Eleanor MacFarlane

Artist Statement   Biography   Exhibitions   Education

     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   Exhibitions   Education  

      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.

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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.”

Group Exhibitions :

“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.

                                                        Artist Statement  Biography   Education   top of page

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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