The Last Concert of Marlene Dietrich (installation view, Only Human, Portraiture in Contemporary Art, Minnesota Museum of American Art)
This installation paired the video and work on paper series sharing the same title, The Last Concert of Marlene Dietrich. The work responds to childhood memories and fantasies from my youth, gazing through images and films of German performer Marlene Dietrich. Reviewing a life lived in glamour and luxury, with a common life removed from such trimmings; these works create new fantasies linked by time, color and memory. The black and white video footage and found photographs have been rephotographed and colorized using the highly feminine color hot pink. Text revealing her long goodbye and distaste for being “photographed to death” is scrolled across the screen slowly as her image is displayed in and out of focus. Using a computer program that allowed the footage to be played line by line of pixels at a time, bands of color slowly replace the image with moving color filling the screen. These old mostly forgotten images are opened to a sensation of timelessness.† By producing stillness from movement, time is slowed to divulge a new reality.† A reality where one might review memories, progress, futures and lives lived through reflection and artistic consideration.
The Last Concert of Marlene Dietrich (shared title for video and prints)
Video, One single channel silent video, DVD video player and projector
Work on paper, No. 1 – No. 4, each print 40 x 32 inches.
2004 - 2007
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