Jennifer West

Last updated
Jennifer West
Born1966 (age 5657)
Topanga, California, U.S.
Alma mater Art Center College of Design,
Evergreen State College
Occupationartist

Jennifer West (born 1966) [1] is an American artist. She is known for her digitized films that are made by hand manipulating film celluloid. She serves as faculty at the University of Southern California (USC) at the Roski School of Art and Design. She lives and works in Los Angeles.

Contents

Wendy Vogel writes for Artforum.com, "Like her experimental predecessors, West forgoes narrative cohesion in favor of creating jumpy cuts and abstract visual collages––splicing, rolling, and drenching the celluloid using materials from Mylar tape to pickle juice, whiskey to candle smoke." [2] Christopher Bedford wrote in Artforum on her work, "sexy, whimsical, painting-scale DVD projections walk that elusive line between pictorial modes with deftness, wit, and airy originality." [3] Joanna Kleinberg wrote on her work in Frieze "the intermingling of materiality, feeling and identity creates a wild blend of synaesthetic experience wherein the substances of life literally and figuratively colour the film." [4]

Biography

Jennifer West was born in 1966 in Topanga, California. [1] [5] [6]

She received her BA degree from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington with an emphasis in film and video. She later obtained her MFA degree from Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, California) in 2004, where studied with Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe, Mike Kelley, and Diana Thater. She serves as faculty at the University of Southern California (USC) at the Roski School of Art and Design.

Work

West makes 16mm, 35mm and 70mm films by manipulating the film celluloid to a level of performance. The film emulsion might be doused with perfume, Jack Daniels or pepper spray, skateboarded on or dragged through tar pits. West is also known for the Zine booklets that she produces featuring the production stills showing the making of the films. The destroyed and distressed films are then digitized and shown as looping video projections in museums and art galleries. [7]

A piece of the filmstrip for One Mile Parkour Film on the pathway of the High Line One Mile Parkour Film by Jennifer West at High Line.jpg
A piece of the filmstrip for One Mile Parkour Film on the pathway of the High Line

She is best known for the live performance, "Skate the Sky" (2009), staged at the Tate Modern in London where she invited skateboarders to skate over filmstrips taped to the floor of the Turbine Hall. [8] Other significant commissions include, "One Mile Film" (for High Line Art, New York) where the artist taped a mile-long filmstrip to the length of the High Line walk-way in New York City for one-day allowing the visitors to leave their mark on the film by writing messages, drawing, and walking on the filmstrip. The damaged 58 minute, 40 second film was digitized to high-definition and shown as a digital projection onto the side of a building on the High Line. [9] She has also made commissioned projects for Institute of Contemporary Arts London's Art Night (2016) Aspen Art Museum (2010) and as an Artist in Residence at EMPAC at RPI in Troy, NY and at MIT List Visual Arts Center (2011). [10]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Projects and commissions

Immersive installations

Filmography

Zines

West often produces Zines for her exhibitions and performances. Early Zines were made with black and white production stills from the making of her films. They have been given away at her exhibitions for free. Most zines have been published in editions of 500. [31]

Zines to date

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ealing Studios</span> Television and film production company

Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London, London, England. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since. It is the oldest continuously working studio facility for film production in the world, and the current stages were opened for the use of sound in 1931.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ORWO</span> German film and magnetic tape company

ORWO is a registered trademark of the company ORWO Net GmbH, based in Wolfen and is also traditionally known for black and white film products, made in Germany and sold under the flag of the ORWO brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phototypesetting</span> Photographical analog method for text composition

Phototypesetting is a method of setting type which uses photography to make columns of type on a scroll of photographic paper. It has been made obsolete by the popularity of the personal computer and desktop publishing.

<i>Around the World in 80 Days</i> (1956 film) 1956 film by Michael Anderson

Around the World in 80 Days is a 1956 American epic adventure-comedy film starring David Niven, Cantinflas, Robert Newton and Shirley MacLaine, produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists.

<i>The Big Trail</i> 1930 film by Raoul Walsh

The Big Trail is a 1930 American pre-Code Western early widescreen film shot on location across the American West starring 23-year-old John Wayne in his first leading role and directed by Raoul Walsh. It is the final completed film to feature Tyrone Power Sr. before his death in 1931, as well as his only sound role.

A registration pin is a device intended to hold a piece of film, paper or other material in place during photographic exposure, copying or drawing.

70 mm Grandeur film, also called Fox Grandeur or Grandeur 70, is a 70 mm widescreen film format developed by William Fox through his Fox Film and Fox-Case corporations and used commercially on a small but successful scale in 1929–30.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motion picture film scanner</span> Device that digitises film stock

A motion picture film scanner is a device used in digital filmmaking to scan original film for storage as high-resolution digital intermediate files.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitchell Camera</span> American movie camera manufacturer (1919–1979)

Mitchell Camera Corporation was a motion picture camera manufacturing company established in Los Angeles in 1919. It was a primary supplier of newsreel and movie cameras for decades, until its closure in 1979.

Super Panavision 70 is the marketing brand name used to identify movies photographed with Panavision 70 mm spherical optics between 1959 and 1983.

A film laboratory is a commercial service enterprise and technical facility for the film industry where specialists develop, print, and conform film material for classical film production and distribution which is based on film material, such as negative and positive, black and white and color, on different film formats: 65-70mm, 35mm, 28mm, 16mm, 9.5mm, 8mm. The film laboratory managers can charge by the footage or by time used while in lab.

A film splicer is a device which can be used to physically join lengths of photographic film. It is mostly used in film motion pictures. The units are made in various types depending on the usage: Single-8, Super 8 film, 16mm, 9,5 mm, 35mm and 70mm. Used in film editing to make a cut (transition).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Color motion picture film</span> Photographic film type

Color motion picture film refers both to unexposed color photographic film in a format suitable for use in a motion picture camera, and to finished motion picture film, ready for use in a projector, which bears images in color.

<i>Moonwalk One</i> American film

Moonwalk One is a 1971 feature-length documentary film about the flight of Apollo 11, which landed the first humans on the Moon. Besides portraying the massive technological achievement of that event, the film places it in some historical context and tries to capture the mood and the feel of the people on Earth when man first walked on another world.

Crest Digital was a privately owned company specializing in post production and DVD/CD replication. Crest Digital provided editing, DVD and Blu-ray authoring, digital asset management, audio mixing, language dubbing and subtitling, and DVD/CD optical media replication services. Clients included major film and television studios, software companies, record labels, airlines and industrial clients from around the world. The company closed in September 2012.

Electronovision was a process used by producer and entrepreneur H. William "Bill" Sargent, Jr. to produce a handful of motion pictures, theatrical plays, and specials in the 1960s and early 1970s using a high-resolution videotape process for production, later transferred to film via kinescope for theatrical release.

The ABS-CBN Film Archives, also called ABS-CBN Archives, is a state-of-the-art film archive in the Philippines located at the basement of ELJ Communications Center in Eugenio Lopez Drive, Diliman, Quezon City. It is a member of the Southeast Asia-Pacific Audio-Visual Archive Association, as well as the Society of Filipino Archivists for Film or Sofia. At present, ABS-CBN Film Archives holds about 2,400 Filipino films from Star Cinema, LVN Pictures, Regal Films, VIVA Films, Seiko Films, Cinema Artists, Sampaguita Pictures, OctoArts Films, Imus Productions, RVQ Productions, Cine Suerte, NV Productions along with the cinema libraries of Dolphy, Nora Aunor, Fernando Poe Jr., Rudy Fernandez, Ramon Revilla, and Armida Siguion-Reyna. ABS-CBN Film Archives holds the largest film collection in the country. It is headed by Leo Katigbak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Test film</span>

Test film are rolls or loops or slides of photographic film used for testing the quality of equipment. Equipment to be tested could include: telecine, motion picture film scanner, Movie projectors, Image scanners, film-out gear, Film recorders and Film scanners.

<i>The Bitter Stems</i> 1956 Argentine film noir

The Bitter Stems is a 1956 Argentine film noir directed by Fernando Ayala. The screenplay, written by Sergio Leonardo, was based on a novel by journalist Adolfo Jasca.

References

  1. 1 2 "Times Square Arts: Jennifer West". Times Square Arts NYC. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  2. "Artforum.com". Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  3. "Jennifer West: Marc Foxx". ArtForum. 2009. Archived from the original on 2010-08-17.
  4. "Frieze". Archived from the original on June 8, 2010.
  5. "Jennifer West". Rubell Museum. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  6. "Jennifer West". LACMA Collections. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  7. "First Person Cinema". www.internationalfilmseries.com.
  8. 1 2 O’Neill-Butler, Lauren (May 15, 2009). "Jennifer West talks about her new project at Tate Modern". Artforum.com. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  9. "High Line Art". Archived from the original on 2017-03-16. Retrieved 2016-11-04.
  10. "Vilma Gold – Jennifer West". vilmagold.com.
  11. "Jennifer West: "Is Film Over?"".
  12. "Jennifer West". MAN_Museo d'Arte Provincia di Nuoro.
  13. 1 2 "Events Detail". www.seattleartmuseum.org.
  14. 1 2 "Selected Recent Works – High Line Art". Archived from the original on 2017-08-15. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  15. "Jennifer West — S1 Artspace".
  16. "Perspectives 171: Jennifer West | Contemporary Arts Museum Houston". Archived from the original on 2017-08-15. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  17. "Kunstverein Nürnberg: Paintballs and Pickle Juice – Jennifer West". archiv.kunstvereinnuernberg.de.
  18. "White Room: Jennifer West". White Columns.
  19. 1 2 "Art Night: St Mary le Strand: Jennifer West". archive.ica.art.
  20. 1 2 "Portland Institute for Contemporary Art – PICA".
  21. "Visitors Leave Their Mark on Jennifer West's "One Mile Parkour Film" | the High Line Blog". Archived from the original on 2017-08-15. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  22. "Film Screening Jennifer West, I ♥ Neutrinos". MIT List Visual Arts Center. April 28, 2014.
  23. "Jennifer West talks about her new project at Tate Modern". www.artforum.com.
  24. "Jennifer West's Flashlight Filmstrip Projections". whitney.org.
  25. "Seattle Art Museum". www.artforum.com.
  26. "CELLULOID". SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT. June 2, 2010.
  27. "Perspectives 171: Jennifer West | Contemporary Arts Museum Houston". Archived from the original on 2017-08-15. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  28. "Skate the Sky Wheels, Ink, Ho-Ho's & Melon and other films by Jennifer West". Tate Modern. 2009. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011.
  29. "Vdrome".
  30. "Jennifer West: Film Title Poem and Other Wonders | REDCAT". Archived from the original on 2017-08-15. Retrieved 2017-08-15.
  31. "Jennifer West Archives". ArtCenter News.
  32. Marc Foxx
  33. "Perspectives 171: Jennifer West". Issuu.