About
Chris Grygiel, âWe're Just Talking, About Talking About This'
1st 8th February
Stuart Croft, âDrive In'
8th 15th February
Tim Dodd 'Telefunken'
15th 21st February
OUTPOST is pleased to present three artist's films, screened as solo presentations throughout February. This programme will feature work by Chris Grygiel, Stuart Croft and Tim Dodd respectively.
Although each film is distinct, all toy with the notion of genre and share similarities in their play on filmic conventions. The cinematic origins and language of the three films are instantly apparent, yet they have become divorced from their roots. Aspects of the films have been distorted and manipulated, and elements of various genres are set off against one another. These clashing devices often inspire an amusing affect; an extension of a certain sentence, a loop or a juxtaposition of sound and image.
In We're Just Talking, About Talking About This, we laugh at the misshapen editing of Grygiel's characters in conversation in a downtown, nameless bar. The context has been removed, creating an ambiguity in the identities of these people as the artist stretches out a familiar film scene. The vocabulary used by the men is evocative of the crime genre, however, the menace and seriousness of the scene is diluted by Grygiel's intervention with the work. The edited repetitions and odd tangents keep us captivated, waiting for something to move us forward in the narrative, yet nothing does, and we never arrive. The repetitious language therefore gains a narrative of its own, based on comic timing. Grygiel manages to heighten and elongate tension in the scene, tension that is undermined by a witty mockery within the work.
Stuart Croft's Drive In presents another conversation. We are faced with two characters in this familiar, front-shot, car scene. A man driving listens intently to a younger woman's story, waiting to hear the conclusion that perversely never appears. Croft presents the audience with two parallel narratives: the unfolding narrative described by the anonymous woman is mirrored in the mise en scene, almost taking on the role of a fictitious commentary. There is a subtle bitterness between the protagonists; the odd glance from the silent driver seems full of contempt, instilling a sense of darkness. We read between the lines, filling in the gaps, and there is an underlying sadness and romance to the work. The artist stages this perfect rendition of a never-ending narrative, the joke with no punch line.
Tim Dodd articulates his film bites with sound to subvert the subjectivity of the moving image. In one example of Dodd's work aeroplanes crash, men are blown up and fatally wounded, however the combination of this imagery with a clichéd and sublime musical score creates a sense of playfulness. The antics of the panicking traffic controllers are reminiscent of slapstick comedy as they manically attempt to guide pilots onto aircraft carriers. These themes are consistent in Dodd's work. He juxtaposes sound and moving image in the style of the video jockey. His manipulation of the found image plays profoundly with the fact that we are observing from a removed position, that what we observe is a montage, which can no longer be considered âreal life'.
Chris Grygiel is an artist/filmmaker based in London and completed an MA at Slade School of Art in 2008. He has an extensive range of films in the public domain at http://uk.youtube.com/results?search_query=chris+grygiel
Stuart Croft is an artist/filmmaker based in London and is currently a tutor and teaching fellow at the Royal College of Art, London. Since completing his MA at Chelsea College of Art in 1998, his projects have been shown in galleries across the World. Stuart Croft is represented in the UK by Fred [London] Ltd. The production of Drive In was financially supported by Arts Council England, London / Royal College of Art Research.
Tim Dodd is an artist based in Norwich, Norfolk. He completed a BA in Fine Art at Norwich School of Art and Design in 2006 and is currently working with film and sound for online exhibitions. He is a founding member of the collaborative art group âNux Vomicas' which perform regularly within the region.
