February 29, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Visual Arts Gallery presents "Out of the Myth: Censorship and Film," a suite of four installation works by Christopher Lowther, M.F.A. , assistant professor of new media at UAB.
This is a complex and challenging exhibition that deals with contemporary issues and themes, said UAB Visual Arts Gallery director Brett Levine. It is the largest multi-installation project to occur at the UAB Visual Arts Gallery.
The exhibition is on show March 14-April 11. A reception is planned 5-7 p.m. Thursday, March 20, at the gallery, 900 13th St. S. Admission to the gallery is always free. Call 205-934-0815 for information. Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and 1-5 p.m. Saturday. The gallery is closed on Sundays and holidays.
The works include "Cowboy Cruising," "A Queer Shadow," "Rope Reconstructed" and "Rebel Love: A Woman Scorned." In each work, Lowther takes a key aspect or symbol of cinema and deconstructs it to reveal its hidden meanings.
"At their core, these works are about the hidden histories and repressions of homosexuality," said Levine. "Lowther is concerned by the ways in which aspects of gay history are subsumed within the larger dialogues of film and cinematic history."
In "Cowboy Cruising," Lowther re-edits and re-cuts the climactic scene of Sergio Leone's "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly," reducing it to a series of shared glances between the film's three protagonists. In "Rope Reconstructed," Lowther creates a narrative that precedes Hitchcock's classic film.
He commissioned a scale model of Hitchcock's famous set so that he could reveal the bedroom, absent in the entire film, that is shared by the film's two lead characters, Brandon and Philip, Levine said.
In "A Queer Shadow," the viewer encounters an interactive video installation. In "Rebel Love," re-edits of Nicholas Ray's classic film include scenes between James Dean and Sal Mineo on one screen and lonesome Natalie Wood on the other.