From: Stephanie Sapienza (email suppressed)
Date: Thu Nov 06 2008 - 09:17:56 PST
The iotaCenter and Los Angeles Filmforum present
Stephanie Maxwell in person!!
When: Sunday, November 9, 2008, 7:00 pm
Where: The Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA
Stephanie Maxwell specializes in hand-painted experimental abstract
animation. After performing a variety of painting, marking and
engraving techniques directly onto 35mm film stock, Maxwell
rephotographs each frame of the film using a digital feed camera and
digital frame capture, sometimes employing additional manipulations
such as bending and twisting the film, layering film frames together,
and progressive alterations of the image during the frame by frame
rephotography.
This screening will feature selections from Maxwell's work from 1984
through her two newest works from 2008, as well as a twelve-minute
short documentary about Maxwell's filmmaking process, with footage of
the artist at work. Two short clips from the documentary and a few
select clips from the films are available on the iotaCenter YouTube
channel: www.youtube.com/iotacenter.
The aesthetic of Maxwell's films has changed since she began creating
films in the 1980's, and the transformation of her techniques and
style will be apparent by viewing her films chronologically. The
themes and imagery in her films vary widely – from that of a
biological nature (GA, 1984), to staged, but painterly, graphical
works (Somewhere, 1999) to interpretations of the metaphysical – time,
reality, existence (Time Streams, 2003 and Runa's Spell, 2007).
Some of the combinations of sound and imagery in Maxwell's work are
haunting and lovely, as in Runa's Spell where a close-up of what
appears to be a colorful microscopic organism is accompanied by the
distant sound of a woman lamenting in musical form. In Reflecting Pool
(2006), a dark, ominous background is lit up with neon reflections of
sand animation combined with images of microscopic organisms in a
watery matrix. The music reflects and reacts to the evolving
revelations in this three-movement work.
"Stephanie Maxwell's work gets me. Her work is fuelled by a
breathless, giddy energy and passion that seeps through every whore of
a pore. Like a child, she is excited by a seemingly minute discovery —
like an anthill, river or a rock. Maxwell's work is an extension of
that explorative part of our childhood. She has a tenacious
fascination with the natural world; a world that too many of us
(myself included) have left behind in favor of simulated realities."
– Chris Robinson, Animation World Magazine
Films include:
GA (1984, 5 mins, miniDV)
Please Don't Stop (1989, 5 mins, miniDV)
Outermost (1998, 5 mins, miniDV)
Somewhere (1999, 5 mins, miniDV)
Fragments (2000, 7 mins, miniDV)
terra incognita (2001, 4 ½ mins, miniDV)
passe-partout (2002, 6 mins, miniDV)
Time Streams (2003, 5 ½ mins, miniDV)
Reflecting Pool (2004, 9 mins, miniDV)
Second Sight (2005, 5 ½ mins, miniDV)
All That Remains (2006, 6 mins, miniDV)
Runa's Spell (2007, 3 ½ mins, miniDV)
Currents (2008, 6 mins, miniDV)
End To End (2008, 4 ½ mins, miniDV)
The Art Form of Stephanie Maxwell (2007, 12 mins, miniDV)
Total Running Time: 89 minutes
For full descriptions of individual films, visit the LA Filmforum website:
www.lafilmforum. org.
About Stephanie Maxwell:
Stephanie Maxwell is Professor in the School of Film and Animation at
the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. Her
teaching includes courses in film, video and animation production
(including experimental processes), and history of animation. She has
curated and presented film programs internationally and taught abroad
on several occasions. Ms. Maxwell has been producing her unusual
animated works for over 20 years. Numerous exhibitions of her
award-winning work include international film, multimedia, and
television programs and festivals. Her works are collected by museums
and universities as works of art. For more information, visit
Maxwell's website at http://people. rit.edu/sampph/.
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.