Tracey MOFFATT (New York & Brisbane)

LOVE, 2003, single-channel video, color, sound, 21′.

A wealth of clips from Hollywood classics are merged to depict the stereotypical, hyperbolic trajectory of (heterosexual) love. From the subtleties of first desires to climactic scenes of impassioned dialogues, betrayal, revenge and violence repeatedly played out over the history of film, Moffatt unites the graphic punch and suggestiveness of these stories to create a narrative of her own for the sake of parody, entertainment, and critique.

About the artist:

Tracey Moffatt is a filmmaker, video artist, and photographer whose stylistic experiments draw upon both popular culture and her own background, examining subjects such as Aboriginal subjugation, maternal domination, gender stereotypes, and class division. Moffatt’s work is essentially theatrical—part of her intention is to dismantle the conventions of storytelling by using artifice alone to tell her tales. Paradoxically, the power of her work derives from the persuasions of myth. One of Australia’s most successful artists both nationally and internationally, Moffat has had numerous solo exhibitions in Europe, the United States and Australia. Her films and videos have been screened at the Cannes Film Festival, the Dia Centre for the Arts in New York and the National Centre for Photography in Paris; her work is held in the collections of the Tate, London, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the National Gallery of Australia