David Claerbout Wildfire (Core Deep Hell Reference), 2019
China ink and pencil on paper, mounted on cardboard
46 x 61 cm (18 1/8 x 24 1/8 in)
The work belongs to a series of drawings in China ink and pencil on paper, mounted on cardboard, made by David Claerbout alongside the production of his 2019-2020 video installation: Wildfire (meditation on fire). Despite its hyper realistic appearance, Wildfire (meditation on fire) is not a film shot on location. Originally conceived for Musea Brugge, the 24-minute single channel video projection uses 3D computer techniques and a simple camera movement to depict a spectacular wildfire in an artificially rendered landscape. Moving at a very slow pace, views of a luscious forest slowly merge into dramatic—and hypnotic—still images of destructive flames. Projected on a large-scale free-standing screen, the work seems to absorb the viewer into its hellish scenery.
Claerbout creates a small number of drawings with each of his projects as notes to himself regarding problems encountered during film shootings or preparatory studies. According to him: “drawing was what I was best at for putting ideas on paper.” Showing a great attention to detail, these drawings are usually made before completion of the work. More than simple tools or preparatory sketches, they transcribe onto paper the duration of images—therefore time—through the depiction of movement and film editing.
The artist says that he “sculpts in duration. The definition of duration is different from that of time: duration is not an independent state-like time, but an in-between state." With his large-scale video-based installations, the artist makes the viewer a part of the work: whether by establishing a connection between the projected images on the screen and the audience, or by creating a spatial relationship between the screen itself and the exhibition space, or simply, by allowing a process by which “a single scene can develop into another by the presence of the spectator and a bit of time.”
Claerbout creates a small number of drawings with each of his projects as notes to himself regarding problems encountered during film shootings or preparatory studies. According to him: “drawing was what I was best at for putting ideas on paper.” Showing a great attention to detail, these drawings are usually made before completion of the work. More than simple tools or preparatory sketches, they transcribe onto paper the duration of images—therefore time—through the depiction of movement and film editing.
The artist says that he “sculpts in duration. The definition of duration is different from that of time: duration is not an independent state-like time, but an in-between state." With his large-scale video-based installations, the artist makes the viewer a part of the work: whether by establishing a connection between the projected images on the screen and the audience, or by creating a spatial relationship between the screen itself and the exhibition space, or simply, by allowing a process by which “a single scene can develop into another by the presence of the spectator and a bit of time.”