We Stole Three Bikes...

...is screening in Chicago!

ArtXposium
September 21st - 23rd, 2007
103 West Washington Street in West Chicago, IL 60185

Thanks to Stephanie Dean for getting this film (that dates back to 1998) in a contemporary art show. If you are in Chicago, go check it out, and make sure you check out her work. Her work is probably some of the most interesting photography by any of my own peers that I am aware of.

Here's the synopsis of "We Stole Three Bikes", but no, I don't have any digitized stills.

We Stole Three Bikes (1998) is a 16mm short film that tells an abbreviated excerpt of Sam Shepard’s Motel Chronicles. The film combines a variety of animation techniques that are all but considered long gone. Hand drawn cells, ink on paper, hand painted and scratched film, optical printing, traveling mattes, and photocopy distortion.

The film was done as my thesis project during my senior year at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts) in Oakland, California. Under the guidance of Barney Haynes, David Sherman and Richard Beggs, I developed my work by exploring traditional techniques, fine art practices and technological experimentation. With the help of Stephanie Dean, and voice over narrative of Pete Glover the sound was recorded and mastered digitally using Pro Tools, then transferred to mag reel using a rigged system in the ever evolving Film/Video/Performance department.

Each scene in the film is a jump from one style to another. This was all done non-digitally using a behemoth of an Animation Stand and a JK Optical Printer. The scenes jump from elegantly drawn frames to rough, scratchy abstraction, to dark black inked cycles in order to evoke the sense of confusion and isolation the author expresses as an adult having a distant childhood memory.

The narrative of the film is a means to utilize both formal techniques and expression. The writing of this particular short nested within Motel Chronicles uses literal descriptions, memories, thoughts and feelings – a beautiful work of writing that lends itself to any form of visual art that can express and even relate to complex emotions. As with my painting, I care deeply about personal meaning and significance, all the while maintaining a focus on the formal backbone of visual art.