hand-drawn abstract figures dance along max cooper's music in film by masanobu hiraoka

"Working primarily with pencil and frame-by-frame animation, his practice foregrounds the physical act of drawing and embraces imperfection as a record of time and thought. His work often moves between figuration and abstraction, using transformation as a way to reflect inner experience rather than narrative structure. The animation unfolds with pencil lines forming figures and abstract structures that shift gradually, as human gestures appear momentarily before dissolving into organic forms, while biological patterns echo bodily systems and natural processes."

"Max Cooper is a London-based electronic artist whose work sits at the intersection of music, science, and visual art. With a background in computational biology, his compositions often explore patterns, systems, and emotional states beyond language, frequently extending into collaborative visual projects. His practice treats sound as a tool for inquiry, using music to investigate perception, identity, and what it means to be human."

Masanobu Hiraoka created a hand-drawn animated film in response to Max Cooper's On Being, a track and album that explores personal reflection, inner experience, and the shared nature of human thought. Hiraoka works primarily with pencil and frame-by-frame animation, foregrounding the physical act of drawing and embracing visible imperfections as records of time and thought. The animation shifts between figuration and abstraction, using transformation to reflect inner states rather than following a conventional narrative. Pencil lines form figures and abstract structures that dissolve into organic forms while biological patterns echo bodily systems and natural processes. Max Cooper's background in computational biology and interest in music, science, and visual art inform compositions that treat sound as inquiry into perception, identity, and what it means to be human.

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine