When thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, when thou risest up
2011, video projection, model – Ken Finch
To dream, to recall memory and to experience the spiritual is to encounter the mysterious boundaries of consciousness. These mysteries have been a source of fascination throughout human history, investigated particularly in the work of Freud and Jung, and subsequently explored in the art world as Surrealism.
The way video transports conscious ideas into imaginative moving depictions proves highly effective in creating a sense of the surreal. My aim is to evoke qualities of the unconscious through the use of video, taking inspiration from the work of Bill Viola who works with the human figure and themes of life and spirituality with dramatic, powerful effect. The fragility and fallibility of memory is a personal source of interest, relating to the decline of memory through ageing. Recent investigations have led to the elderly generation as the subject of my work, who hold a treasure trove of knowledge, memory and experience: a depth of unconscious history.
The way video transports conscious ideas into imaginative moving depictions proves highly effective in creating a sense of the surreal. My aim is to evoke qualities of the unconscious through the use of video, taking inspiration from the work of Bill Viola who works with the human figure and themes of life and spirituality with dramatic, powerful effect. The fragility and fallibility of memory is a personal source of interest, relating to the decline of memory through ageing. Recent investigations have led to the elderly generation as the subject of my work, who hold a treasure trove of knowledge, memory and experience: a depth of unconscious history.
Cycle 1: Ken Finch
2011, video projection, model – Ken Finch
The life experience of the elderly forms the focus of my practice: the complexity of the elderly psyche, having lived through hope and despair, failure and success, all the while accumulating the wisdom of age. The rise and decline of human life can be seen as a collective, shared experience of the human race, but can also be represented in an individual experience. Birth, life and death: life as a gradual cyclic process, a continuous loop. In portraying an elderly male, gradually but constantly walking I attempt to create a visual metaphor for the common experience of human life. My perspective is one of profound respect: he stands for us all, but he is nevertheless himself.
Artists throughout history have been fascinated with the human psyche and its many mysteries. I have discovered the possibilities of video through the work of contemporary video artist, Bill Viola: it is a medium which animates imagination with a narrative, a voice, and a moving image.
