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‘Vermillion Vortex’. Animated film, 22.48 mins. Commissioned by Art review magazine, screened on AR website http://www.artreview.com/video/john-russell-vermillion-vortex-1; Publication, John Russell, Vermillion Vortex, Brighton and Coventry: Grey Area, 2011, 48pp [ISBN 978-1-84600-042

‘Vermillion Vortex’ is a hand drawn animated film (22 minutes) commissioned by Art Review Magazine and screened on their website, Oct-Dec 2010 (the film was subsequently screened in two solo shows (Grey Area, Brighton, 2011 and Black Maria, Cork, 2012) and group shows at venues such as Kunsthalle Exnergasse, WUK, Vienna, 2011, ‘Late at the Tate’, Tate Britain, London, 2011, Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, 2011 and Romanian Cult Inst., Stockholm, 2013.The film was accompanied by a double-page comic strip published in Art Review Magazine, November 2010: 186-7. The film explored the structural and theoretical implications (and the dramatic potential of) ideas of ‘the End’ with reference to contemporary debates regarding ‘fictioning’ (Foucault), that is the idea that real events might be actualized in the manner of fiction (‘fictioned’). The film staged the juxtaposition of the cinematic trope of ‘The End,’ (as inevitable narrative closure) against (philosophical) conceptions of the ‘Event’ as something unexpected and unscripted (‘untimely’). Experimenting with the presentation of an ending (in the form of a prophecy) which escapes the structural requirement for ‘The End’ to pre-determine or back-code the ‘story’ or progression of events leading up to the ‘End’. The soundtrack included commissioned music by artists such as Rose Kallal and Mark Beasley.I also produced a 48-page comic book version published by University of Coventry, 2011 and an edition of 22 posters. A limited edition vinyl record of the soundtrack, featuring artwork from the film was produced by WCEC, 2011. The film was widely reviewed including by Paul Gravatt an established expert on comic art on his website http://www.paulgravett.com and an interview by Mark Sheerin on www.mono-zine.com