Wexner Center for the Arts: Exhibitions - Phil Solomon: Two Installations World Premiere of EMPIRE / Preview of American Falls

American Falls images courtesy of Phil Solomon

Visiting Filmmaker: Phil Solomon

For over two decades, Phil Solomon has been creating haunting films of overpowering beauty and purity. Recently, Solomon has been using this lifetime of artistry to produce pioneering new work in a new medium: he has created a series of videos full of magic and loss out of footage from the notorious Grand Theft Auto videogames. The three screenings of this series begin with a personal appearance and reveal some of the ways Solomon has uncovered new possibilities in cinematic vision. You'll also have a chance to see two video installations by Solomon.

Phil Solomon: Two Installations

World Premiere of EMPIRE
Preview of American Falls

(Phil Solomon, 2008)

Fri, Sept 26 - Wed, Oct 1, 2008
Performance Space

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See two captivating new installation works by filmmaker Phil Solomon in advance of his visit to introduce selected films and videos on October 1.

You'll be one of the first to experience "EMPIRE," a high-definition installation that is making its world premiere here. Could there be a connection between Solomon's installation, set within the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto IV, and the film titled Empire on view in the Andy Warhol exhibition? You'll have to stop by and find out.

The second installation, American Falls, is a looped 30-minute preview version of a larger, epic "cine-mural" that Solomon is creating as an installation for the rotunda at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it will be shown in autumn 2009. Inspired by Frederic Church's sublime 19th-century painting Niagara (in the Corcoran's permanent collection) and WPA murals of the 1930s, the mesmerizing American Falls employs Solomon's astonishing cinematic techniques to create an expressive, poetic vision of American history in constant motion. Solomon has said that "my project American Falls is ultimately one of great hope, stemming from a life-long love for this American experiment of ours…but it is also necessitated by my deepest concern for its present and future directions."

The installations are on view during regular gallery hours: Friday and Saturday, 11 AM to 8 PM; Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, 11 AM to 6 PM. Admission to the installations is included with any same-day film, performance, or Warhol exhibition ticket.