Eleanor MacFarlane
Moving Image Artist
Artist Statement
My Moving Image is non-narrative, poetic and abstract. My subjects are generated by scientific and optical ideas, by way of a philosophical translation into form. So the meaning of my works can be traced back to universal truths concerning light and shade, or the pull of magnetism and how that is akin to psychological tendencies. I never came across a scientific theory or astronomical fact that I couldn’t relate directly to my own thinking, or the human experience. It is as if the Universe is a model of the internal experience, subject to laws, some of which we can comprehend. My work is a quest to translate such nebulous ideas into form.
My practice is also informed by years of photographic experimentation. I have a highly developed aesthetic style, and create images without computer manipulation, tricking the camera into revealing layers of reality. I have an inventive, low-tech approach to work, striving for simple ways to show layers of complexity and paradox. In many ways I see my videos as multi-faceted photographs, or photographs which exist in time rather than on paper.
Biography
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, 1964. Now living and working in London.
Originally trained as a classical musician at the Royal College of Music, an interest in Renaissance music led me to the wonderful diversity of stringed instruments of the time, and I then studied Instrument Making. With children now on board, I had a variety of occupations, including hatmaker and book reviewer, all the while drawing, painting and writing. Photography led me to making moving photographs, and in Moving Image I found my home. I retrained in Fine Art, gaining a First in 2006. My practice is mainly in Moving Image, sometimes Installations and Photography, and also writing, so far unpublished, novels.
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Exhibitions
2009:
Ever Divus. Underground City, London.
I wonder if Gaze and Body, Rotoreliefs, London.
2008:
The Archive Project London.
2007:
Mirror,Signal The Bigger Picure, Cornerhouse, Royal Exchange Square, Manchester.
Solo Exhibition :
Viewer Blunt Edge Technology Art Inventions.
Interactive Contemporary Art on Vintage Equipment.
Hornsey Town Hall, London.
Oddlong Echo Consequences Trace Influence Spectrum Machination
Warp Create to Learn. the.gallery@oxo, London
Objectify Crouch End Open Studios, Small is Beautiful, Royal Academy Schools Gallery, London.
Chairism Candid Arts Trust, London.
2006:
Contraption Free Range Show, Truman Brewery, London.
1998:
Meniscus Rio Cinema, London.
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Education
2001-2006 Middlesex University. Fine Art Degree. First
2003 Academy of Fine Arts, Prague. Fine Art.
1999-2001 University of Hertfordshire. Fine Art Foundation.
1998-1999 City and Islington College. Photography
1997-1998 Hackney College @Rio Cinema. Tape Slide Film.
1989 Open College of the Arts. Textiles
1985-1987 London College of Furniture. Stringed Instrument Making.
1982-1984 Royal College of Music. Viola.
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Talk
Tutoring/ Lecturing:
Guest lecturer and visiting tutor. Norwich School of Art and Design. 2010.
Private Art tuition.
Devised and delivered primary school class projects.
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