Animations: Nathalie Djurberg, Brent Green, David Shrigley, Chris Shepherd

Using lo-fi hand-made techniques, the artists in this exhibition experiment with various materials to create animated shorts about bizarre and enchanting characters. Swedish-born Nathalie Djurberg moulds clay figures and places them in bizarre and surreal scenarios; Brent Green, a self-taught animator from Pennsylvania, tells odd imaginary tales using ink, transparency films, and live music tracks; and David Shrigley and Chris Shepherd explore the darker recesses of the human psyche using simple pen lines to illustrate a sordid and hilarious tale of a lost soul in search of his identity.

Nathalie Djurberg was born in 1978 in Lysekil, Sweden, and lives in Berlin. She received her MFA from the Malmo Art Academy in 2002. Djurberg's work has been featured in solo exhibitions at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Zach Feuer Gallery, New York; and Galleria Gio' Marconi, Milan. In 2006 she participated in the Berlin Biennial, and in 2005 her films were screened at the Oberhausen Film Festival in Oberhausen, Germany, and at the British Museum, London.

Brent Green is a self-taught animated-film maker born in Baltimore in 1978. His films have been screened at various festivals, including the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and the Tenth Chicago Underground Film Festival in 2003. In 2005 he was awarded a Creative Capital grant for a film that premiered at the Getty Museum in October 2006, and a solo exhibition of his work at Bellwether Gallery, New York, in January 2007. Green lives in Cressona, Pennsylvania.

David Shrigley was born in Macclesfield, England, in 1966 and lives in Glasgow, where he studied at the Glasgow School of Art. His work has been included in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and Kunsthaus Zurich. A solo exhibition of his work was organized by Bard College's CCS Museum and traveled to the Hammer Museum in 2002. Chris Shepherd was born in Liverpool in 1966. He has animated and directed numerous films, including Dad's Dead (2003), winner of the 2003 British Independent Film Award for best short. He has worked with the BBC and Channel 4 to create multiple short films, animated series, and commercials, and in 2000 he cofounded Slinky Pictures, a production company specializing in animated films. Shepherd lives in London. This is Shrigley and Shepherd's first collaboration.

Animations: Nathalie Djurberg, Brent Green and David Shrigley and Chris Shepherd March 12 - April 22, 2007 Curated by James Elaine, Curator, Hammer Projects, the Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles Special SXSW Gallery Hours: Open Monday, March 12, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. March 15, 9pm: Special Live Performance with Brent Green, The Magik Markers and The Bitter Tears

Animations:
Nathalie Djurberg, Brent Green, David Shrigley, Chris Shepherd
Kurator: James Elaine