Frontier-Linear
2009 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
Doug Aitken
The version of Frontier acquired by the Kadist Collection consists of a single-channel video, adapted from the monumental installation and performance that Aitken presented in Rome, by the Tiber River, in 2009. In this film, Aiken’s allusion to “the frontier” and iconic imagery like the cowboy suggest that the American West Coast as a cultural construction. These notions are reinforced by two key elements in the film: its protagonist, the iconic West Coast artist Ed Ruscha, and its reference to the cinematic and the experience of the movie theater. The film is structured as a journey in time, from day to night. The completed film was shot in different places around the globe, including Los Angeles, Rome, South Africa, and Israel, which suggests the blurring boundaries of the unknown and emphasizes both fictive and real landscapes.
Doug Aitken’s work started to draw international attention when his installation Electric Earth earned the International Prize at the 1999 Venice Biennale, which was organized by renowned Swiss curator Harald Szeemann. Interested in breaking conventional narratives, Aitken emphasizes circularity and non-linearity in his monumental site-specific installations. This monumentality is usually expressed in Aitken’s tendency to combine apparently disconnected fragments in order to create epic films. Although this aspect of his work differs from the all-encompassing wholes sought by modernism, Aitken’s films play with the imaginary and surreal in a way that flirts with the notion of utopia. The artist uses pop culture and, especially, the film industry as sources for his compelling and immersive environments. Aesthetic elements such as coloration, light and space and a careful editing process give his films a contemplative mood.
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » ARTSJOURNAL
Janet Panetta, 74, Dies; Admired Dancer, Choreographer and Teacher - The New York Times Dance | Janet Panetta, 74, Dies; Admired Dancer, Choreographer and Teacher https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/arts/dance/janet-panetta-dead.html Share full article Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Janet Panetta, who overcame childhood polio to become a dancer with American Ballet Theater, a performer in New York’s thriving downtown modern dance scene and a revered ballet teacher, died on Saturday in Brooklyn...
© » DAZED DIGITAL
Texas Hold ‘Em: Beyoncé drops two country-tinged singles | Dazed â¬…ï¸ Left Arrow *ï¸âƒ£ Asterisk â Star Option Sliders âœ‰ï¸ Mail Exit Music News The singer announces the second stage of her Renaissance trilogy, and releases a duo of new tracks 12 February 2024 Text Dazed Digital During the Superbowl last night, Beyoncé announced that her new album – Act II – will be released on March 29...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
SEE WHAT SEE (May 2021): SOUTHEAST ASIAN DOCUMENTARIES | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Viewpoints May 15, 2021 By Joel Tan To borrow and distort the title of David Shield’s lyrical manifesto against fiction: I’ve been HUNGRY for reality in the month of May...
© » KADIST
Francisca Benítez
2018You have given the world your songs by Francisca Benítez is a poem in American Sign Language (ASL)...
© » TWOCOATSOFPAINT
Louis Fratino’s happy equilibrium – Two Coats of Paint Louis Fratino, Red Nude (After Mafai), 2023, oil on canvas 65 x 94 inches Contributed by Margaret McCann / Louis Fratino’s paintings in “In bed and abroad” at Sikkema Jenkins depict varied social situations, from intimate scenes to foreign climes...
© » KADIST
Kristen Morgin
2008Jeep Comics is based on the second of only two issues published by RB Leffingwell and Company in 1944–45...
© » HYPERALLERGIC
The Enigmatic Bolivian Artist Who Centered Indigenous Workers’ Rights Skip to content Alejandro Mario Yllanes, "Estaño Maldito (Cursed Tin)" (1937), oil on burlap, 60 inches x 77 1/2 inches (all images courtesy Ben Elwes Fine Art, London) The Bowdoin College Museum of Art has acquired a painting by Indigenous Bolivian artist Alejandro Mario Yllanes, the first by the enigmatic artist to enter the collection of a museum in the United States...