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Evan Tear Haynes
‘Nervous Breakdowns’, Four 5K color animation & sound, from 2-4 minute, Stop-motion animations created from hundreds of layered drawings and watercolors.
Cannonball Arts Submission (not linked from home page)
Project Description:
‘Nervous Breakdowns’ is a series of four stop-motion animations composed of hundreds of hand-drawn illustrations and watercolors. The work is both meditative and anxiety-inducing. Each video delves into the complexities of human emotion, capturing shifting states of mind, spiraling thoughts, and the beauty found in discomfort. Their looping format feels ever-changing, evolving with the viewer’s perception and emotional responses.
I collaborated with Seattle sound designer John Buroker to create abstract soundscapes that amplify the emotional tone of the work. With its abstract forms, slow frame rate, and unsettling soundtrack, Nervous Breakdowns is intended to momentarily disrupt the viewer’s daily rhythm and create moments of inward reflection.
Started during an emotionally turbulent and challenging period of my life and completed in a time of stabilization and recovery, Nervous Breakdowns serves as a non-linear visual journal of that emotional journey. Although this experience was personal, I don’t intend the work to be solely autobiographical. It is also an attempt to explore the shared human experience of emotional pain and beauty.
The work has not yet been exhibited. Thank you for your consideration :)
What makes this project a fit for Cannonball Arts?:
'Nervous Breakdowns' features stop-motion animations made with hundreds of unique abstract watercolors and is the result of a collaboration with another Seattle artist working in a completely different medium. Together, we have crafted a video art experience that explores deeply personal emotions. The work aims to inspire moments of inward reflection in the viewer.
This all seems to align with Cannonball Art’s goal of celebrating innovative, courageous, local, overlooked, and self-expressive art.
Still image, ‘Nervous Breakdown Three’, 5K color animation & sound, 3:48-minute loop
Low-res version of ‘Nervous Breakdown Three’, 5K color animation & sound, 3:48-minute loop
Still image, ‘Nervous Breakdown One’, 5K color animation & sound, 2:26-minute loop
Low-res version of ‘Nervous Breakdown One’, 5K color animation & sound, 2:26-minute loop
Still image, ‘Nervous Breakdown Two’, 5K color animation & sound, 2:09-minute loop
Low-res version of ‘Nervous Breakdown Two’, 5K color animation & sound, 2:09-minute loop
Still image, ‘Nervous Breakdown Four’, 5K color animation & sound, 2:46-minute loop
Low-res version of ‘Nervous Breakdown Four’, 5K color animation & sound, 2:46-minute loop
All the works on paper used in the creation of Nervous Breakdowns were arranged flat within a large frame, serving as a tangible representation of the stop-motion animation process. Ideally, this piece would be shown alongside the videos, but it is not necessary.
‘Nervous Breakdown Animation Stills’ Mixed media on paper, stacked animation stills from ‘Nervous Breakdowns’, 12 x 68 inches
‘Nervous Breakdown Animation Stills’ Mixed media on paper, stacked animation stills from ‘Nervous Breakdowns’, 12 x 68 inches