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About Karen

Karen Yasinsky is an artist working primarily with animation and drawing. Her video installations and drawings have been shown in many venues internationally including Mori Art Musuem, Tokyo; P.S. 1 Contemporary Art, NY; UCLA Hammer Museum, L.A.; Kunst Werke, Berlin; the Sculpture Center, NY and at the Wexner Center in Columbus Ohio. Her animations have been screened worldwide at various venues and film festivals including the MoMA, NYC, International Film Festival Rotterdam and the New York Underground Film Festival. Her work can be found in several books including No. 1: First works by… more
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Enough to Drive You Mad
Enought to Drive you Mad is a hand-drawn animation based on a still from Au Hasard Balthazar by Robert Bresson. In the middle of an uncharacteristicly melodramatic monologue, Marie, in a characterstically emotionless delivery utters this phrase which gives my animation it's title. Rather than take Bresson's ideas within the narrative as a starting point, I took one still and had character ideas from working on I Choose Darkness. Marie wanted to have some fun after all that heaviness, so I just let her have it. Finished as a 16 mm film loop, projected in totally darkened room. Sound by Snacks, Tom Boram and Dan Breen, 3.5 minutes looped, 2009
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I too sing America poster design for Creative Action NetworkInspired by the great poet Langston Hughes, the illustration is a repurposed gouache painting I created in 2013. Imigration reform has a diverse voice. The spirit of this poster is to reflect this diversity, & support justice and dignity for all!
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I choose darkness
I choose darkness (2009) is a 6 minute puppet animation based loosely on Robert Bresson's film Au Hasard Balthazar. Bresson was known for using actors as "models" stripping them of emotion, allowing no interpretation in their performance. I use models for similar reasons, albeit real objects. The interpretation (emotional and narrative) gets thrown back upon the viewer because the objects in my films can't show you how to feel. They are indeed objects but occupy a transitional space, through their movements where they fill a need to communicate my subject. I've worked with animation for over 10 years and this was the first film made directly addressing these ideas I've had and formed over time. Bresson's film implies a redemption through suffering which I reject. This is a loop where the main character, Marie, is stuck in the present tense, stuck in her suffering. For her, there is no redemption. Music by Winston Rice and Duke Ellington. Sound design by Media Noise.
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balthazarrevealedBalthazar revealed, 2008 graphite, ink and colored pencil on paper 15 x 22.5 in.
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cowboyangryCowboy Angry, 2009 graphite, ink and colored pencil on paper 16.25 x 31 inches
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cowboydownCowboy knocked down, 2009 graphite, ink and colored pencil on paper 22.5 x 30 inches
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ichoosedarknessI choose darkness, 2009 ink and colored pencil on paper 13 x 16 inches
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magoopokesagainMagoo pokes again, 2009 graphite, ink, colored pencil and collage on paper 22.5 x 22 inches
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marierecumbentMarie recumbent, 2008 graphite, ink and colored pencil on paper 22.5 x 22.5 inches
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in an eternal night
This is a short experimental video I did taking as a starting point a line from the Edgar Allen Poe story, A Tell Tale Heart. I took the idea of the blue eye as an infectious irritant.
La Nuit
La Nuit (2007) is a 6 minute, looped, stop motion animation. Working from the memory of particular scenes from Jean Vigo's masterpiece from 1934 "L'Atalante," La Nuit is a dark portrait of a new married couple, estranged. Underwater visions, cartoon music and much rubbing are features of this slow, strange animation. A series of related drawings was done using certain film stills as a starting point.
Le Matin
Le Matin is a 4.5 minute drawing animation, shot on 16mm film. Like La Nuit, it is based on Jean Vigo's film, L'Atalante. Unlike most cell animation which only redraws what is moving, I redrew every frame, 12 drawings per second. This film chronicles the very beginning actions of L'Atalante, after Jean and Juliette are married and they walk through the village and outer fields to Jean's barge, where they will live. The ending of Le Matin is my invention which summaraizes the film's subject of the couple's relationship in one fantastic scene. Music by Winston Rice and sound design by Media Noise.
Marie
Marie is a hand drawn animation, rotoscoped from a part of Bresson's film Au Hasard Balthazar. The image changes and is frequently is interrupted. The intention was to remove the emotional tone from the scene and create emotion in the viewer through a physical reaction to the strobing colors and erratic structure. Sound by Snacks, Tom Boram and Dan Breen and music by Brahms. work in progress, 2010. 6 minutes dvd projection.