part of a mark lewis paper.

In some of his earlier work, Mark Lewis uses a technique of visually layering multiple scenes on top of each other. Recalling an obscure New York City street view in Lee Friedlander fashion, Gladwells Picture Window (2005) is a 2 minute 59 second film providing us with an unsettling scene of the street. Filmed on a super 16mm and transferred to DVD, Lewis provides us with a relatively fixed camera angle aimed at a curved stored window. Depending on our focus, we can see the objects inside the window and or the people from the street reflected in it. Lewis expands upon this notion of multiple scenes all at once in Peter Hauptallee; Dawn and Dusk (2008.) This is an 18 minute 11 second single high definition projection with the screen divided in two. On the left side is the left side of a park at dawn and on the right, the right side of the park at dusk. The seam acts as the site of overlap as bike riders, joggers, and horse and carriage drivers disappear and reappear on either side. The absence of sound here creates an uncomfortable feeling as we focus on the events that unfold.

The pastel colored lighting reflecting off the glossy pavement paints a familiar scene. People in a park at dusk and dawn recalls Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal walking around Central Park in When Harry Met Sally. Or, a personal favorite of mine, the strange interaction between Vanessa Redgrave and David Hemmings on the stairs of a park in Blowup. Lewis’ digital films produce a slick looking reality, one that supports the recognition of Hollywood filmic history. In other words, the technology he chose to operate with produces a hyper-reality. The viewer is to see the world in the way it has been perpetually presented to them – through the lens of a camera. Jean Baudrillard’s concept of the simulacra is applicable here. In the case of this film, the familiar scene and the technology used to present it keep the viewer in a fantasy world. These formal aspects of Peter Hauptallee; Dawn and Dusk (2008) portrays the simulacra of reality.