I think I posted this over at MorePop earlier in the week. Good on ya for getting it over to the main site. This is some brilliant artistry!
Jeez – I totally missed that! Sorry Andrew! My jaw was on the floor when I saw that first video. Brilliant.
I don’t have time to watch all three right now, but that first one had me in tears, literally. (Sorry, Andrew, I didn’t see it when you posted it, either.) That’s incredible, on every level.
Simply Fucking Wow. God bless the internet for making things like this available to folks. Best thing I’ve seen on Youtube all week. Any of these is better than the Avatar trailer.
@ Any of these is better than the Avatar trailer.
Kurt, you are an obtuse fellow sometimes.
These videos are quite good. I wouldn’t call them “animation” but this lady’s moments are quite beautiful.
Rusty, your smack-down of me was better than the Avatar Trailer. BTW, I just watched it in 1080p and while the graphics are definitely good, there is Zero sense of ‘wonder’ within the Avatar-framework. Somehow I doubt 3D will improve this, but don’t worry R3 readers, I’ll be paying my 15 shekels at the Imax 3D theatre when it arrives. I anticipate it to be the last 3D movie I watch, but time will tell.
There, it is out of my system.
/end passive-aggressive facetiousness.
Wow. This is incredible. She certainly has real talent!
And she’s damn hot.
the fun i’ve had rewatching these (and i’ve watched them a number of times since i first saw them a while ago) is pausing at the end of each drawing and realizing the great process of it, coming up with final images and then figuring out the best way to reveal them to people as they are drawn, the art is in remembering the order in which to reveal each drawn line..
so while it may not be quite ‘animation’, its more to me than just watching someone draw, there’s a process to it, it flows like a song.
Goon, exactly – it’s the way each thing becomes something else, and you can see it happening, and at some points in the middle it’s perfectly both things at the same time, or a piece of drawing that was one thing in one overall image becomes something completely different within the context of the next one.
I liked Marina’s comment that we’re watching it be constantly created, then destroyed, and then something else created out of the destruction. It’s also a great example of transitory art. We have it forever because it’s been video-taped, but in terms of the sand pictures themselves, they last for a few seconds and then they’re gone. Extremely evocative. I pretty much can’t get over it – probably will tell everyone I know about these before I’m done.
@ so while it may not be quite ‘animation’, its more to me than just watching someone draw, there’s a process to it, it flows like a song.
When I wrote “her moments are beautiful” I meant “movements”. It’s the performances that makes it worthwhile.