Reflections

Heartbreak is one of the worst experiences of human existence. So why not animate it?

Artist Morgan Gruer has done just that. And it's magnificent.

Rendered in watercolor, the two minute animation (embedded above for your convenience) is fluid, never seeming to stop for too long as the subject floats...and sometimes nearly drowns...within the waves of each emotion. At times in the piece, reality seems to bend. She sees her former love and reaches out, but of course he is no longer there. She catches instead wisps of multicolored smoke.

How often have we done that in the wake of such events? You can truly sense that the subject is weighed down by these emotions, myrmidon to them for the time and with no end in sight. The music accentuates all this as well, hitting you (explosively at times) with each breaking wave of anguish and grief. I'm reminded in a sense of R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion." Nothing makes sense anymore, everything is a funhouse distortion of what it once was, the center of the universe has fallen away and we're left wandering to find a new one. If we're lucky, that is.

Depressing? I guess, but you know I'm all about that. It's real. It's not romantic. It's unlikely to give you any real sense of comfort. That is unless you count the sensation that you'll know you're not alone in experiencing these moments. I certainly count that as a plus.

Looking forward to more from Morgan Gruer.



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