Vanish Series

Vanish #1, 2007

LED 27″ television, media player, ornate frame. 30in. x 20 in.

Vanish is a series that not only explores time, but the historical space between painting and digital media, specifically video, as well as a space between our romanticization and domination of the wild. Each video piece is mounted on the wall and mimics an ornately framed painting. They are silent screens with slow and sometimes imperceptible movement of solitary figures that invade the recognizable digital images of well-known paintings.

The work also speaks to the impermanence of new media (archival qualities) and the durability of paintings. There is also a playful dialog with painting as an older tradition; it’s a frozen frame, a moment in time, whereas video moves, connotes lapsed time, and is more ephemeral.

Using green screen effects, a figure is superimposed on a landscape painting by Albert Bierstadt entitled “Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California”. The figure interacts with and appears to digitally manipulate the painting.