Martin Arnold – Alone. Life Wastes Andy Hardy

A short while ago we published a couple of videos by the wonderful Belgian video artist Nicolas Provost. In response to this, a friend replied with a few links to videos by an Austrian filmmaker, Martin Arnold, who he said reminded him very much of Provost’s work (or vice versa). We watched, thoroughly enjoyed and so thought we’d post here for you to help while away a few minutes, waiting for the clock to tick down until weekend time.

Arnold takes strips of archive film and manipulates them, flipping back and forth over particular shots, repeating instances and extending time duration. By exposing shots to greater scrutiny this process reveals previously unseen narratives – individual fears, inter-personal tensions, subconscious yearnings – and involves the viewer further within the text. It also forces the viewer to investigate and deconstruct the cinematic apparatus, unearthing the inherently surreal, disturbing nature of the art form.

Granted, though, it is quite long. If you’re pushed for time I’d recommend skipping to 3.34 and watching through until 6.47. It’s like David Lynch has cast Judy Garland. Fantastic.

Image is by Eadweard Muybridge.

Luke Wyatt – Sad Stonewash: A Video Mulch

Here’s the trailer for Luke Wyatt’s Sad Stonewash, recently released on the fantastic AAVV film label. It uses the same digital manipulation techniques as the previously featured Mark Brown, Nicolas Provost, and the soon-to-be-featured (and equally brilliant) Tracy Widdess videos. In Wyatt’s film the choice of source material and musical accompaniment throw the viewer into a brilliantly garish postmodern world, replete with ersatz body-forms, chintz-laden cityscapes and melting simulacra of pop culture schlock. Makes you want to vomit pixels. In a good way.

Image is one of Clark Goolsby’s, more of whose awesome work can be found here.

Nicolas Provost – Gravity

We ran a short piece on Nicolas Provost’s new work, Stardust, a few days ago. Since then he’s kindly been in touch and provided us with an exclusive excerpt of another of his films, (my personal favourite) Gravity. Here are a few well-chosen words on the film from its creator:

‘The cinematic kiss is probably one of the most archetypal images to be found in film history. It is usually a reassuring and sometimes climactic element in a movie’s storyline.  Not in Nicolas Provost’s Gravity though: with stroboscopic effects, more than a dozen movie scenes, most from stereotypical 1950s romantic dramas, are edited together and superimposed. Narrative is subverted as the kissing is isolated from its context entirely; the action slows down and flickers back and forth. Every now and then shots from different films overlap and match; protagonists merge and diverge again a few seconds later. The sugary and dramatic soundtrack of romantic film music contrasts with the deconstructed images; together, they form a dazzling 6-minute vertigo where love becomes a passionate battle.’

And here’s the film itself for your viewing pleasure:

Please do check out the exhibition of his works which are currently showing at the Haunch of Venison Gallery, Mayfair. To see them blown up in HD really is something else. Or, if you’re not London based, have a browse through the complete catalogue on his own website. Really can’t recommend him highly enough.

Nicolas Provost

Belgian filmmaker/video artist Nicolas Provost has got an exhibition currently running in London’s Haunch of Venison gallery. Definitely one to try and catch if you can. He describes his work as a reflection on the grammar of cinema, that picks apart tropes, deconstructs them and then replays the elements in mutated formats, highlighting the rhythmic nature of theme and image, shifting accents and creating new works of visual poetry. It’s an attempt to provoke both recognition and alienation and catch our expectations into an unravelling game of mystery and abstraction.

Unfortunately his work isn’t that easy to come by online, but I have managed to find his most recent work on the Dazed & Confused website, which is here for you to enjoy. However, please make sure you visit either his website or the gallery itself to check out the fantastic Gravity and Long Live The New Flesh, two of the most fascinating, spellbinding and disturbing pieces of video art you’re likely to see this year.

Dazed Digital | Nicolas Provost: Stardust, posted with vodpod

Image is a still from another Provost film, Suspension.