Tag: Wish Book

Artist Talk with John Pearson

Artist John Pearson will discuss his work in Wish Book: Lay of the Land.

These large-scale, landscape cyanotypes on fabric link the tactile and the visual by committing the photographic process to the physical landscape. Pearson works outdoors on the ground, making 1:1 indexical photographic prints during midday sunlight. In these photographs, view is replaced by elemental record; while the horizon, removed from the composition, becomes the topographic support and source for construction of the images.

Pearson’s intention is not to convey the solely visual appearance of place — in this case, the arid southern California landscape — but rather to invoke a more dynamic experience of place by means of the transformative nature of photography.

Curated by Terri Phillips and Brian Pera in collaboration with Crosstown Arts

The Wish Book focuses on non-traditional approaches to film as a medium. Curators Brian Pera and Terri Phillips welcome internationally recognized artists, filmmakers, and critics to Memphis for this exciting series, which takes its name from the famed Sears Catalog and is hosted by Crosstown Arts at Crosstown Concourse, itself once a major Sears distribution center.

Opening Reception for Wish Book: Lay of the Land with John Pearson

Exhibition of photographic works by John Pearson
On view: Sept. 21-Dec. 2
Location: East Gallery & East Atrium

These large-scale, landscape cyanotypes on fabric link the tactile and the visual by committing the photographic process to the physical landscape. Pearson works outdoors on the ground, making 1:1 indexical photographic prints during midday sunlight. In these photographs, view is replaced by elemental record; while the horizon, removed from the composition, becomes the topographic support and source for construction of the images.

Pearson’s intention is not to convey the solely visual appearance of place — in this case, the arid southern California landscape — but rather to invoke a more dynamic experience of place by means of the transformative nature of photography.

Performance by >mancontrol< at 7 pm
Radical experiments in sound creation using light sensors and projected images to make “songs” in the moment. What you see makes what you hear!

Join the Revolutions Bicycle Co-op group ride to the Wish Book opening! The bike group will meet at 6 pm at the Explore Bike Share station in Overton Park. The ride rolls out at 6:15 pm. See their Facebook event page for more info. 

Artist statement:
My intention is to provide the viewer a photograph that offers an experience of the landscape that does not rely solely on visual appearance.  An image of a different scope that conveys the material phenomena of a location, a more tactile involvement with the landscape, that attempts a solution to the distance conventional photography asserts. My interest is to bridge this gap between being immersed in a landscape and simply looking at it as a photograph.
These large-scale, landscape cyanotypes represent an experience of the arid Southern California landscape.  They are made outdoors on the ground in the middle of the day in Griffith Park and Death Valley.  This is a rudimentary photography, made without camera or film, recording the moment, the light, and the terrain of a particular but negligible plot of ground in a vast space at high noon.  It is influenced by the landscape embodied in the 1840s cyanotype photograms of Anna Atkins, and it responds to the grand vistas of photographers such as Ansel Adams by bringing vision back to the body and using what is within reach: rocks, dirt, open sky, and sunlight. This series of photographs is an inquiry of place, an expression of a phenomenological sensation, and a proposition of sense.
The videos and photographs both are invested in observation, the presence and action of light, the parallels of light entering the shadowed interior of the camera and the eye functioning as an aperture to the blackness of the body’s interior.  That dependence of light on darkness interests me.  Video provides a physicality to the process of making images, a physicality that links vision back to the body, to movement and pulse, rather than the mechanical idealized view of the camera.  Video is more performative and allows for an intuitive, animated exploration of light.

Curated by Terri Phillips and Brian Pera in collaboration with Crosstown Arts

The Wish Book series is a series focusing on non-traditional approaches to film as a medium. Curators Brian Pera and Terri Phillips welcome internationally recognized artists, filmmakers, and critics to Memphis for this exciting series, which takes its name from the famed Sears Catalog and is hosted by Crosstown Arts at Crosstown Concourse, itself once a major Sears distribution center.

Wish Book: Lay of the Land with John Pearson

Exhibition of photographic works by John Pearson
Opening reception: Friday, Sept. 21, 6-8 pm
On view: Sept. 21-Dec. 2
Location: East Gallery & East Atrium

Performance by >mancontrol< at 7 pm

These large-scale, landscape cyanotypes on fabric link the tactile and the visual by committing the photographic process to the physical landscape. Pearson works outdoors on the ground, making 1:1 indexical photographic prints during midday sunlight. In these photographs, view is replaced by elemental record; while the horizon, removed from the composition, becomes the topographic support and source for construction of the images.

Pearson’s intention is not to convey the solely visual appearance of place — in this case, the arid southern California landscape — but rather to invoke a more dynamic experience of place by means of the transformative nature of photography.

Artist statement:
My intention is to provide the viewer a photograph that offers an experience of the landscape that does not rely solely on visual appearance.  An image of a different scope that conveys the material phenomena of a location, a more tactile involvement with the landscape, that attempts a solution to the distance conventional photography asserts. My interest is to bridge this gap between being immersed in a landscape and simply looking at it as a photograph.
These large-scale, landscape cyanotypes represent an experience of the arid Southern California landscape.  They are made outdoors on the ground in the middle of the day in Griffith Park and Death Valley.  This is a rudimentary photography, made without camera or film, recording the moment, the light, and the terrain of a particular but negligible plot of ground in a vast space at high noon.  It is influenced by the landscape embodied in the 1840s cyanotype photograms of Anna Atkins, and it responds to the grand vistas of photographers such as Ansel Adams by bringing vision back to the body and using what is within reach: rocks, dirt, open sky, and sunlight. This series of photographs is an inquiry of place, an expression of a phenomenological sensation, and a proposition of sense.
The videos and photographs both are invested in observation, the presence and action of light, the parallels of light entering the shadowed interior of the camera and the eye functioning as an aperture to the blackness of the body’s interior.  That dependence of light on darkness interests me.  Video provides a physicality to the process of making images, a physicality that links vision back to the body, to movement and pulse, rather than the mechanical idealized view of the camera.  Video is more performative and allows for an intuitive, animated exploration of light.

Curated by Terri Phillips and Brian Pera in collaboration with Crosstown Arts

The Wish Book series is a series focusing on non-traditional approaches to film as a medium. Curators Brian Pera and Terri Phillips welcome internationally recognized artists, filmmakers, and critics to Memphis for this exciting series, which takes its name from the famed Sears Catalog and is hosted by Crosstown Arts at Crosstown Concourse, itself once a major Sears distribution center.

Wish Book: Screening of James Benning’s READERS

Screenings of READERS (2017) by artist James Benning. 108 minutes.

The film will screen at 1 pm, 3 pm, and 5 pm.

Sign up for a screening time

 

Curated by Terri Phillips and Brian Pera

The Wish Book series is a triannual exhibition with a focus on artists’ films. Curators Brian Pera and Terri Phillips welcome internationally recognized artists, filmmakers, and critics to Memphis for this exciting new series, which takes its name from the famed Sears Catalog and is hosted by Crosstown Arts at Crosstown Concourse, itself once a major Sears distribution center. Drawing from a wide range of topics, techniques, and perspectives, the films index the scope of work being done by artists in moving pictures.

About the Artist:
James Benning has sometimes been referred to as a “filmmaker’s filmmaker”, though he might prefer the more succinct “artist.” Alternately telescopic and microscopic, his work often explores the American landscape and its social and environmental histories, observing the movements and moments which characterize it in endlessly mutable patterns.

Equally painterly, sculptural, and literate, his films combine elements of sound and image in ways which invite interpretation through a uniquely cinematic immersion. Landscape is a function of time, according to Benning, and duration plays an important role in a viewer’s experience of his films, endowing most of the work with distinctly cumulative effects.

The film’s narratives are generated by the highly subjective experience of prolonged observation. The rigorous formality of his approach generates meditations on place and memory, prompting viewers to look more closely and differently at the spaces we inhabit.

In an environment increasingly mapped out by remote third party GPS systems, Benning’s work reminds us what it is to see for ourselves. Benning began making films in the 1970s. Wish Book presents a selection of his most recent work, much of which revisits and expands upon themes and motifs consistent throughout his oeuvre.

Wish Book: Screenings of James Benning’s Ash 01

Screenings of Ash 01 (2016) by artist James Benning. 20 minutes.

The film will screen at 1 pm, 2 pm,  3 pm,  4 pm, and 5 pm.

Sign up for a screening time

 

Curated by Terri Phillips and Brian Pera

The Wish Book series is a triannual exhibition with a focus on artists’ films. Curators Brian Pera and Terri Phillips welcome internationally recognized artists, filmmakers, and critics to Memphis for this exciting new series, which takes its name from the famed Sears Catalog and is hosted by Crosstown Arts at Crosstown Concourse, itself once a major Sears distribution center. Drawing from a wide range of topics, techniques, and perspectives, the films index the scope of work being done by artists in moving pictures.

About the Artist:
James Benning has sometimes been referred to as a “filmmaker’s filmmaker”, though he might prefer the more succinct “artist.” Alternately telescopic and microscopic, his work often explores the American landscape and its social and environmental histories, observing the movements and moments which characterize it in endlessly mutable patterns.

Equally painterly, sculptural, and literate, his films combine elements of sound and image in ways which invite interpretation through a uniquely cinematic immersion. Landscape is a function of time, according to Benning, and duration plays an important role in a viewer’s experience of his films, endowing most of the work with distinctly cumulative effects.

The film’s narratives are generated by the highly subjective experience of prolonged observation. The rigorous formality of his approach generates meditations on place and memory, prompting viewers to look more closely and differently at the spaces we inhabit.

In an environment increasingly mapped out by remote third party GPS systems, Benning’s work reminds us what it is to see for ourselves. Benning began making films in the 1970s. Wish Book presents a selection of his most recent work, much of which revisits and expands upon themes and motifs consistent throughout his oeuvre.

Wish Book: Screening of James Benning’s L. Cohen

Screening of L. Cohen (2017) by artist James Benning. 45 minutes.

The film will screen at 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, 4 pm, and 5 pm.

Sign up for a screening

 

Curated by Terri Phillips and Brian Pera

The Wish Book series is a triannual exhibition with a focus on artists’ films. Curators Brian Pera and Terri Phillips welcome internationally recognized artists, filmmakers, and critics to Memphis for this exciting new series, which takes its name from the famed Sears Catalog and is hosted by Crosstown Arts at Crosstown Concourse, itself once a major Sears distribution center. Drawing from a wide range of topics, techniques, and perspectives, the films index the scope of work being done by artists in moving pictures.

About the Artist:
James Benning has sometimes been referred to as a “filmmaker’s filmmaker”, though he might prefer the more succinct “artist.” Alternately telescopic and microscopic, his work often explores the American landscape and its social and environmental histories, observing the movements and moments which characterize it in endlessly mutable patterns.

Equally painterly, sculptural, and literate, his films combine elements of sound and image in ways which invite interpretation through a uniquely cinematic immersion. Landscape is a function of time, according to Benning, and duration plays an important role in a viewer’s experience of his films, endowing most of the work with distinctly cumulative effects.

The film’s narratives are generated by the highly subjective experience of prolonged observation. The rigorous formality of his approach generates meditations on place and memory, prompting viewers to look more closely and differently at the spaces we inhabit.

In an environment increasingly mapped out by remote third party GPS systems, Benning’s work reminds us what it is to see for ourselves. Benning began making films in the 1970s. Wish Book presents a selection of his most recent work, much of which revisits and expands upon themes and motifs consistent throughout his oeuvre.