Artist Reception: Bring the Lights Into the Shot

Bring the Lights Into the Shot
by Ellie Krakow
Curated by Boshko Boskovic
Artist Reading: January 5, 2013 at 5pm
Reception: January 19, 2013 from 4:00-6:30 pm
Exhibition Dates: January 5 – February 3, 2013

The exhibition, Bring the Lights Into the Shot by Ellie Krakow stars the behind-the-scenes mechanisms of movie and image making.  The show centers on a text Krakow wrote, entitled Shine, which is presented in its entirety as an artist’s book, and incorporated as fragments in her video of the same title. The text uses the conventions of screenwriting, and the structures of cinema to tell an allegorical story of lovers. Krakow’s language is not merely declarative or descriptive, but rather is visual and corporeal.  She writes phrases such as, “A woman’s dress picks up light as she walks toward him,” and “The lovers try to make eye contact. Both blink too frequently.”

In the video, rather than utilizing human figures, Krakow casts two studio lights with umbrellas as stand-ins for the lovers’ bodies.  By replacing the protagonists of the story with inanimate objects the artist defies representation, which opens the space of imagination.  The artist believes in the power of narration, and trusts the viewer to visualize, muse, and create new worlds – both fabricated and recalled.

Krakow pairs Shine, with her photographs from the series, Not Still.  Light, the one thing necessary to make a photograph, is taken as the subject of these photographs.  The photos depict studio lights lighting the night sky, and occasionally a man who adjusts the lights.  The images hover between implying and denying narrative.  Time seems to be fleeting; something seems to be happening, but what exactly is never made clear.  Transforming language and imagery culled from the movie industry, Ellie Krakow creates lyrical meditations on affection, romance, conflict and loss.

Ellie Krakow is a New York based artist. She received her MFA from Hunter College in New York and has attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. Exhibitions include: AIRspace Exhibition, Abrons Arts Center, New York, NY, (2012); Tailgates and Substitutes, Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY, (2011); Greener on the Other Side, Organhaus Art Space, Chongqing, China, (2011); Slummer Nights, Canada Gallery, New York, NY, (2010); There Has Been No Future, There Will Be No Past, International Studio and Curatorial Program, Brooklyn, NY, (2010); Screening Program, MMX Open Art Venue, Berlin, Germany, (2010); Transportable Mind, AREA Lugar de Proyectos, San Juan, Puerto Rico, (2010); Site Unseen, The Project Space, Royal College of Art, London, England, (2010).