Mark Lewis

April 3 - May 15 2011

Mark Lewis’ films are deceptively simple, often employing a reduced or minimal formal language. These typically consist of a single shot, whether tracking, zooming, simply static with no camera movement at all. The films rarely have sound or any visible cuts. For example The Moving Image (2011), consists of a static camera shot inside of a moving elevator, where the question of movement in relation to film and photography is fore grounded. Sometimes in Lewis’ work there are references to commercial cinema, in Forte! (2010) a highly dramatic tracking shot à la James Bond is combined with the unemotional pragmatism of aerial shots produced by a war drones. In general, Mark Lewis’ interest is often in the small excerpts of reality. Pond Scum, Five Lines (2010) shows a static view of five little ducks crossing a dirty pond; Willesden Laundrette; Reverse Dolly, Pan Right, Friday Prayers (2010) uses a reverse dolly from a laundrette into a busy London street; and Gladwell's Picture Window (2005), a film of reflections in a window with picture frames held behind. With the precise and concentrated focus on these undramatic situations, Mark Lewis is capable of revealing a mesmerising quality of everyday life.

Oliver Kielmayer