Ben Judd's work
describes a delusion of intimacy. The groups of people in his
work (tourists, trainspotters, amateur photographers, Morris
dancers, preachers) are both part of a group and disconnected
from a larger group. Similarly, Judd is both a part of and detached
from the groups that he films.
By engaging in an endless activity that has no discernible beginning
or end, the groups of people (and in turn, Judd) are involved
in a contradictory practice that is both a hobby and an obsession,
and is both meaningful and meaningless.
Judd's new video work ('In This Wonderful Country Part 1', 'In
This Wonderful Country Part 2' and 'The Truth Will Set You Free')
uses the words of preachers from Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park
and central London, whom Judd filmed for several months. After
isolating key phrases, he supplied sections of the texts to
actors and musicians, who then performed on stage or in the
street. Judd filmed these perfomances, again confusing his roles
as voyeur and participant.
'In This Wonderful Country' depicts acoustic singer-songwriters,
who have written songs based on the words of the preachers at
Speakers' Corner. Each singer is paired with a twin image of
himself, singing the same song but out of sync, so they seem
to be anticipating and contradicting one another, yet also harmonising.
As in earlier videos which used voice-overs, this piece and
'The Truth Will Set You Free' present an ambiguity over who
is pre-empting who; an oscillation between a connection and
a disconnection, or a closeness and a distance.
Ben Judd's work is concerned with dualities: distance and closeness,
natural and artificial. On a formal level, his 3D images represent
a dual image combined into one. His new video work contains
a combination of people repeating certain phrases, and people
that Judd has asked to say or sing the same phrases. Both can
seem equally as meaningful or meaningless. He has also produced
a neon piece that contains two (or four) opposites.
Like amateur photography, trainspotting and Morris dancing,
3D photographs and equipment are collected obsessively. By producing
3D photographs, Judd is involved in an activity that is (certainly
now) outsider-ish, outmoded and archaic, and requires him to
learn a particular style and method. The activity mirrors that
undertaken in his earlier photographs of amateur glamour models.
For further information or images please contact Sarah McCrory:
+44(0) 20 8981 3344 or: sarah@vilmagold.com |
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