Aged images, abstract yet narrative collages and a series of still frames is the recipe Lewis Klahr has used for years. He creates cutout animated films with mid-20th century pictures and music to give the old art a new purpose. And he has been given the Wexner Center’s Residency Award.
Throughout the May, the Wexner Center will be showing many films as a retrospective for Klahr’s art. The films will range from works created in 1988 to recent projects.
Klahr has been making films since 1977. He uses items from the 1940s to the 1970s, such as advertisements, comic books and magazines to get his images. The pictures are then trimmed and organized to create a story. The films work in a stop-motion sense, as the images move in their own world.
Another factor of Klahr’s work is his choice in music. His films are accompanied by prominent mid-20th century songs. Musicians included in Klahr’s projects include Frank Sinatra, The Velvet Underground and The Shangri-Las.
“It’s interesting how people have preconceptions about experimental work and its difficulty or inaccessibility,” said Chris Stults, the organizer of the screenings. “Lewis’ work, because he uses a lot of pop culture imagery and strong uses of music, kind of makes it more immediately accessible. He has it all still very vigorous, thoughtful and serious work, but it’s also playful and engaging.”
Klahr will also be present for the first week of May at the Wexner Center for three different nights of screenings.
Part of a series titled “Prolix Satori” was shown Saturday. The series is a collection of open-ended short films Klahr was able to create with the help of the Residency Award.
One film titled “Wednesday Morning Two A.M.” (2009) is a twice-told tale of lost love. The night also featured some of Klahr’s 16mm film work such as “Daylight Moon,” (2002) which reveals a child’s view of film noir. After the series of shorts, Klahr answered questions from the attendees.
Today, Klahr will lead a discussion on his project “Pony Glass” (1997). The short film is about “Superman” character Jimmy Olsen dealing with sexual confusion.
“He’ll be doing a shot-by-shot walkthrough of the film, and the way he sees his films is so different from someone casually watching them would,” Stults said. “They’ll find where he pulls his materials from, what he’s thinking of when he uses them and his techniques for making these animations.”
Starting Thursday and lasting until the last event on May 27, other films will be shown with Klahr’s works. These films were picked by Klahr to show his personal favorite films and works that influenced him. They were created by other filmmakers and were made between 1940 and 1967, such as Andy Warhol’s “Vinyl.”
A Residency Award from the Wexner Center is given once a year in three separate subjects: visual arts, performing arts and the film/video program.
Each event will take place in the Wexner Center’s Film/Video Theater. Price for each night is $7 for the public, $5 for members, students and seniors. Admission to today’s event is free.
