 Trailer, 2005 Video still Courtesy of Maureen Paley, Interim Art Saskia Olde Wolbers Trailer The story of Judy Lewis, the illegitimate child of Hollywood legend Clark Gable, is the inspiration for "Trailer", a new film work by 2004 Beck's Futures Award Winner, Saskia Olde Wolbers, to be shown for the first time at the South London Gallery. Judy Lewis's staunchly religious mother, Loretta Young, told her that she was adopted. After discovering the truth about her father, Lewis met Gable only once before his death. Thereafter she could only get to know him through his films. The main character of Olde Wolbers' new work, a middle aged man who we hear but never see, describes his discovery that his real parents, who he has never known, were c-list actors in the thirties. Their film roles are too minor for them to be included in the credits, so the man spends his days in cinemas watching old black and white movies in the hope that one of his parents might make an appearance. He lives his life on the trail of his parents, constantly searching for clues of a long-forgotten shared history. In Olde Wolbers' films the narration of fictional stories in the style of media reportage of real events provides the sound track, while the visual focus is on fantastic landscapes or strange interior spaces. In "Trailer", scenes alternate between the maroon coloured interior of a cinema and an extraordinary jungle. In fact these are painstakingly hand crafted sets, manipulated in various ways to create work in which the boundaries between film, sculpture, installation and painting are utterly blurred. Olde Wolbers' works veer between tangible and virtual reality. For the audience, the temptation might be to simply enjoy the visual stimulation of the dream-like territories on screen, but it is impossiblenot to be drawn in by the narratives and attempt to make sense of the tales being told. For example, the protagonist in "Trailer" strives to find some connection with his parents in their cinematically over-lit faces, while their personalities continually change with each character that they play and he realises that he has already overtaken them in age. Eventually he remembers his parents in living colour, not in a film but in a past scene from real life, which the three of them might have shared. Dutch-born Olde Wolbers has been based in London for over a decade. She lives and works locally to the South London Gallery. In 2003 she won the Baloise Art prize at Basel Art Fair, and last year she won the Becks' Futures Award at the ICA. Since completing her MA at Chelsea College of Art & Design in 1996, she has built up an impressive body of work for which she is beginning to gain an international reputation. The exhibition has been generously supported by Vicky Hughes and John Smith. Exhibition: 18 May - 17 July 2005 Gallery hours: Tue-Sun 12 - 6 pm, Thu 12 - 8.30 pm Closed Monday South London Gallery 65 Peckham Road GB-London SE5 8UH Telephone +44 (0)20 7703 6120 Fax +44 (0)20 7252 4730 Email mail@southlondongallery.org www.southlondongallery.org |
 |