EPISODE 20 — Psyché Tropes

Psyché Tropes Episode 20
11pm, 25 March 2024 on Resonance 104.4 FM

Presented by Steven McInerney, Episode 20 features the optical soundtracks from the animated films by Richard Reeves, taken from his forthcoming LP 'Linear Dreams' [TROPES008], along with reworks by Rose Kallal, Ian Helliwell, Reuben Sutherland, and Merkaba Macabre [TROPES009], available April 2024 on Psyché Tropes.

Richard Reeves was born in Weymouth, England but has been living in Canada since 1960. His early artwork explored painting, printmaking, photography, and music, which led him to combine artistic disciplines and animate directly onto the filmstrip as a 'sound painting'. His début animation, 'Linear Dreams' (1997), was produced by drawing both the sound and picture directly onto the film.

Reeves’ early short films investigated different animation techniques and styles of music for the soundtracks. He experimented with flicker, finding an appreciable connection between the visual intensity of alternating frames, and the sonic impact of punk and jazz music. His explorations with cameraless animation took shape in the early 1990s, leading to a mastery of drawing and scratching of not only the image but a finely detailed synthetic soundtrack, on his breakthrough film Linear Dreams (1997). This was followed up by the equally accomplished Sea Song (1998), and an appearance on the Channel 4 animation series Dope Sheet, bringing him to the attention of viewers and filmmakers in the UK. Since then he has made over a dozen animated short films.

He has collaborated with artists for live performances involving dancing human projection screens, 16mm, violin, interactive animation installations, online animation jams, and large outdoor projections. He continues to explore film as a space-time art form. Despite the physically intense and laborious animation process, he has maintained a steady output of striking cameraless films with synthetically created optical sound and abstract animation as visual music.

He is an honourary member of the Quickdraw Animation Society and previously worked at QAS as Film Production Coordinator. He mentored at the Gulf Islands Film and Television School for 10 years and taught animation courses across Canada, Europe and South America.

Ian Helliwell is an artist producing experimental music, super 8mm films, installations, electronic instruments, and light-show projections. His short films utilise hand painting, bleaching, scratching, and stop-motion animation.

Rose Kallal is a New York-based multi-disciplinary installation and performance artist using video, 16mm film, and electronic sound.

Merkaba Macabre is a multimedia project by London-based artist Steven McInerney, combining film, digital projection and sound to create experimental films, live audiovisual performances, and installations.

Reuben Sutherland is an artist working at the intersection of live-action and animation. He is half of Sculpture, a duo that plays with unstable forms of animation, improvised sound, and live zoetrope performances.

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