California King and Paint It Black, 2013
Ann Trondson
Salon 94 is pleased to present two videos by artist Ann Trondson on the video wall. Trondson’s practice consists of performance, video, dance and sport, with an emphasis on kinesthesia, rehearsal and improvisation.
California King (2007) is a 16mm film recording in the backyard of a family home in Hancock Park, an affluent Los Angeles neighborhood. The camera scans the property, in a state of partial disrepair, passing by various individual activities—tennis players serving balls, a swimmer doing laps, and two California King snakes wrestling in an aquarium on the overgrown lawn. The survey of activities presents a recital of daily practice, infused with a marked California sunlight.
Paint It Black (2013) functions as portrait and performance. The camera frames a silhouetted man dancing alone in a candle-lit living room to Paint It Black by the Rolling Stones. The song has been removed, and the video is silent, with the song’s lyrics in subtitle. Recording movement, the viewer is also given a glimpse of story, sentiment and character through a doorway.
Alternating between light and dark, day and night, the pair of videos mimics the environmental nature of their stage on the Bowery.
Ann Trondson (b.1976, Murfreesboro, TN) has presented works at The Palm Springs Art Museum, MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles, and The Center Galleries in Detroit.