Hungarian artist István Orosz has directed fifteen short animated films to date, and co-directed three more, yet he’s known more for his drawings than his films, especially those works which follow MC Escher by combining a careful graphic technique with an exploration of optical illusion. Orosz’s artistic interests naturally extend to his animations which have never been easy to see online despite so many of them being relatively recent productions.
A Kert (The Garden, 1993) is a recent arrival at Rarefilmm where it’s possible to watch it on the web page but it should really be seen at a large size in order to appreciate the texture of the engraved visuals. In previous posts I’ve highlighted some of the many examples of films which animate engraved illustrations. Orosz does the same here but with a unique difference in the way he makes his original drawing match the appearance of the collaged artwork. The whole thing is beautifully done, as is the story itself, in which a small boy explores a mysterious garden in the home of an equally mysterious woman.
A rajzoló (The Drawer, 2016) has been on YouTube for a while but I’d missed it in the past which suggests I ought to make a more determined search for Orosz’s other films. Pencil drawing is the subject but The Sketcher might be a more suitable English translation of the title, “drawer” giving the impression that we’ll be watching a film about furniture. This one is a simpler in style than The Garden although vaguely related, with both films concerning characters whose true nature is only revealed at the very end. There’s also a nod to Orosz’s optical illusions in the tesselated pavement, and in the mazes which are a recurrent feature of his own drawings.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Mazes, a film by István Orosz
• False perspective