The Valley of the Lakes No. 1

This is a film I made back in November (see earlier blog posting) in response to a painting that I saw in The Sainsbury Centre Collection at UEA in Norwich.

It was called The Valley of the Lakes No. 1 by Charles Maussion. I was captivated by the scale and atmosphere of the painting. I call it a painting but it was made using pencil and rubbing it into the paper. The resulting image is a blurred landscape the scene never quite being defined.

A particluar text by William Jeffet in the catalogue of Maussions work, sold in the bookshop at SCVA resonated with some of the concerns I've been grappling with in my film work;

... Maussion sought to expand these works beyond the intimate scale of drawing into the more public scale of painting. In doing this he pursued both a radical dematerialisaton of conventional representation and the dissolution of form in an almost abstract representation of something approaching the eighteenth-century idea of the sublime..'

To see the original painting you'll have to visit the Sainsbury Centre!



B&W Reversal Super 8 2.45

The beginning

Seb and I have decided to share a space, so this week, we took the keys to unit C3 at the Powerhub and started the renovations. We've decided on what we want; darkroom and film changing room being the first priority, desk area and lounging being second! Seb's done all the building while I mooched around, held a few bits of wood up and provided moral support, and Dave came over and offered some technical help.

So hopefully before the end of the month we'll be set up.

Film Night

Photography by Rebecca Crosbie

We had a great turn out for the Film Night on Friday 27th, it was wonderful to see prints by Guy Sherwin, Nicky Hamlyn and Ken Jacobs projected in the space; alongside work from UCA including Siobhan McManmon, Cassandra Vervoort and Gareth Polmeer.

Interior shots of 5-9

Photography by Sebastian Edge

Installation shots from 5-9

 Outside view of projectionsfrom left, Conor Kelly, Dominic de Vere and Sebastian Edge and Cathy Rogers Photograph by Rebecca Crosbie

Inside Installation Shots of Scotopic and 14:11(super 8 pinhole)
photography by Sebastian Edge

Scotopic

Stills from Scotopic which will be shown at 5-9 opening Tuesday 24th November, at The Powerhub, St Peters Street, Maidstone.

www5-9.org.uk

Late Shift - Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art

I'm back showing some work for the Late Shift at the SCVA in Norwich on Wednesday 18th November 5pm - 8pm. However, film not arrived back from the lab, should be here 12.30pm on Wednesday, I'll then be jumping on a train with a projector under my arm hot footing it up to Norwich - with any luck!

Liz Ballard the curator always lines up a good programme - see it here http://www.scva.org.uk/whatson/late_wednesdays/index.php?id=803

If all goes to plan, this is what the work's about.

Almost, There

Super 8mm, B&W, silent,

 

This work is a response to a painting by Charles Maussion, titled ‘The Valley of the Lakes No. 1’ which is held in the Sainsbury Centre collection.

As in Maussions’ work this film questions the nature of representation in this case implied through lens based media.

In ‘Almost, There’ we are presented with a number of scenes in which the camera lens is pulsing in and out of focus against the picture plane; almost but not quite presenting an in-focus image of the represented scene beyond the lens.

 

5-9 Site Specific Film and Video Projections

24 - 28 November, open daily 5pm - 9pm

Unit B9, The Powerhub, St. Peters Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME16 0ST

Nr. Maidstone East Train Station (60 mins from Victoria, London or 50 mins from London Bridge) 

5 – 9 is a show of new, site specific, film and video by Dominic de Vere and Sebastian Edge, Stavros Gangos, Nicky Hamlyn, Conor Kelly and Cathy Rogers.

Most of the work has been made in or for the Powerhub, an imposing former commercial vehicles factory, situated by the river Medway in Maidstone and viewable from Maidstone East railway station. The building is used both as a springboard, subject and venue for the work and the opening time of 5pm to 9pm is intended to exploit the dusk to nightime light of the semi-industrial urban landscape on this part of the river. 

All the work is designed to be projected onto the windows of the gallery, and can be viewed from the railway footbridge opposite, as well as from inside the building. This exhibition results from a collaboration between staff and graduates of the MA in Artists’ Film Video and Photography at the University for the Creative Arts, Maidstone.

Private View and Film Night

Friday 27th November 2009 open from 5pm

Films showing from 7.30pm

Free entrance / bar available

Programme includes film projections of:

Night Train

Railings

Da Capo: Variations On A Train With Anna 
Guy Sherwin

Opening the Nineteenth Century: 1896 (3D)
Ken Jacobs
Pro Agri 
Nicky Hamlyn

and a selection of work from lecturers and students of UCA Maidstone

including work by Gareth Polmeer, Siobhan Mcmanmon and Anthony O'Donnell

Supported by The National Lottery through Arts Council England, University for the Creative Arts, Maidstone and FrancisKnight