Ian Stephenson, Screen, in Antonioni's film 'Blow-Up', 1966
Ian Stephenson
Screen (featured in Antonioni's film 'Blow-Up' in 1966),
1960
Oil on board
165.1 x 152.4 cm
65 x 60 in.
As part of the New Art Centre's Ian Stephenson: Planes of Heaven exhibition, a major showing taking place across several galleries at Roche Court, Screen is currently on display in the Artists House.
Completed in 1960, Screen featured in Italian director Antonioni's iconic film Blow-Up in 1966. What with the film's cinematic focus on ways of seeing prompting the viewer to acknowledge that every shot has an intense visual significance, the presence of Stephenson's work serves a far more pivotal role than that of a prop. The contrast between photography and painting lends itself to the film's focus on ways of seeing, where truth and subjectivity cause psychological torment for the protagonist (David Hemmings) who believes he has photographed a murder.
The pictorial event created by Stephenson embodies the film's ethos: a questioning of what it is we have truly seen. The conglomeration of innumerable marks of paint and colour in Screen is cultivated in such a way that figures and shapes attempt to rise to the surface, only to vanish the moment we feel we might recognise them. The effect is uncanny, otherworldly and indeed astronomical, creating a juxtaposing liminality amid the films action, and prompts a reflection of what it is we have witnessed. As David Ward wrote in his 2005 essay: The appearance of Ian Stephenson’ paintings In Antonioni’s film Blow-Up, 'Indeed it seems clear that Antonioni’s visit to Stephenson’s studio was a determining factor in his conception of the form of the film itself.' (David Ward, 2005).
Blow-Up was an international success; it won the Palme d'Or at the 1967 Cannes Film Festival, the festival's highest honour. It was nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay at the 39th Academy Awards, and was nominated for three BAFTA Awards.
Ian Stephenson: Planes of Heaven opens on Saturday 20th June and will run until the 13th September. To book a visit, or to find out more, please enquire below:
