Interview with Curator Phaedra Siebert
Ben Whitehouse talks about his painting and
the evolution of The Revolution Series
McNay Art Museum, San Antonio
March 15 - April 25
Revolution Still Lifes
ArtChicago
April 30 - May 3
Perimeter Gallery, Booth TBA
Grand Rapids Art Museum
June 4 - August 22
GRAM and Ox-Bow
Perimeter Gallery, Chicago September 10 - October 9
08/01/2007
By Kristin Pazulski, Staff
 A still of Central Park from Ben Whitehouse’s project Revolution. |
With the current craze surrounding HD technology, it was only a matter of time before a serious artist successfully integrated his artwork with the high definition capturing television and film audiences.
Ben Whitehouse exhibits his latest project at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts: an on-going project called Revolution that involves a series of landscapes he filmed in high definition for a straight 24 hours (or one revolution of the Earth). The show exhibits these 24-hour recordings in real time on large, high definition plasma screens in two of DCCA’s galleries.
As a child, Whitehouse, a landscape artist, grew up in film as his father was a British movie director, so he’s always been aware of and interested in the film industry.
In the 1980s, Whitehouse saw a movie that was filmed in Scotland. He said he was fascinated by not only the landscape, but also by the director’s habit of lingering on the exquisite landscape for just a few seconds before entering a scene. It was this attention to the background that struck Whitehouse and left a lasting impression; as he created his own works, he wanted to create something similar.
“I wanted to continue that moment into eternity,” Whitehouse said.
This frame of mind inspired him to enlarge his landscape art and paint unusually large landscapes, usually ranging from about six feet by more than nine feet to about eight feet by 12 feet, to capture the depth of the scenes.
“Revolution comes from that thinking,” explained Whitehouse.
He was already filming scenes, which he’d paint his landscapes by, when, about three or four years ago, he began thinking about the videos themselves as potential art.
In the 1990s, as a graduate student at the University of Chicago, Whitehouse saw “Monet in the 90s” at the Art Institute of Chicago, and the idea was born of recording—through paint or film—one scene during various times of day or the year and looking at the changes that could bring.
“Seeing the Grainstacks lined up on the wall, the idea of the paintings as film frames (and the spaces between them as missing frames) became apparent to me,” Whitehouse said. “I hadn’t considered the filmic qualities of Monet’s project prior to that time and wondered how I could account for the transition experience of natural phenomena in my own work.”
He began experimenting more with film, and eventually figured out how to make the videos his art. For 24 hours straight, he filmed a single spot straight through, without shifting or stopping the film.
“Not a second is missing. Every shift of light, every moment that occurs within the composition is captured in the piece for an entire 24-hour period,” he said.
It’s the result of this project—a looping, 24-hour moving piece of artwork—that creates Revolution.
To film these 24-hour scenes in high definition, Whitehouse had to work with Apple and Panasonic to actually create the technology he used.
To make the art truly spontaneous and natural, Whitehouse said he did not check the weather before he filmed and he filmed each scene only once, and for exactly 24-hours, so he was not editing and choosing his favorite scenes.
“I just let what happens, happen,” Whitehouse said. “You put yourself out there and say, ‘Planet, do your thing,’ and you watch and record it.”
So far, Whitehouse has five scenes completed, Nachusa Grasslands in Illinois, Central Park in New York City, and Lake Michigan, Treetops and North Bar Lake all filmed during trips to Michigan. (Selections of each are available online at www.WhitehouseStudio.com.)
Only two of those, Central Park and North Bar Lake, will be on display at DCCA beginning on Aug. 17, along with selections from his other projects. Whitehouse said he plans to add additional Revolution pieces, but not for this show.
Another interesting piece Whitehouse is exhibiting is his March project, a series of 31 paintings of the shore of Lake Michigan at Leone Park Beach in Chicago, Illinois. He painted the landscape between 9 and 11 a.m. on each of the 31 days in March 2004, and arranged them to resemble a calendar page, which makes the changes in the scene depicted in each painting more apparent.
“It’s amazing how the same scene changed each day. Some are so similar, and others so different,” Whitehouse said.
Whitehouse’s exhibit continues into the new year, closing on January 6, 2008. An artist reception is scheduled for September 20 from 5-8:00 p.m.
All plasma screens, cameras, and speakers used to create Revolution were generously provided by Panasonic.