Critical Ii
Me and My Shadow
here and there, 2014, Digital slide projection with the support of Devin Lamp and Belmont University
Video Installation at Belmont University Puts Gallery-goers in the Spotlight by Joe Nolan | Photography by Rebecca Drolen
T
om Carr’s here and there is a video installation that opened at the Leu Gallery at Belmont University in March. The show includes two minimal displays that use simple expressions of color and light to make big statements about space, place, identity, and time. The first section of the darkened gallery is bathed in light from two separate projectors. These synchronized units emit colors, textures, and designs on the walls, dramatically affecting the feel of the whole space. We all know that light coming into or blocked from a room can make all the difference in whether you want to spend time there, and part of the fun of the space is just pretending that you’re shopping for paint or wallpaper and previewing how it will look once applied. However, certain designs and images make the walls disappear into what looks like limitless black space, emphasizing the relationship between photons and architecture to the extreme. Arrival/Departure is projected on the wall at the far end of the gallery. It’s a big white spotlight that shows the still silhouettes of people on an escalator, moving diagonally up and down, in and out of the circular frame. Here’s the trick: When you try to get a closer look, you inevitably step in front of the projector and your silhouette also becomes part of the scene. Viewers are encouraged to leap into all of the light on display and upload their photos to a site where they are collected in an online gallery. It’s not the most engaging art interaction I’ve seen, but plenty of people have done just that and the photos are worth checking out. It’s a neat gimmick, but there’s more going on here. Take the time to watch the figures on the escalator coming and going
and you’ll start to see aberrations: a man holding what looks like a tombstone, a woman with an elaborate Japanese parasol, another man wearing an anachronistic wide-brimmed hat, a potted plant riding the escalator unattended. Carr reveals many oddities here, even intermingling people from different eras. It puts me in mind of ideas of reincarnation, people rising up, souls coming down—an endless progression from couples in Victorian garb to contemporary girls staring down at their cellphones. Which reminds me, I need to get to the mall. I’m due for an upgrade. Tom Carr's here and there is on exhibit at Belmont University's Leu Gallery through June 14. For more about the artist and the exhibit visit www.tomcarrstudio.com.
(foreground) here and there, 2014, digital slide projection with the support of Devin Lamp and Belmont University. (background) Arrival/Departure, 2010-2013, digital slide projection with the support of the Streaming Museum, NY and Art Plural Gallery, Singapore
46 | May 2014 NashvilleArts.com