Adorable ‘Eyes’ Video by Lucas Zanotto.

It’s not often that you get to play as a grown up. These kinetic sculptures, born from the creative mind of Italian director Lucas Zanotto, are just the ticket to lighten up the long days of adult earnestness. Eyes, a personal project for Zanotto has just the right blend of humour, sarcasm and mischief for a big kid looking for a laugh.

Ping Pong balls, sheets of paper and random odds and sods make up this euphemistic interpretation of human emotions and expression. The crying eyes as they look down at the tub of ice-cream, represent so gorgeously the outpouring of grief of not being able to eat what we want on our first days of eating healthy. Or the humorous ‘looking away’ from the broken plant pot, declaring with the eye rolling, “It wasn’t me, mum!”, reminds us all of those I’ve just been sprung moments!

The project is a continuation of the director’s previous work Having a Face where he employed a similar process to capture human expressions. The sound design by David Kamp keeps the clever eyes playfully company, delighting the audience with their combined artistic whimsy. The fact subtle movements, such as the metronome ticking of the eyes reading through the pages of a book below, can so vividly manage to capture a complex series of emotions is both testament Zanotto’s skill as an artist and to his endearing and joyful imagination. Bravo!

[Video courtesy of Lucas Zanotto.]