ANIMATING THE PINE BARRENS RACHEL HEIDENRY
Erin Dunn grew up at the Jersey Shore and spent her childhood exploring the Pine Barrens—the vast patch of forest known for misshapen trees and mythic tales. This odd, unexplored expanse of land in the middle of a region known for its turnpikes and boardwalks, deeply influences Dunn’s airbrushed paintings and stop-motion animations, in which the natural mixes with the grotesque to create mythic illusions. The Pine Barrens are subtly included in Dunn’s latest stop-motion animation, Oceanic Dancer, with a background of artificial pine trees. The set includes strings of colorful lights, faux flowers, and mounds of sand, representing the contradictory visual worlds of her girlhood. The puppets that she animates in this setting capture the fantasy of performance—the ideal of the dancer who can let go of her inhibitions and allow her body to lead. Inspired by the idea of Freud’s 28
“oceanic feeling”—the concept in which an infant experiences a oneness with the world before it learns that other people inhabit it—Dunn seeks to express that feeling through motion. A captivating and upbeat tempo anchors the work, which is enhanced by dramatic lightning. It begins with a strange pink bird “dancing” on the whimsical stage—its feathers blowing with each twirl. Dunn makes all her characters by hand, her puppets resembling plastic dolls or, in the bird’s case, a feathered muppet. Oceanic Dancer features female dancers outfitted in eclectic embroidered tops or beaded headpieces, each performing alone on the colorful stage moving between pliés and pirouettes. One dancer, her skin a vibrant red, even dances with paper umbrellas in hand, amplifying the theatrics of the performance. Close-ups of their faces reveal Dunn’s attention to detail—the puppet’s