JUST WHAT YOU SEE
3:00, 2018. Silent. Video wall-screen installation for Film Forum's lobby.
This collection of images and action is all there is. "No ideas But in Things” thus, no narrative, attitude, analysis; not even a joke. Richard Serra made a short film titled "Hand Catching Lead" which I saw in the early ‘70s. It is a close-up black and white shot of a minimalist/materialist performance. Serra's dogged yet casual approach to the task at hand: grabbing, releasing, catching, missing — it doesn't matter — seems to relate primarily to grimy process. The hand reacts to the falling material, affirming its weight without further judgment. We can't see if there is only one chunk or multiples. We can't see, but can assume, that Serra himself is the performer. It just doesn't matter.
After a month of shuffling and tinkering, drawing and photographing, stacking and compositing, wishing for cool water during an oppressive New York heat wave, this film collage emerged for air. It is just what remains: just what you seize.
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