Jinjoo Kim, 'Yellow Spheres and Trees', 2014, video and installation in MA Fine Art Summer Show, Chelsea College of Arts, London. Image courtesy the artist.
Jinjoo Kim, ‘Yellow Spheres and Trees’, 2014, video and installation in MA Fine Art Summer Show, Chelsea College of Arts, London. Image courtesy the artist.

Eight artists from Royal College of Art and Chelsea College of Arts (UAL) partner up to explore “shifting boundaries, shared language, and common denominators” between painting and film/video in “Light Matter”, a week-long exhibition in the Cookhouse at Chelsea College of Arts, London. Ends 17 January 2015.

New possibilities for painting through moving image?

“Light Matter” is an exhibition that attempts to converge and contest the boundaries between moving image and the more “traditional” artistic medium of painting. Curated by Stuart Layton from Royal College of Art [RCA] and Julian McSweeney from UAL/Chelsea College of Arts, eight artists come together in the attempt to show ways of working that, in effect, bridge the divide between these seemingly-disparate mediums.

Julian McSweeney, documentation of painting and performance, 2013, at Chelsea College of Arts, London. Image courtesy the artist.
Julian McSweeney, documentation of painting and performance, 2013, at Chelsea College of Arts, London. Image courtesy the artist.

“By exploring painting in its expanded field”, McSweeney writes, “we hope to push the medium into slightly unfamiliar territories”. The anticipated result of such a conglomeration is to reflect “new possibilities for painting brought about by the digital revolution”.

Verity Birt, 'Backward Looking Future', 2014, mixed media installation, digital and analogue looped excerpt 'The Land Before Time 1988', audio 'One herd had only a single baby, the last hope for the Future'. Image courtesy the artist.
Verity Birt, ‘Backward Looking Future’, 2014, mixed media installation, digital and analogue looped excerpt ‘The Land Before Time 1988’, audio ‘One herd had only a single baby, the last hope for the Future’. Image courtesy the artist.

McSweeney asserts that since the early days of the movies, filmmakers often “used the imagery of paintings to shape or enrich the meaning of their films, despite cinema historically challenging the whole system of the arts”. Throughout this history, the common thread between painting and cinema is the visual image.

Billy Ward, 'Watching a Rothko', 2014, digital video. Image courtesy the artist.
Billy Ward, ‘Watching a Rothko’, 2014, digital video. Image courtesy the artist.

Today, the accessibility of movies and still imagery through digital technology seems to have “clouded the margins that exist between high art and popular culture”… perhaps so much so, says McSweeney, that a show like this one serves to question the venerated and well-established formats of exhibitions (including this one), and asks, are they now defunct?

Artists featured in ‘Light Matter’:   Verity Birt (RCA), Lauren Cohen (RCA), Jinjoo Kim (Chelsea Alumni), Stuart Layton (RCA), Julian McSweeney (Chelsea), Natsumi Sakamoto (Chelsea Alumni), Francesca Ulivi (Chelsea Alumni), Billy Ward (Chelsea Alumni)

More links and information

Exhibition details: ‘Light Matter’ is on in the Cookhouse at Chelsea College of Arts, 16 John Islip St, London SW1P 4JU from 13th through 17th January 2015. Free admission, step-free access.

Private View: Monday 12th January 2015, 5.30pm – 8pm.

Open hours: Daily 11.00am – 8.00pm

‘Light Matter’ is graciously supported by:

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