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Paul Tanner


  • Graduating 2011

I relate my life and memories to movies even with the knowing of some of the techniques that the film industry uses; it’s intention is to put us the viewers in a state where we conceive every situation with reverent fidelity. In many ways, I see film-making as a celebration of false reality presented on screen and that movie divides viewers from consensus reality by presenting false reality. And by doing so, viewers are entitled to enter the free imaginary world of the cinemas and forget their anxiety of life. Reality, as we know, is nowhere near as perfectly staged and romantic.I act as a film critic by expressing and shaping the images that I have once been presented with on screen into a series of sketches and re-producing it into an animation. The documentary of the film medium could add depth to the presentation of the art piece, not merely by the visual sensation but also by the reduction of a solid physical presence of the actual art piece. The concept of this merges my interest in false reality and art; of which advocates my intention to compare real life (reality) and performing art (false reality).Along with a large amount of movies that interests me, I am a keen admirer of Alberto Giacometti’s philosophy of ‘the gaze’, which could be applied in movies as well. Dan McDermott and Gerhard Richter’s stylistic portrait paintings also inspires me. Spanish artist João Vasco Paiva’s ‘Wide Rothko’ in particular and Chinese artist Chow Chun Fai’s painting on movies series shows similarities with my work and have both been influential in my research.“People in life are performing so well that performing in theatre is obscene.”- “My dinner with Andre (1981)”