A Vue

Joshua Mosley’s stunning, often cryptic work, which involves a labor-intensive combination of drawing, high-definition video, photography, and sculpted stop-motion figures, has redirected the leading edge of animation technology away from its origins in collective production models and commercial applications, and into the visionary realm of the individual artist and the fine-art short film.A Vue recounts the story of Henry, a park ranger who has devoted his life to maintaining a gigantic bronze statue of George Washington Carver. The narrative develops when Henry meets Susan, who works at a fiber optics company. As the couple discuss the relationship between their lives and their jobs, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish an admirable task from a meaningless one. The statue of Carver remains motionless while ink wash drawings move unsteadily around it. Serving as an exploration of dedication to work rather than a mere tribute to an American hero, it symbolizes the dichotomy inherent in work, questioning whether this common means of self-definition might instead be a mechanism for self-obliteration. The musical score, written in collaboration with Abby Schneider, adds a grim intensity to the piece.