Set In Concrete: Grey Studies
A psychological self-portrait film by Caitlin Black
A psychological self-portrait film by Caitlin Black
Screenings
Temporalities Exhibition, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
20 Feb - 24 Mar 2018 · 1 Granary Square · Kings Cross
Premiere screening at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
27 - 31 May 2015
16:9 HD video installation 2015, 23 min loop
Temporalities Exhibition, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
20 Feb - 24 Mar 2018 · 1 Granary Square · Kings Cross
Premiere screening at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
27 - 31 May 2015
16:9 HD video installation 2015, 23 min loop
Artist Statement
The vignettes presented in Set in Concrete: Grey Studies look at conflicting sides to ‘being’ and ‘self’ and the boundaries between idiosyncrasy and ability, abstract inspiration and narrative approach. Here are a kaleidoscope of images that reflect struggles and tensions exposed by state of mind, historical reference, and the relationship between artist, subject and camera. Fundamentals in a dynamic that asks questions of the viewer and lays bare a desire to control the work, the physical limitations of equipment and self-image.
This intimate, voyeuristic viewpoint, projected on what might seem an unnecessary scale, seeks to overwhelm. To subject the viewer to a conflict of ideas and mediations. There is power of control, a fear of letting go, offered in traces of unrest, frustration and the complex disjunct of the creative mind. Image and audio fragments are presented in perpetual duality throughout Set in Concrete: Grey Studies. Interruptions challenge each apparent balance, competing for attention. Questioning the parameters of linear cinema. Be this from words muttered in quiet, isolated moments to deafening thought or lingering crackles of fireworks. From the deepest echoes of memory, reflexive, direct, and performative layers, juxtaposed with images on screen, provide a half-remembered narrative.
From the physical materiality of the surfaces in my exhibition space to the notion of the portrait film, I set out to explore the body as a form of material. I also examine the dynamics of concrete. Man made. Industrial. Brutal. Physically cold to sit on and in colour, dull grey. An isolating coldness to its touch that attaches memory and emotion to physical property, which leaves an enduring human mark. The imperfect texture of skin is in synergy with the surface of the concrete pieces. It leaves a unique physical identity, both irreplaceable and individual, part of the process undertaken to craft the works.
This serendipity between the natural and the physical is explored throughout the images of the portrait film. The constraints of physical limitations, either imposed or imagined, play out in the sequence of the film as they do in the mindset of the characters displayed in the works. Conflicts, of the mind, the body and the environments in which they move, evoke the constant state of flux that the creative mind must navigate as it seeks to find its voice - Caitlin Black.
The vignettes presented in Set in Concrete: Grey Studies look at conflicting sides to ‘being’ and ‘self’ and the boundaries between idiosyncrasy and ability, abstract inspiration and narrative approach. Here are a kaleidoscope of images that reflect struggles and tensions exposed by state of mind, historical reference, and the relationship between artist, subject and camera. Fundamentals in a dynamic that asks questions of the viewer and lays bare a desire to control the work, the physical limitations of equipment and self-image.
This intimate, voyeuristic viewpoint, projected on what might seem an unnecessary scale, seeks to overwhelm. To subject the viewer to a conflict of ideas and mediations. There is power of control, a fear of letting go, offered in traces of unrest, frustration and the complex disjunct of the creative mind. Image and audio fragments are presented in perpetual duality throughout Set in Concrete: Grey Studies. Interruptions challenge each apparent balance, competing for attention. Questioning the parameters of linear cinema. Be this from words muttered in quiet, isolated moments to deafening thought or lingering crackles of fireworks. From the deepest echoes of memory, reflexive, direct, and performative layers, juxtaposed with images on screen, provide a half-remembered narrative.
From the physical materiality of the surfaces in my exhibition space to the notion of the portrait film, I set out to explore the body as a form of material. I also examine the dynamics of concrete. Man made. Industrial. Brutal. Physically cold to sit on and in colour, dull grey. An isolating coldness to its touch that attaches memory and emotion to physical property, which leaves an enduring human mark. The imperfect texture of skin is in synergy with the surface of the concrete pieces. It leaves a unique physical identity, both irreplaceable and individual, part of the process undertaken to craft the works.
This serendipity between the natural and the physical is explored throughout the images of the portrait film. The constraints of physical limitations, either imposed or imagined, play out in the sequence of the film as they do in the mindset of the characters displayed in the works. Conflicts, of the mind, the body and the environments in which they move, evoke the constant state of flux that the creative mind must navigate as it seeks to find its voice - Caitlin Black.
Installation Images
