Back in flats

‘The black dot constellations of petrified gum, tree branch shadows, reflections in puddles, shimmers of broken auto glass; these things are the punctuations of my walk to work,” says Lafayette’s David Webber. He is describing his City Scape #4, one of eight short works of video art chosen for this month’s Flatscape Video Art Series at Baton Rouge Gallery. This year, the annual showcase put out an open national call for work, and Jason Andreasen, the gallery’s executive director, is excited to bring the selected work to the public for one special night of screenings. “We had entries from nine different states including California, New York, Connecticut and Louisiana,” Andreasen says. “For the first time in the program’s existence, the event will be held with no admission fees for the public.”

Video art exists in a spot not occupied by painting or sculpture, but not by movies either. It is the use of the video camera as a tool to explore new territory and find something unique. “Video art is one of the most important mediums today,” says artist Kelli Scott Kelley, this year’s Flatscape juror. “It’s where some of the most interesting work is happening.”

Kelley, a professor of art at LSU and a veteran of video and performance art, was tasked with sorting through the entries. “I first look at everything, and then do a second look and start taking out things that for whatever reason don’t fit the idea of video art. For example, one had too much of a linear narrative, almost like a sitcom.”

It’s a fine line that, in the past three decades, the art world has had to learn to walk. How does one judge something that already has the subjective criteria of art, but now expands beyond the bounds of traditional creative practice? “I was looking for things that pushed the boundaries of traditionally what you would see with video art film,” Kelley says.

Nicole Sloan’s 1900-95 is another piece Kelley selected, she says, because of its personal nature. “It was basically about family dysfunction but done with a montage of images, layered and slowly changed with narration over the top.”

Another video piece, Water by Jesse Aldere, features all black-and-white and grainy images.

“Like looking at a pool of water, and the images were very high-contrast and very close up, and then others are like you are looking through a car window with water droplets,” Kelley says. “It’s very beautiful, very unified and thoughtfully done.”

Eight selections from around the country will coalesce into a 40-minute portrait of what is possible within the ever-expanding boundaries of art, Friday, Feb. 18, at 8 p.m. at the Baton Rouge Gallery.

batonrougegallery.org