A DISPLAY OF CATHARTIC EFFLORESCENCE Saturday, October 14th 6:00pm
NOSTOS (Sheri Wills, 1993, USA, 16mm)
AVIARY (Sheri Wills, 2005, USA, 16mm)
FEVER (Sheri Wills, USA, 2000, 16mm)
ANODYNE (Sheri Wills, USA, 2001, 16mm)
ACETYLENE (Sheri Wills, USA, 2001, 16mm)
NOCTURNE NO. 1 (Sheri Wills, USA, 1999, 16mm)
NOCTURNE NO. 2 (Sheri Wills, USA, 1999, 16mm)
Biography: Sheri Wills is an artist whose work is based in photography, film, and digital media. She holds an MFA in filmmaking and an MA in modern art history, theory and criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been exhibited around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the London Film Festival and the International Film Festival in Rotterdam. Sheri recently curated a program of films called "Synesthesia: The Musical Form in Contemporary Avant-Garde Film," which screened in the northeast, Paris, France and Berlin, Germany. Her work is included in the book Sonic Graphics: Seeing Sound, by Matt Woolman, published by Rizzoli. She is currently an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Rhode Island, and divides her time between NYC and Providence.
The Filmmaking: Sheri Wills's moving imagery combines still photography,film,and digital media. She works primarily withabstracted organic imagery that often originates with photograms,one of the earliest and simplest photographic technologies.Her materials and methods often serve to re-present the human body,and drawing on that she uncovers both a horrible fragility and intense beauty. In her film and video work, Sheri Wills' approach to the editing process is rooted in an inherent musicality that emerges as moving,visible form.Her original sound compositions,often comprised of subtle clicks, purrs and old victrola recordings,create an audible world that weaves itself into the fabric of the imagery. Wills commitment to a meaningful integration of sound and image is reflected in her ongoing project of cinematic interpretations of music by contemporary composers.In this body of work,Wills dispenses with conventions of "soundtrack" and instead she builds a dynamic relationship between silence and motion,sound and stillness, music and vision.Composer, Bright Sheng, has said about her work: "The fusion of music and visual is compelling.It is a unique and powerful expression."