Jonathan Kan
Squint Your Eyes To Get A Better Picture 目不暇給, 2025
Charcoal animation
4'30"
Further images
Squint your eyes to get a better picture is a hand-drawn charcoal animation that observes the shifting of attention and interruptions in perception during everyday movement. Whether on the way...
Squint your eyes to get a better picture is a hand-drawn charcoal animation that observes the shifting of attention and interruptions in perception during everyday movement. Whether on the way home or en route to meet a friend, our focus constantly shifts—from the phone screen to passing pedestrians, from casual conversation to streetlights and approaching traffic.
These irregular pauses and transitions reflect a rhythm of contemporary life that appears natural, yet is filled with fragmentation. Actions are interrupted and then resume; tactile sensations are triggered through the skin’s contact with the physical world.
The animation uses short frame loops and layered repetition to magnify these fleeting details. The raw texture of charcoal and the traces of hand-drawn marks enhance the sensory experience, transforming what is small and momentary into visible rhythms and layered structures.
Squint your eyes to get a better picture seeks not only to capture visual overload, but to embody a state in which the body and perception are constantly adjusting and adapting within the flow of daily life.
從一處到另一處——回家的路上,赴約的途中,閉眼能走的路程。
眨眼,視線從手機螢幕抽離,望向對面的路人;
眨眼,朋友的對話被周遭的聲響切斷又接續。
紅燈前急停,目光掃過街角轉來的車輛。
不規則的停頓,是不自然的自然。
急刹或緩止,連貫的動作終有斷點,
而新的行為又將萌生。
皮膚擦過凹凸的表面,顆粒與紋理在摩擦。
用碳筆把時間描成一幀幀,
微小的感覺不再微小,短暫的停頓不再短暫。
目不暇給。
These irregular pauses and transitions reflect a rhythm of contemporary life that appears natural, yet is filled with fragmentation. Actions are interrupted and then resume; tactile sensations are triggered through the skin’s contact with the physical world.
The animation uses short frame loops and layered repetition to magnify these fleeting details. The raw texture of charcoal and the traces of hand-drawn marks enhance the sensory experience, transforming what is small and momentary into visible rhythms and layered structures.
Squint your eyes to get a better picture seeks not only to capture visual overload, but to embody a state in which the body and perception are constantly adjusting and adapting within the flow of daily life.
從一處到另一處——回家的路上,赴約的途中,閉眼能走的路程。
眨眼,視線從手機螢幕抽離,望向對面的路人;
眨眼,朋友的對話被周遭的聲響切斷又接續。
紅燈前急停,目光掃過街角轉來的車輛。
不規則的停頓,是不自然的自然。
急刹或緩止,連貫的動作終有斷點,
而新的行為又將萌生。
皮膚擦過凹凸的表面,顆粒與紋理在摩擦。
用碳筆把時間描成一幀幀,
微小的感覺不再微小,短暫的停頓不再短暫。
目不暇給。