SPSuper Paintings

The living painting archive · 2014—

Old masters.
New moves.

Oil paintings animated by hand, frame by frame, then revealed through augmented reality.

Discover

Oliver Bancroft & James Connelly

01 / The idea

A portrait should look as if it might move.
Ours actually do.

Super Paintings re-enact the dance moves from Black Lace's 1981 cult novelty song Superman. Each movement is painted in oil, one frame at a time, before technology folds the sequence back into a single canvas.

The project borrows the poised, lifelike presence of Las Meninas, Rembrandt's late self-portraits and The Laughing Cavalier—then gives that stillness a playful shove onto the dance floor.

02 / Selected archive

Paintings in motion

Three moments from the surviving project film. This collection is designed to grow as more original material is recovered.

A visitor holds a phone toward a painted portrait as its figure moves01

Comb your hair

The Gesture

The painted figure crosses the boundary between portrait and performance.

A phone revealing an animated figure within an oil portrait02

Macho Man

The Reveal

A still canvas becomes a trigger: the phone completes the work.

A dark oil portrait hanging on a gallery wall03

Hands by your side

The Portrait

At rest, each work keeps the poised stillness of an old master.

Clap your hands✦Walk✦Swim✦Ski✦Spray✦Sound your horn✦Macho Man✦Ring the bell✦Superman✦Clap your hands✦Walk✦Swim✦Ski✦Spray✦Sound your horn✦Macho Man✦Ring the bell✦Superman✦
Close detail of a Super Painting and its brushworkOil / Canvas / Screen

03 / How it works

Paint becomes
performance.

  1. 01

    Make the frames

    Every moment is painted by hand in oil on canvas.

  2. 02

    Build the movement

    The painted frames are sequenced into a short animation.

  3. 03

    Wake the portrait

    A screen recognises the canvas and reveals the figure in motion.

“A metamorphosis from oil on canvas into blood and flesh and bones.”

From the original artists' statement

04 / The next frame

The archive is open.
So is the future.

Super Paintings began as an experiment in paint and augmented reality. This new home preserves the original work—and leaves room for recovered paintings, exhibition histories, new commissions and whatever moves come next.

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