Abstract Characters: Matt Abbiss and Others: Animation Screening & Director's Post-screening Talk

A selection of short animations by Matt Abbiss and others, a mixture of character animation, pure abstraction and anything in between. Matt Abbiss is an award-winning British animation artist, cartoonist and educator. He graduated from the Edinburgh College of Art in 1999 and the Royal College of Art in 2004, and he teaches animation at the best postgraduate schools in the UK, the National Film and Television School and the Royal College of Art. As an animator, Abbiss is primarily interested in creating engaging, hand-drawn sequences on screen, using minimal elements. His representational films and abstract films are driven usually by a single narrative idea but share a desire to explore the space created by the screen. The screening presents the first Hong Kong retrospective of the animations of Matt Abbiss, combined with a selection of works by other artists including Jonathan Hodgson and Raimund Krumme. The programme is part of the Relentless Melt screening series promoting abstract and experimental moving image in Hong Kong and beyond, and was curated by Abbiss together with abstract animator and CityU professor Max Hattler. It will be followed by an extended artist talk by Matt Abbiss, in which he will share insights into his artistic practice.