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 eynold Reynolds is a cutting-edge experimental filmmaker who uses an arresting visual vocabulary to explore issues of transformation, consumption, and decay. Primarily working with 16mm and Super 8mm film, he builds his own automatic motion controller systems and attaches them to his camera to achieve a unique stop-motion filming technique. His earlier works, such as Drowning Room (2000) and Burn (2002), investigated the darker elements of human experience, often dealing with man's tendency to use denial as a form of adaptation to life, sometimes with dangerous consequences.
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Reynold Reynolds
Secret Machine (Excerpt)
2009
Two channel video projection
Transferred from 16 mm and stills
7 min. |
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Much of Reynolds' work deals with highly developed environments and claustrophobic spaces; the physical circumstances in which people play out their lives threaten, impede, and challenge them. Reynolds' latest body of work is his Secrets Trilogy, a departure from his earlier work both technically and conceptually. For the first time, he employs his stop motion filming technique, and thus is able to manipulate the passage of time and call attention to its malleability. In Secret Life (2008), a woman is trapped in an apartment filled with plants that has come to life. Secret Machine (2009) sees the same protagonist's body measured and studied in a way that seeks to understand movement, space, and time, some of the experiments mirroring Eadweard Muybridge's photographs of people and animals in motion. In the third installment of the trilogy, Six Easy Pieces, a focus on Enlightenment-era science experiments is presented alongside art-making as two sides of the same human impulse for mastery and discovery.
Reynolds received his Bachelor's degree in Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder before changing his focus to experimental film, deciding to remain in Boulder for two additional years to study under influential filmmaker Stan Brakhage. Reynolds then completed his Master's degree at the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1995. He shows his films internationally, in film festivals and through galleries, and is currently represented by Galerie Michael Zink. In 2003, Reynolds received the John Simone Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, and in 2004, he was awarded a one-year studio residency at The American Academy in Berlin at Kunstlerhaus Bethanien. In 2007, he received support from the German Kunstfonds to develop two projects in 2008 in Berlin. He has received numerous awards for his film work. In 2010, Reynolds will complete an eight-month residency at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart.
Reynolds currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
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Reynold Reynolds
Secret Machine (Excerpt)
2009
Two channel video projection
Transferred from 16 mm and stills
7 min. |
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Art Interview:
Is Reynold Reynolds your real name?
Reynold Reynolds: Yes.
Art Interview: You were born in Central, Alaska in 1966. Did you grow up in that area?
Reynold Reynolds: My parents were from Alaska, and most of my family still lives there. But, my parents divorced when I was fairly young and we moved to Colorado. By the time I went to high school my family was in British Columbia, Canada.
Art Interview: What did your parents do for a living?
Reynold Reynolds: My father is a computer scientist, and my mother is an accountant.
Art Interview: Did they encourage you to become a filmmaker and artist?
Reynold Reynolds: My grandmother on my mother's side was a big supporter of the arts. My stepfather was a photographer and he had an early influence on me. He taught me how to work with cameras and in a darkroom when I was a child.
Art Interview: You received your bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder and studied under the Nobel laureate Carl Wieman. How did this inform your art practice?
Reynold Reynolds: I take a scientific approach towards film making. I like to do tests and try things to see what works, rather than work like the stereotypical artist who has a vision in his mind and only tries to pursue this one vision. I tend to try things, see what I like and change my ideas as I go.
Art Interview: Why did you change your focus to experimental film after graduating with a physics degree?
Reynold Reynolds: I took some art and photography classes while I was finishing my physics degree and I started to think that what I really wanted to do was become an artist. Then I started taking experimental film classes and I responded really strongly to them, partly because the department was centered around Stan Brakhage. There was a lot of interest and energy there, which put me into a bit of a panic situation, because my trajectory was towards attending graduate school for physics, and that thought scared me. It took some will on my part to decide that what I really wanted to do with my life was to be an artist. I didn't even know at that time that I would become a filmmaker.
Art Interview: Did Stan Brakhage have a direct influence on your decision to become a professional film artist?
Reynold Reynolds: Yes, for sure. If I had not come across that department and that environment, I wouldn't have known it was possible to be a film artist. I would have only had the vision, like most people, of film as storytelling: independent or Hollywood feature-length films. I wouldn't have known that you could do other things with it. But they presented experimental film as if there was a huge acceptance of art-based films in galleries and museums. The truth was that the University of Colorado at Boulder just had a very particular and isolated department. If you went to New York people were not as excited about experimental film as they were in that school. I came out of school thinking that I would be able to go to New York, and that there would be a huge community, but there wasn't.
Art Interview: Had you moved to New York with the intention of starting a career as an artist?
Reynold Reynolds: Yes, but I'm not sure about the word "career" exactly. I thought I would go to New York and be an artist. But being in New York with no money and looking for work is really hard and depressing.
Art Interview: Did you have role models that you were aspiring to emulate?
Reynold Reynolds: Not that I was really in contact with. In my opinion the most interesting part of art history begins with the Dada movement, when the artist acts as an antagonist. So, words like "career" and so forth were always a bit difficult for me. I think those were the people I could admire because they best exemplified how an artist should work. They best exemplify what it means to be a successful, rather than someone who is famous and makes a lot of money.
Art Interview: Why did you decide to study for your MFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York?
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Reynold Reynolds
Secret Life
2008
Two channel video projection
Transferred from 16mm and stills
5min. |
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Reynold Reynolds: When I moved to New York, it wasn't easy to really connect to the art scene. So I started looking into to schools to learn more about what was happening there. A professor from Colorado recommended that I apply to SVA because they were opening up a new department called "Photography, Video and Related Media", so I did.
Art Interview: Did you find any professors at SVA who supported your work?
Reynold Reynolds: Yes, the school was very helpful in a practical sense because it is situated right in the center of New York. But going to graduate school wasn't such an important experience for me because I had already formulated what I wanted to do at Boulder. We had a lot of professors who didn't spend much time at the University, because they were working as professional artists in New York. I learned a lot indirectly just by being in the right place. I saw a lot of different people and their different ways of surviving. I think at that point the question was not, "What is art?" or "What is the theory of art?" or becoming more acquainted with "great artists." My mind was more on, "How can you make a living?" Especially in New York, which is so expensive. The exposure to artists who were semi-successful was pretty important for me.
Art Interview: Did you work while you were attending university?
Reynold Reynolds: Yes. I was working in a photography lab, printing large photographs. Some of it was commercial and some was for artists.
Art Interview: Did you have to continue working in the lab after you graduated in order to support yourself and continue creating art?
Reynold Reynolds: After I graduated I started getting work as a film editor on pretty low-level stuff like television, cable television, and some advertising. I worked continuously for three or four years on different types of film editing.
Art Interview: Did that allow enough time for you to make your own films?
Reynold Reynolds: I graduated in 1995, and in those years from 1995 to 2000, it was hard to get good editing equipment. All those things were more expensive than they are now. So, it offered me access to equipment. I also gained a lot of technical knowledge over time. But it was a big struggle. I saw other people in my situation just stop doing art and become editors or become involved in the film world.
Art Interview: Have you ever had moments when you felt like you wouldn't financially survive as an artist?
Reynold Reynolds: Yes. I still feel that way. (Laughs) Every year has been unpredictable. Maybe that's part of what it's like to do the type of art I make. I've never really had any security. Though, I've gotten used to pulling together the resources for projects that I feel strongly about and making them happen. I either do that or different ideas evolve, and things are still possible. If I'd waited until I knew for sure that I would have whatever money, or resources, or people, or the cameras that I needed, then I never would have made anything. I guess I just keep on expecting somehow I'll figure out how to do it, even though I don't know how it will happen.
Art Interview: Do you believe that being a fine artist is a viable career?
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Reynold Reynolds
Six Easy Pieces (Excerpt)
2010 (work in progress)
Three channels of HD video transferred from 16 mm and photo stills |
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Reynold Reynolds: Well, if that's 100 percent what you want out of life it can be. If you want to be part of the middle class, meaning want to have kids and be able to send them to good schools, then you probably shouldn't be an artist. Artists don't have the normal things that people have when they are part of the middle class, like owning a car or owning a home. Those normal material things can get in the way of being an artist. There's no retirement program and most artists don't even have insurance. The idea that artists are middle class is repulsive in a way. There are 1,000 or 2,000 artists alive today who live upper-middle class lifestyles, but for every one of those people, there are hundreds or even thousands of people who aspire to achieve that level of success and won't manage it. Even if you do have five or ten years of success, things can change and you have nothing. In most lines of work things grow and become more secure, but in the art world artists have years where they do well, and then there's a change in perception and people are not interested in their type of work anymore. When you couple that with the fact that gallery shows don't result in any sales 90 percent of the time, you start to get an understanding of the security that artists have. I guess I always felt that I was going to be an artist anyway.
Art Interview: How have your expectations changed over the years?
Reynold Reynolds: When you're 25 years old and you don't have any money, it's romantic. If you're 45 years old and you don't have any money, it's stressful. But when you do the same thing for a long time, you get a more realistic view of yourself. I consider most artists, including myself, to be successful when they can make a living from their art. Because of the type of work that I make, every time I get money I end up putting it into the next project. There's never any big payoff, other than I get to keep making work.
Art Interview: How did you start showing in film festivals? I understand that was what you did initially with your work.
Reynold Reynolds: Well, if you make a film it's just easier to apply to a film festival. Sometimes you have to pay to apply, which I think is slightly unethical, but it's very normal. At least you have a very direct way to interact and see if you can get your work shown. In the art world, it's a little more complicated. You don't usually have a formal application process for galleries or for curated shows. It seems like it's more about getting to know people and networking, which is much more difficult.
Art Interview: Has showing in film festivals assisted your art career?
Reynold Reynolds: Yes. Many film festivals have a section for experimental film, and sometimes people go to those shows looking for work. I've been able to raise a little bit of money through grants supported by the film world. Overall, the balance between showing half the time in film festivals and half the time in art shows has worked in a patchwork way.
Art Interview: How did you initially start showing your work in galleries?
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Reynold Reynolds, Patrick Jolley and Samara Golden
Sugar
2005
Transferred from 16mm
45 min |
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Reynold Reynolds: I knew a lot of artists, and I knew from going to art school a little about how that world worked. I started working with a gallery called Roebling Hall when they were still in Brooklyn. They saw themselves as an independent art space, but they eventually became a successful commercial gallery. At first they were doing big group shows and because people responded to my work the gallery continued to show it. When galleries open, they do maybe 20 shows over the course of a couple years, and the whole time they don't sell anyone's work. There wasn't any money involved but I started to meet other artists, see what people respond to and learn how things are done. I think the most depressing thing as an artist is when you make some piece of art that you like, and you spend a lot of time making it, and then you have nowhere to show it. That makes it really hard to get motivated to make another piece. So, showing in a gallery or a film festival is still somehow pretty important. It's rewarding enough that you continue to make work.
Art Interview: So, exhibiting is a motivational factor for you?
Reynold Reynolds: Yes. if you make work and never show it, you really feel defeated. The majority of people stop making art within five years. Even professional artist fall away. The biggest challenge is to continue to make work.
Art Interview: How did you start exhibiting internationally?
Reynold Reynolds: I don't know if there was a clear transition. I was living in New York, and I went to Berlin as part of a residency. It changed the people I came into contact with.
Art Interview: Why did you leave New York for Berlin?
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Reynold Reynolds
Letzter Tag der Republik
(Last Day of the Republic)
2010
Two channel HD video projection
Transferred from 16mm
8 min. |
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Reynold Reynolds: It seemed easier to make work in Berlin than New York. It's considerably cheaper, and there are more places to show "per capita." I would say there's a lot less emphasis on money, which means that people are more willing to show the type of work that I make. If you're not paying much money for an exhibition space, let's say the show is sponsored by the state or just happens to be in an abandoned building or something like that, then there's much less concern about the financial aspect. So, I think the work that gets shown in Berlin is far more experimental and they take more chances.
In New York, everything has to be a success. A gallery, say in Chelsea, is under so much pressure to sell work that every show they do will be focused on sales. In Berlin people have more time, and there's a lot more focus on doing something interesting. I've also been able to get an awful lot of people to help me in Berlin. It just felt more comfortable. I left the USA in the Bush years when New York City was becoming super-conservative because of 9/11. It didn't feel free or open anymore. It felt like immigrants were no longer allowed, and people weren't really respecting freedom of speech. Berlin just felt more like a center... If you know what I mean?
Art Interview: Do you feel that Berlin has an advantage over New York in hosting the future of international art?
Reynold Reynolds: I think the long-term future, meaning the next 20 to 50 years, art will go the way of Berlin. Maybe this is my personal prejudice, but I would say that the most interesting art is film-based art, and that kind of art is not really possible in New York. Or, it's just not respected - everything is possible if people have enough motivation or vision.
It's depressing if you're with people and they're putting so much energy and talk into a very predictable show at Gagosian Gallery in New York. When the emphasis is on just how much money it made, and how obviously loud and commercial it is, it's depressing for artists who are not a part of that. When I was in New York, people would say, "Can you believe this sold for $300,000?" or "They sold the whole show out," and nobody ever talks about how they like something or how cool or impressive they thought something was. People didn't seem to love art; they seemed to love success. You'd go to these shows at famous Chelsea galleries and think, "What is this I'm looking at?" There is nothing there you could aspire to, nothing that would give you ideas. Perhaps those shows are only for the collectors.
I think the future of art will be what's really important to society over the long-term and what affects the most people. It's not going to be derivative of Andy Warhol. I don't think that Pop Art and all the artists now that are still trying to live the celebrity, big money, Warhol dream are important anymore. But, they do get a lot of attention. There's more room in Berlin for other ideas. I guess that's the short and the long of the story. It was important for me to see that. If I'd stayed in New York, I would have felt like a failure.
Art Interview: Have your museum exhibitions had an immediate impact on your career?
This oral history transcript is the result of a digitally recorded interview with Reynold Reynolds on 9 June 2010. The interview took place over the telephone between Berlin, Germany and Stuttgart, Germany. Brendan Davis conducted this interview for Art Interview Online Magazine. Cara Cotner wrote the introductory text at the beginning of this interview. |
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