November 7, 2008-April 5, 2009
Carmen & Mark Holeman Video Gallery

Since the mid 1990s, London-based artist Mark Lewis has made short films that explore the concept of the moving image. By isolating cinematic techniques such as the single tracking shot or reverse zoom, Lewis structures his films to bring attention to the technical and descriptive conventions of filmmaking. Lewis' works bring focus to seemingly secondary information-background details such as landscape, everyday architecture, and film extras-repositioning these elements so that they occupy the central role.

For his exhibition, the IMA presented Lewis' 2006 work Rear Projection: Molly Parker (above), which looks to the outmoded technique of rear projection (now replaced by blue screen technology). Engaging a technique originally meant to communicate realism, Rear Projection: Molly Parker draws attention to its own artifice and creates a mysterious disjuncture of time and space.

Image credit: Mark Lewis, Rear Projection: Molly Parker, 2006, 35mm transferred to high definition, 4 minutes