A silhouette of a horse is drawn mid-stride several times in layers to create the effect of motion. It was done on a cave wall almost 25,000 years before Marcel Duchamp used the same technique in “Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2” (1912). Let’s call that horse the beginning of animation.

Markings of history are inherent to animation; this is true of all art, but emphasized in animation’s employment of time and narrative. Liquid Pictures at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery puts time (less so narrative) on display. The show — named in honor of MTV’s 1990sLiquid Television program of experimental animation shorts — features all New York artists: Leah Beeferman, Melissa Brown, Erica Magrey, and Adam Shecter. Four walls for four artists in a darkened room. Read More