“(Not So) Still Life”, curated by Jennifer McGregor and Gabriel de Guzman
Video Work: “Time Lapse”, 2016, 3:00, seamless loop, sound (low volume, classical composition, Chopin) Exhibited on a monitor in the vertical format with media player connected.
“Time Lapse”, 2015 is a video work inspired by a Van Huysum’s painting, “Fruit Piece”, which he created from looking at the natural objects in front of him and then adding them into the composition. He waited for the right time of year, when they were in full bloom flowers and ripe fruit and placed them in the composition as the year progressed.
When I lived in Los Angeles I gave tours in the Education Department at the Getty (2000-3), I always loved to show the visitors this painting in their collection. I found it incredibly creative that today we look at it as a full image, however the parts were made over a year and it represents the changing and rebirth of each season. Since this was Van Huysum’s way to “photoshop” the seasons in, I have wanted to make a video for a long time using new media to show how the seasons appeared in the painting. It is a still life composition yet, it is so dynamic if you look closely you can see insects eating away at the fruit. What struck me is how it looks beautiful from a distance and then closely it appears to be decaying and molding away. It always felt like a video still to me, as I was catching the bugs in action and should shew them away!
In my video, parts of the painting will be illuminated and move (through animation and light) to bring to live the circular process of this arrangement. In addition, I am creating a video portrait of the seasons from the window in the Bronx and use this as the background from Fall to Winter to Spring. I created a video diary of the seasons. This time lapse will be in the background of the new video work. Both movements in the background and foreground will work together to activate the Dutch masterpiece.
