Cute and creepy in equal measure, Matteo Dang Minh’s shaky animations play with contrasts

If you take a moment to peruse through Matteo Dang Minh’s animations, you may find yourself surprised. While his characters are certainly “cute” – often wearing masks that turn them into animals, like bears, mice, ducks and bees – their ungainly, human-like bodies and knife wielding tendencies also make them pretty creepy. This is because Matteo loves to “play with contrasts” , injecting his surreal shorts with visuals and scenes that leave the viewer bewildered, but completely intrigued.

Finding inspiration in experimental animation, naive art, Art Brut and underground animation from the 70s and 80s, Matteo enjoys spending time using bold block colours and experimenting with palettes – his choices often giving off a vintage feel. But perhaps the clearest influence to Matteo’s work is the Eastern European animation, specifically Estonian animator Priit Parn and his wacky, eerie storylines. Alongside his independent practice, Matteo also runs the independent animation studio Ciang with his partner Francesca Colombara.