PES. Hits Frame by Frame
Why do we think that everything that is new is bound to destroy the old? It seems that computer graphics will kill pencils and paper (as we know, “video killed the radio star”), when, in fact, the many technical options available (regardless of whether they are cutting edge or obsolete) can help rethink the ethical and aesthetic meaning which underlies the choices regarding the ways of doing something. Because of this, those who today embrace stop motion animation (traditional animation using objects, produced frame by frame) deserve to be seen differently from their illustrious mentors.
Although, to a certain degree, PES constitutes a continuation of the work by Jan Svankmajer, it offers an entirely different approach. Like Svankmajer, this native of Virginia, based in New York, uses his stop motion animations to build a new and allegoric reality on the basis of day-to-day objects which become intermingled, fusing with one another and coming to life. Such diverse objects as Christmas baubles, popcorn, pincushions and peanuts can realistically represent the most unexpected things. However, PES’s intentions and political significance are entirely different, although the visual wonder that is contained in his work walks down equally refreshing, if less dangerous, paths, offering solace to whoever walks alongside him.
To begin with, PES is the child of a different time, and it shows. First of all –and this is the most noticeable element–, it can be seen in some of the motifs chosen. This is the case of the videogames used in the animations, which were burnt onto the DNA of those who played with them in the 1980s. By lending an organic nature to electronic elements (in the same way as PES’s contemporary, Guillaume Reymond, did with Game Over Project), PES takes over this task, reinterpreting games such as Space Invaders and Pacman, returning the latter to its original self, in the short film Game Over, where the game is turned into a slice of pizza, which originally inspired the popular game.
Another of PES’s generational characteristics can be seen precisely in the choice of stop motion animation and in his self-taught training, related to the punk spirit of “do it yourself” as in the original photocopied fanzines and the Indie music of those groups who learned to play as they went along and self-published their songs on cassette. Adam Pesapane (the real name of PES) is in fact an English literature graduate who learned to film while shooting his first short, Roof Sex, a “porn film” starring armchairs which was a sensation on the animation festival circuit. He sees his work as someone who composes catchy pop singles to be enjoyed in three minutes, hits meant to be timeless; and he “plays them” with the tools and know-how that he himself has obtained, in a completely manual way. Perhaps that is the secret that makes us revisit, as if they were tracks of a record, those shorts, halfway between ironic humour and fantastic creativity, as is the case of Western Spaghetti, Pee-Nut o KaBoom!.
Lastly, and as the dark side of the preceding elements and a sign of the (capitalist) times we live in, it has to be said that where PES has managed to gain strength is in the advertising world, filming campaigns for companies like Sneaux (with his incredible Human Skateboard), Bacardi, Sprint, Nike and Orange Telecom. An independent animator has to pay the bills somehow. In return, and as can be seen on his website, PES opts for “spreading the word” putting his work at the disposal of anybody who has an Internet connection. It is thus that, using the same instruments as his archaic predecessors, PES is able to create new hits which, thanks to the communication power of the Net, have become number one on all the lists. Colourful, original, madly funny and effective pop hits in contemporary animation.
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