James Herbert
Paintings, Films, Videos and Stills
Atlanta Contemporary Art Center
November 4 - December 30, 2000
Atlanta Contemporary Art Center (The Contemporary) presents a comprehensive, retrospective exhibition of James Herbert’s paintings, films, videos and stills. This exhibition, organized by Teresa Bramlette, marks the first occasion upon which the entire oeuvre of James Herbert’s work has been presented in one space at one time.
James Herbert has worked in Athens, GA since the 1960s. An accomplished painter and filmmaker, he has been awarded numerous grants in both mediums. He has been honored with film screenings at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, where this fall he will premiere his new film Jumbo Aqua. His paintings are large in scale and reflect both his abstract expressionistic roots and his interest in the outsider art prominent in the southeast. Herbert’s films are sensual and poetic depicting dream-like sequences by using various illusory effects--shooting, rephotographing footage, slowing projection speeds, and reversing motion.
James Herbert has been an influential teacher for several generations of young painters. He has not shown a group of his paintings in this area since a solo exhibition at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, in the late 1970s. His films, shown primarily within the context of independent film festivals, are also rarely screened for southern audiences.
Although this exhibition should in no way be considered a retrospective, it is important to recognize James Herbert’s contributions and his accomplishments at this point in his career. It is also interesting to examine the dual nature of his practice—the painting and the filmmaking.
For many years, James Herbert utilized the process of re-photography in his films. He studied each frame of his original footage, editing and then refilming the selected frames to make the final presentation. This deconstruction of the initial film works provocatively, suggesting in its barely perceptible disjunctiveness, a dream-like state. Centered on a concept of beauty as personified by the human body, the work is unquestionably voyeuristic. In contrast to his more distanced stance as a filmmaker, James Herbert’s paintings are direct, with the paint sometimes applied by his hands and other less traditional tools. Where the films are quiet, the paintings are loud. Where the films are fragile and romantic, the paintings are aggressive. To be able to compare and contrast the two will be an exciting and perhaps once-in-lifetime opportunity.
A catalogue accompanies the show with texts by Donald Kuspit, Felicia Feaster, Teresa Bramlette, Genevieve McGillicuddy and Donald Keyes (who also selected the film stills on view).
ATLANTA CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER
535 Means Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia, 30318
thecontemporary.org
