A Q&A with Scorpion Dagger

A GIF – or graphic interchange format – is a type of very short digital animation. They have no sound and typically last no more than a few seconds. But thanks to the brilliant skills of Montreal-based artist James Kerr, they can contain centuries of art history, collaged into hilarious vignettes. Recognized internationally, Kerr has an enviable CV with animated books, movies and commercials to his name. Ask any art history buff and they know him by his Instagram handle @scorpiondagger. Ahead of his free talk on Wednesday, December 15 with Adam Levine, AGO Associate Curator, European Art, we caught up with the artist over email.

AGOinsider: For those unfamiliar with your artwork, how would you describe your style? Is re-mix a word you like?
James: I like mashup a lot, but have always described it as animated, digital collage. Re-mix is good! Way better than “animated, digital collage.”

                 James Kerr/Scorpion Dagger. Toast Omens GIF. via GIPHY

AGOinsider: There is a lot of humour in art history - what drew you to the skinny men and pot-bellied ladies of the Northern Renaissance?
James: I started the Scorpion Dagger project with the intention of making one animated GIF a day for an entire year. One of the struggles with making a new GIF every day was coming up with ideas of what to make. I would spend hours looking at random images online, from wherever I could find them. For example, I would end up looking at images of 1980s wrestlers for some reason, and decide to do something with that. One day, everything kind of clicked once I landed on some paintings from the Northern Renaissance. I don't really know how to explain it, but it all of a sudden it became easy to come up with ideas for the animations. Almost as if the artworks were telling me what to make.

What Scorpion Dagger became from that moment on was an exploration of these characters’ lives off the canvas. I think of my art historical characters as models who pose in the paintings when the museum is open, but who go home at the end of the day to a world I created for them. I became obsessed with taking the original paintings completely out of context, and fell in love with looking at art that way.

AGOinsider: Are there any artworks you will not borrow from? Anything sacrosanct?
James: Not really. There are a few pieces that I have no interest in touching, like the Mona Lisa for example, but for no reason other than I do not know what to do with it. Mind you, I have used her right hand often. That is kind of where Scorpion Dagger has gone. It is not so much straight usage of a painting anymore, but rather a massive collage of many different paintings from different eras of art history. For example, I made a character the other day that has elements from about ten different portraits. An eye here, a nose there…In that sense, nothing really is sacrosanct. If it works, I will use it.

James Kerr/Scorpion Dagger. Lunch Soup GIF. via GIPHY

AGOinsider: Anyone following your work can discern (and look forward to) certain repeat characters. Do you have a favourite figure?
James: I love repeating characters. I think it's fun for the audience to have a relationship with the characters in the work.…I had this uneasy realization not that long ago that Scorpion Dagger has become a weird diary of my life. Looking through the timeline it became apparent that oftentimes the animations are weird expressions of actual events. Totally exaggerated, of course! A few characters are more me than others are, but I will keep those a secret for now.

AGO Art in the Spotlight is an ongoing series of free Zoom conversations, highlighting emerging and mid-career artists. Don’t miss James Kerr in conversation on December 15 at 4 pm. For more details, and to register for this free Zoom talk, visit www.ago.ca/events