Opening Reception: Thursday, March 21, 6 – 8 PM
Nicholas Metivier Gallery is pleased to announce Time and Tides, an exhibition of recent films by Jeffrey Blondes. The exhibition will open on March 21 and will be on view through April 20 with a reception for the artist on Thursday, March 21 from 6– 8 PM. This will be Blondes’ second exhibition at the gallery.
Formerly a landscape painter, Jeffrey Blondes transitioned to making films of the subject in 2005. Since then, he has used this new medium to record naturally occurring cycles and phenomena’s such as solstices, equinoxes and tides. Made in remote rural locations over time periods ranging between 12 hours to one year, the films provide an opportunity to share in a quiet meditation on the slow and poetic passage of time. In addition to their visual relationship to painting, the success of Blondes’ films is their long-format and high-definition, drawing viewers’ attention to even the smallest of movements in water or foliage.
This exhibition will feature six films by Blondes on the subject of water in Southern Patagonia, Canada and France. Earlier this year, Blondes traveled to Tierra del Fuego, at the tip of South America, a region where he has always wanted to work because of its untouched landscape and rumored mystique. Blondes was struck by the rugged, powerful terrain and foreign wildlife he encountered. The three films from Southern Patagonia debuting in this exhibition present a “portrait” of a particular place. As the films run their course from sunrise to sunset, the passage of time is understood through the transition of light as well as the subtle movements of grass, water and animals.
The exhibition will also include two films shot in France as well as one film shot in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia. Blondes currently lives is France near the Loire Valley. The films, Etang de Pezière II and 12 Degreeswere made there over the course of one full year. The proximity of the location of these works to Blondes’ home enabled him to capture the evolution of the four seasons over 52 or 74-hour periods. Long Island West records one entire tidal sequence in the Bay of Fundy. As the sea gradually recedes towards the horizon, the area’s characteristic red sand is revealed.
Jeffrey Blondes’ films have been exhibited internationally at institutions including le Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris; Centre d'Arts et de nature - Domain de Chaumont sur Loire; and Somerset House, London. His work is in private, corporate and public collections worldwide.