A blank page can be daunting, as it demands that the author make decisions, conjure ideas worthy of an audience, and line up clear statements with conviction. Indeed, a blank page gives us an opportunity to play God, but more often than not, we’d rather quit such an exhausting gig and go grab a coffee, smoke a cigarette, or look at our iPhone screens for inspiration.
In the short animated film Desenlace, an artist documents her undoing by humanizing a single black line: the main building block of drawing and art generally, but also a symbol of both infinite possibility and suffocating confinement. This black line is dexterous, can shift direction, and is strong enough to carry the animator herself as she walks on top of it. Like a high-wire walker, she stands at the precipice of invention, but finds herself manipulated by the very forces that cause her to create. This five-minute short proves the old adage true: the hardest part about confronting the blank page is that the artist is faced only with herself. The soundtrack consists of a plucked violin that nicely personifies the fickle and elusive nature of the ever looming, demanding, and annoying black line. Make sure you wear headphones for this one.
Colombian video artist and art director Rocio Delgado produced Desenlace in 2011. Based in Bogotá, Delgado studied Fine Arts at the prestigious Universidad Nacional, as well as Experimental Animation at La Javeriana. She now runs an artist collective called Dias de Lluvia that explores how visual arts and humanities intersect, and develops new ways of seeing and engaging with the world around us.