James Bascara

Referencing early animation devices like the zoetrope and phenakistascope, these ceramic vessels connect animation and the inanimate object, evoking both life and death.  The patterns and marks on each vessel serve as frames in an animation, and when photographed and played in sequence, reveal fluid movements on the surfaces of these otherwise solid urns, inspired by natural elements.

Starting with abstracted drawings using ink and paper, these images were then translated into a digital 3D space using Blender, eventually becoming a surreal desert landscape. Out of this process a procession of ants emerged, and became a trail of breadcrumbs to lead the viewer through this labyrinth. In this space, the boundary between the dream world and waking life is permeable.

Screenings

2024 - DarkRoom, Alamo Drafthouse, New York, NY

2022 - Slamdance Film Festival, Park City, UT

2022 - Athens Animfest, Athens, Greece

2022 - Tallgrass Film Festival, Wichita, KS

2022 - Indie Street Film Festival, Red Bank, NJ

These illustrative works rely on the characteristics of the medium of ceramics.  The images are carved and sculpted into the clay, adding depth, texture, and form to an otherwise flat surface.  They evoke landscapes that are both familiar and alien.  The works are both solid and fragile, adding to the meaning of the image perceived.

Two figures sit idly as an object falls from the sky.  Upon investigating, they encounter a shy flower.  Further provoking unleashes an immense surprise.  This experimental animation is a fragmented combination of hand drawn straight ahead animation and video, connecting imaginary worlds with reality, depicting a Garden of Eden type myth.

This animated film follows the journey of a small speck into a dark forest, where it meets hundreds of identical insect-like figures.  They converge to perform a strange, comical, and sometimes terrifying ritual of dance and chants, and undergo a collective transformation.  The story emerged from the process of drawing with rubber stamps, and is loosely inspired by the myth of Narcissus, where being sees its reflection deep in the woods.

This short sequential work plays with the idea of sharing food but refusing to take the last bite. Starting with a slice of flan, it is continuously cut in half until it reaches the atomic level. The zine also contains a recipe for Filipino leche flan

This sequential work is a reference to found stereographs, where a pair of images depicting the left and right view create the perception of three dimensions.  Each spread is a scene in a sequence of stereoscopic images, following the journey of an abstract scribble evoke the idea of a smoke signal.  Using the stereoscopic concept to infuse a sense of physical space immerses the viewer into the image, and adds a degree of reality to these schematic-like drawings. The effect of these images can be seen using a stereoscope, or holding the book a few inches away and crossing one's eyes until the two images overlap each other.

Created for Zine Exchange, 2023, Brooklyn, NY

These ceramic works depict figures moving through time and space. Creating a custom die, clay was pushed out of an extruder with variations of length and curvature. Seen from above, the shape of each piece suggests a story or event in the figures' paths. The solid nature of the fired clay adds literal weight and mass to the figures' histories.