Sheri Wills
Nocturne Nos. 1 & 2, 1999, 16mm film, color, sound, 10 minutes
"Nocturne is a series of short experimental films, in which I pursue a visual experience reminiscent of Victorian music.
"I am fascinated by the technology of the nineteenth century, the birth of film and itÕs inextricable link to the Victorian sensibility. The hallmark of this aesthetic lies in its tightly-laced obsession with detail and decoration, decorum and charm. All objects, from a memory quilt to a camera, were compulsively lavished with the same ornamental decorations. While on one level my modernity is repelled by this fussiness, on another level I feel oddly liberated by this outrageously sensual adornment of objects, regardless of their function.
"Yet the Victorian fixation on complicated patterning belies a fear of the empty space. I feel there is, within their flourishes, a language I must decipher. To get close enough, to get inside the design is to see patterns of desire, patterns of repression, a pattern that blossoms to encompass generations. As Louise Bourgeois once said, Ō...The making of art is an insight into the source of compulsion....Art is the privilege of insight into craving.Ķ
"The processes I am drawn to require much tedious, repetitive labor. Although I often work with sophisticated technology, I see my work in the tradition of womenÕs lap craft. I find the time spent obsessively performing these mundane tasks is essential, for it is during this time that I develop an intimate understanding of the imagery I create. I hand paint one frame at a time; I move images, pixel by pixel; I shoot film frame by frame. With my attention focused on the miniature, each frame is a separate entity, an entire world. My fascination with the handmade, the awkward and sentimental is at odds with the contemporary medium within which I work. The dynamic play between practical technology and rhapsodic subject matter is the motivation that propels my work forward."