SPECIAL EVENTS | Exhibitions | Portrait - Thomas Johnson

Portrait - Thomas Johnson

Portrait is a durational animation performance in which an amalgamated portrait of the participating audience is drawn by a stop-motion animated puppet. The performer and animator, Thomas Johnson, manipulates a small puppet of himself for several hours to sketch an image of whoever takes a seat opposite him. The recorded animation will be displayed during the work, and visitors are invited to sit and have part of their portrait drawn and included into the combined image.

Thomas Johnson (Bath, England, 1984) graduated in Time Based Media from the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, and is currently studying at the New Media Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. To date his puppet performances have been shown at a number of festivals. In 2014, together with Ivana Bošnjak at Bonobostudio, Thomas finished his debut co-directed stop-animation short film Simulacra. The film has so far been screened and selected for over 40 festivals, and has received several acclaimed awards.