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Carter Potter
New Film Paintings

June 19- August 25, 2003

Summer hours:
We will be open Tuesday- Saturday 11-6 through June 28
During July and August gallery hours are Monday- Friday, 11-5

The Julie Saul Gallery is pleased to announce our second solo exhibition of film paintings by Los Angeles artist Carter Potter. Potter continues to fabricate "paintings" by mining thousands of feet of cancelled film stock, which he wraps in horizontal bands on painting stretchers. Potter uses Imax film, and for the first time in more than a decade of using this medium he is using the actual images from the film narrative, rather than employing only the "leaders and feet" of pure color from the rolls. However both the colors and images are seen in their negative form, which reinforces the fundamentally abstract nature of the compositions. His use of obsolete film stock creates an ironic commentary on the question of the relevance of painting as well as film itself in this time of "new media" and digital imaging. According to Potter he is "using the bones of cinema to build the velvet coffin of painting."

Potter began using film frame images two years ago in small works, which made use of only one continuous series of images. The works in our exhibition have grown to a scale of 56" which employs twenty horizontal bands of film and twenty frames in each row, resulting in a total of 400 frames in each painting. The sequence of images is continuous from within the film, but the imagery changes considerably from the beginning to the end- as do the colors and overall patterning. By setting up rules or parameters in the fabrication of his work, Potter aligns himself with the conceptual practices of Marcel Duchamp. In earlier projects, Potter has worked with found furniture as sculpture- a link with Duchamp's "Readymades". The new work operates on both an abstract and narrative level- from a distance they appear to be jewel-like abstractions, and on close scrutiny the images in the frames can be discerned.

Potter received his BFA and his MFA from UCLA. His work is included in many public collections including the Addison Gallery of American Art, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the Panza Collection in Lugano. Potter has exhibited internationally and his work is currently on view at the residence of the American ambassador in Denmark, where he will be lecturing in June.

Images: in order of check list below
(not shown: Little Negative #11, Little Negative #28)

CARTER POTTER
NEW FILM PAINTINGS

JUNE 19- AUGUST 25, 2003

Entrance:
Dupe Neg. #14 2003
70mm polyester film over Poplar stretcher bar
56 x 55 3/8"

Left of Front Desk:
(from left to right)

Little Negative #11 (chair) 2001
70mm polyester fill over Poplar stretcher bar
14 x 14"

Little Negative #28 (landscape) 2002
70mm polyester fill over Poplar stretcher bar
14 x 14"

Little Negative #33 2003
70mm polyester fill over Poplar stretcher bar
14 x 14"

Main Gallery:

East Wall:

Positive #3 2003
70mm polyester film over Poplar stretcher bar
55 x 55 3/8"

North Wall:
(from right to left)

Positive Foot (Space Station, Reel #4, Left Eye) 2003
70mm polyester film over Poplar stretcher bar
27 5/8 x 28"

Positive Head (Apollo 13, Reel #25, Single) 2003
70mm polyester film over Poplar stretcher bar
27 5/8 x 28"

Positive Foot (Ultimate X, Reel #3) 2003
70mm polyester film over Poplar stretcher bar
27 5/8 x 28"

Positive Head (T-Rex, Reel #13, Right Eye) 2003
70mm polyester film over Poplar stretcher bar
27 5/8 x 28"

Positive Foot (Butterfly, Reel #2, Top Screen) 2003
70mm polyester film over Poplar stretcher bar
27 5/8 x 28"

West Wall:
Dupe Neg. #9 2003
70mm polyester film over Poplar stretcher bar
56 x 55 3/8"

South Wall:
Positive #1 2003
56 x 55 3/8
70mm polyester film over Poplar stretcher

Positive #2 2003
56 x 55 3/8
70mm polyester film over Poplar stretcher


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