GREENSCREEN PONCHO

GREENSCREEN PONCHO

 

 

 

 

 

Greenscreen_Poncho_01, 2009,  NTSC Video loop

 

Greenscreen_Poncho_01 is a floor to ceiling video projection. The video image has been ‘masked’ so that an uneven rectangle of light is projected in the shape of a draped undulating green fabric with a slit down the center.

 The green color references greenscreen, which is a technique used in video editing. Generally, actors are set to perform in front of the greenscreen, so that later, in the editing process, the green color can be ‘keyed’ out and the entire background can be replaced with different footage.

 In this video, I have ‘keyed’ out everything but the swaying green cloth. The cloth becomes the actor appearing to express some kind of gesture and life in its movements. What is traditionally considered the ‘ground’ is treated as the ‘subject’, a dichotomy often referenced in painting as the ‘figure-ground’ problem.

 There is a slit down the center that references ponchos. This breaks the plane and makes the fabric evoke the body. Not only is the fabric perceived more tactually, but it also evokes the female sexual organ; feminizing a traditionally un-feminine garment and the digital technology that made it possible.