Sam Burford - Fiat Lucks

About

Fiumano Projects is delighted to present the solo exhibition, ‘Fiat Lucks’ by British artist Sam Burford. The show will open Friday 29th September and run until Friday 27th October.

The title of the show is a playful juxtaposition that hints at aspects of Burford’s artistic practice of imaging with light;  Lucky imaging being the modern practice of visualising distant galaxies using highly sophisticated photographic methods and fiat lux - from the ancient latin proclamation “let there be light”. 

Burford’s latest collection of works on canvas and Diasec represent a culmination of his exploration into the aesthetic qualities of time-lapse photography, a process that translates the transient animus of cinema into the stasis of the photographic image. ‘Fiat Lucks’ introduces new developments from his studio practice, including work that examines the randomised statistical nature of visual inference, a theme that he has been developing through his doctoral research into simulated photography at Chelsea College of Arts in London.

The initial basis of Burford’s practice is the production of time-lapse photographs of cinematic time using specially constructed cameras which he combines with synthetic methods to explore the instrumental potential of simulated photorealism. 

In one body of work, frozen temporal traces are translated into a series of individually crafted paint brushes and used to transform original cinematic scenes into a linear sequence of painted marks, described by Burford as “a visual language of gestures that reference a time before the mechanical and electronic technologies of modernity”.

As cinema becomes increasingly digital and dematerialised both in its method of production and subject matter, Burford has made it his mission to return it back to its material roots in the physical world. Working with a variety of media - 3D printing, painting, video and time-lapse photography - Burford restructures the cinematic to create new spatiotemporal forms. Inspired by the iconic cinema of Coppola, Lucas and Kubrick, Burford embarks on a journey to explore new visual languages formed through the ever changing nature of light.

The show represents the final exhibition for Fiumano Projects before partnering with Andrés Clase to become Fiumano Clase in November 2017. Francesca Fiumano has been collaborating with Burford since 2009 and has worked on a number of solo and group exhibitions with the artist. Buford will continue to play an integral role in the development of Fiumano Clase.