What Is It that Wakes the Sleeper?
Michael Greathouse
VideoDecember 18, 2008 - January 17, 2009
In AC [Direct] I, Michael Greathouse exhibits his most recent series of video shorts: Banquet, Valentine, Badlands, Windows, Everything Seems to Be OK…, In Dreams as well as the first showing of Incarnation. Inspired by the cinema genres of film noir and early Hollywood horror, each piece is a digital cinematic collage of found images and sounds seamlessly integrated within a 3D computer animation process. Within an infinite loop of isolated moments, Greathouse captures the surreal, oneiric storytelling reminiscent of black and white films of the ‘40s and ‘50s. Filled with ominous, asynchronous sounds, he creates dark, unsettling hyper-real images saturated with visual metaphors and non-linear associations. His experimental and conceptual narratives leave questions unanswered and the storylines implied yet never defined.
About the Artist
Influenced by his background in sculpture, Greathouse’s videos have the profound awareness of space along with a poignant, dreamlike clarity and form. His enigmatic and sensuous monochrome palette captures impossible places suspended in time and reality.
Born in Kansas City, and presently living in New York, Greathouse has been exhibited in numerous film festivals including the Ace Film Festival (New York), Cannes Film Festival (France), Kargart International Video Festival (Istanbul), Videologia (Volgograd) and the International Festival of Independent Cinematography KinoLev (Lviv), where he was awarded first place in animation.