Animation.

Full-time film work! Oah & Harlam Episodes, my friends. 

At first glance the stories about two weirdoes Oah and Harlam may appear as senseless. But when there is an overflow of senselessness, then appears deep philosophy.

These stories are not just shorts that I wrote, they are a worldview, answers to some questions of reality, grotesque simplicity of which seems to be surreal. In this project bits of life situations, thoughts, and actions are applied to animation, music, and a spoken word. There is a need to write fairytales for grownups, to write almost impossible stories, because when we seriously begin to talk about important and intimate things in live, most of us cannot take it. 


The image above is an animation pencil test from "Of Care", the new episode I am working on right now. And so, Harlam is walking. 

Studio Time.

Recording session for the next three episodes of Oah & Harlam series! Still looking for a narrator. 

Screening with Live Music!

Oah & Harlam Episodes were screened during Yoon Lee's concert at Wild Beast Concert Hall at CalArts. We screened the episodes scored by Yoon as well as Laurent Ziliani and Thomas Parisch, film scoring composers I collaborated with. It was a unique experience, something that we wish to do again with more episodes that are coming to life this very moment! 

Lifedrawing.

Painting.

Two Candles, oil on board, 9'' x 12''

My Room.

Found this drawing from my BFA-2 layout class with Dan Hansen at CalArts. The concept of this is showing my room at the time when I was a kid.

Searching.

People who say they don't need inspiration, are inspired all the time without knowing it... Just thought of it, while searching, searching... 

Guardian Angel.

This is a pick from my Life Drawing session with two models, something that I do between film and painting. Many ideas are coming out from these spontaneous drawing sessions. 

Concert Invitation.

This is a poster I created for Yoon Lee's recital that is coming soon! December 9th, Wild Beast Concert Hall at CalArts, at 8 PM.  Pieces of Yoon's and other composers will be performed at the concert by Yoon and with some great guest musicians joining in, playing classical and folk/jazz, improvisations, etc. Also, three films from my "Oah & Harlam Episodes" will be screened at the recital. Some solo parts from the films' final mix will be extracted and played live. We never did it before, it is going to be an experience! You are warmly invited. 

Winter Light.

I painted this in two years. Started it one winter, and painted for about two hours. Then I took a year to think and completed it next winter in another two hours. It would not be possible for me to come to this result in that first year. 

Winter Light, oil on board 8'' x 10''

Countryside.

A few people from my native country told me that this painting reminds them of Mikalojus Ciurlionis, probably one of the most known Lithuanian artists. He was a painter and a composer. Even though that I do not find any vivid resemblance, I agree, that in some way there is a similar spirit in this painting. It came out unintentionally, I love when it happens.

Countryside, 24'' x 36'' oil on linen

A Thought.

“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and somthing else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.”

-Chuck Close

On the way to San Francisco.

Oil on board

Film Festival.

"Oah & Harlam Episodes" got into No Festival! Chelyabinsk is a city in Russia, just to the east of Ural Mountains. It used to serve as a center for the Trans-Siberian Railway around 1900. Hmm, what else, ...and my cousin Marishka, was born there! The screening will be on November 5th, 7 PM, in historical building - Pushkin center of the cinematic arts.  

Sketchbook.

"Lifetime of a Wave"

Concept art - project in progress.

Of Shepherds.

This is a first short from the "Oah & Harlam Episodes". The project is based on a poetic prose by Ruah. Two characters - Oah and Harlam find themselves in situations of unspoken search, that is visually interpreted through animation. Music scored and performed by Yoon Lee. Sound design and final mix by Diego Perez. Animation, concept art, story, and directing by Ruah.

Of Shepherds (2010) from Ruah Edelstein on Vimeo.

ForGiveness.

This is a second episode from the Oah & Harlam series, a poetic prose by Ruah. Music for this episode is also scored and performed by Yoon Lee. Sound design and final mix by Diego Perez. Animation, concept art, story, and directing by Ruah.


ForGiveness (2010) from Ruah Edelstein on Vimeo.

Of Giants.

The third episode from the Oah & Harlam series is scored by Laurent Ziliani and Thomas Parisch in association with PearUp Media, a Hollywood based film scoring company. It is featuring vocals by Argenta Walther! Sound design and final mix by Diego Perez. Animation, concept art, story, and directing by Ruah.


Of Giants (2010) from Ruah Edelstein on Vimeo.

Visual Development

"Of Shepherds", a short film from "Oah & Harlam Episodes".

Harlam's running scene.

Still shot from the film.