Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Zolloc’s Unsettling, Absorbing GIFs and Videos

Zolloc is the moniker of Austin-bred, New York City-based artist/animator Hayden Zezula. When cctvta.com last checked in with the Tumblr-lauded phenom, we called his gray-toned, mutant baby-filled GIFs “chill-inducing.” Many of the GIFs in this piece take on a more abstract form, vague structures that bubble and evolve. There’s still an organic aspect to those creations, and somehow, the artist’s work maintains its ability to be both absorbing and inspire uneasiness.


Zolloc is the moniker of Austin-bred, New York City-based artist/animator Hayden Zezula. When cctvta.com last checked in with the Tumblr-lauded phenom, we called his gray-toned, mutant baby-filled GIFs “chill-inducing.” Many of the GIFs in this piece take on a more abstract form, vague structures that bubble and evolve. There’s still an organic aspect to those creations, and somehow, the artist’s work maintains its ability to be both absorbing and inspire uneasiness.

https://vine.co/v/5AzuJJ9DHjM

https://vine.co/v/51wVuFugUxO

https://vine.co/v/5OYBOnmFiXj

And Zolloc still having fun with limbs. His choruses of hands and feet in bold colors are joyful and parade-like. Dancing shaggy figures are meticulously crafted enough to make a dozen loops still not enough to fully take it all in. The nature of the GIF is that its behavior is eternal and predictable, yet certain Zolloc creations make you think that something new could take place at any time.

https://vine.co/v/5Ax3DeuWjr9

https://vine.co/v/55lgOE3b32L

For this year’s Olympic Games, Zolloc created animations for Yahoo Sports. His kinetic, wrapping shapes display the power of Olympians, even while working with still images. They’re not as wild as some of his eerie creatures, yet seeing his animation against real-life backdrops adds to their otherworldly nature.

Zolloc has also been able to capitalize on the video functions of Vine and Instagram in his work, with more than 100,000 followers on the latter.

Meta
Topics
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
The warped and surreal nature of Paul Kaptein’s sculptures are even more startling when you consider the medium: Kaptein hand-carves each piece from wood. And the “glitchy” aspect of the works is heightened by gaps and holes present throughout, in a sense emptying the figures of their worldliness. And with names like, “With the Poise of One Entering a Black Hole for the Third Time” (shown above), there’s both a humor and cosmic quality to the Australian artist’s work. Kaptein was last featured on cctvta.com here.

Matt Linares "The Second Key Master"

Tattooed doves and pygmy giraffes, singing harpies and suited wolverines are now on display at Portland's Antler Gallery as part of "Unnatural Histories IV." The exhibition, as previously reported earlier this month, is the fourth edition of a major group show featuring work by 27 artists who merge human with animal to create fantastic creatures. Some are whimsical like Redd Walitzki's "Pygmy Mountain Giraffe," which the artist describes as being particularly fond of "salt water taffy left behind by careless tourists" and Morgaine Faye's "Wadjet," the Egyptian god and protector of kings and women in childbirth. To accompany her single rainbow winged bird, Faye wrote a poem detailing the omnipresence of her imagined "Protector of the Pharaohs."
Clouds of smoke appear to take on strange and beautiful shapes in French photographer Gilles Soudry's images. He calls them "Volutes", referring to the smoke's hazy and spiraling effects, and some have described looking at his work like being transported into a dark otherworld, while others appreciate its cinematic qualities (we saw Donnie Darko's rabbit "Frank"). Like a sort of x-ray colored Rorschach Test, these reactions to Soudry's photographs demonstrate his unique ability to mystify his viewers.
Nicolas Fong creates GIFS and short animated films filled with peculiar characters and imaginative scenarios. In his work, psychedelic shapes morph into one another as dreamlike narratives unravel. In a recent video Fong created for the band BRNS' song "Many Changes," an abstract, underwater creature evolves into many different lifeforms. The video highlights the cyclical nature of life and the beauty of the natural world. In another video for Forever Pavot's song "Green Nap," smoke filling an 1800s-style opium den floats to the ceiling, revealing kaleidoscopic visuals and trippy patterns. Take a look at some of Fong's work below and follow his Vimeo channel to see more of his films.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List