The End/untitled + 100 x 100: Mario Rossi

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CANAL is delighted to present an exhibition that brings together a section of 'The End /untitled' together with a new digital projection work ‘100x100’ specially made for the exhibition.

In December 1999 Mario Rossi signalled ‘The End’ in a celebrated work that depicted in painting 100 film endings. This was the culmination of a number of exhibitions the artist made during the 1990s which explored the relationship of painting to cinema.

'The End /untitled' was originally exhibited in its entirety at The De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, and Cornerhouse Manchester.

Several of the paintings are now part of the Arts Council England’s Collection and have been included in a number of national touring exhibitions. Unlike most selections, these randomly chosen images, displayed in a strict uniform grid, avoid any preferential hierarchy and engage serial recognition as the principal viewing method. Faced with the impossibility of complete narrative disclosure, the rectangular and low key chromatic canvases collapse into a single optical abstraction, one which elides a concern for specific cinematic references.

'The End' operates through mimetically indexing our own recollections of films and ignites a host of complex associative mental pictures of our lived experiences, mingling the real and imagined.

Ironically, as Rossi continues to exhibit and develop new work, this project is never quite decisively concluded, and a number of new paintings have been added to the series over the years.

Since the original work was created prior to widespread access to the internet, all capture and collection of images was achieved through photographing the TV screen, VHS cassette and through archives like the BFI. Thus the processes of mediation generate and become part of the work itself. 

In its original form, the related projected work ‘100 endings’ was analogue. However, the possibility of random selection opened up by digital media has allowed the artist to extend his playful yet critical engagement with production, potentially creating 10,000 randomly selected indeterminate spaces, echoing his initial intention to circumnavigate choice of content, and to paint whatever was captured on his 35mm SLR camera.

Canal is delighted to present an exhibition that brings together a section of 'The End /untitled' together with a new digital projection work ‘100x100’ specially made for the exhibition.