Rebus

The Rebus Project is a meditation on the complexities of communication in the digital age, questioning the ways information is encountered and understood. Language, perception, and technology is explored through the mediums of charcoal drawings and motion graphics. At its core, the project investigates how language is processed—what is read, heard, and seen—and how misinformation, algorithmic control, and the subtext beneath surface-level communication shape interpretation. Characters on a page or screen convey more than their literal meaning; innuendo, bias, and subtexts influence perception and understanding. Placement of characters, compositional relationship between words, and animated text can alter meaning, provide new informational layers, and disrupt traditional ways of reading and comprehension. Central to the project is the cognitive engagement required to unravel a rebus puzzle or riddle, especially one that may hold multiple interpretations.

The tension between analog and digital forms is explored throughout. Charcoal serves as both physical and conceptual resistance to the seamless perfection of the digital realm, while digital motion graphics add deeper layers of comparison and investigation. Dense charcoal is pushed into paper in an unforgiving manner contrasting the precision and perfection often sought in digital animation. Yet, closer examination reveals imperfections within technology as well, highlighting the nuanced interplay between these two creative modes.

Charcoal drawings remain completely analog—crafted by carefully measuring and drafting characters on a drafting table, then hand-rendering the negative space around each form. The process presents a delicate challenge but yields greater reward, openly displaying imperfections that occurred along the way. Process and imperfections are showcased not concealed. Textural choices, the deep black of the charcoal, and the tactile nature of the medium emphasize the raw, visible process of making. 

A deliberate choice to use tools and methods available to artists today underpins the project. Animation require learning new media and technologies, fostering experimentation, and creative spontaneity, and a novice approach. Working in both mediums opens up possibilities keeping this practice fresh and exciting.