A Florida native, but
long based here in Atlanta, artist Robbie Land uses 16mm film to create a
personal vision of the environment of the southeast United States. Using unusual
methods of film developing, manipulating his own carefully shot footage, and
even pasting plant life and other items directly on to the film strip, Land
works painstakingly with celluloid film to create vibrant, colorful, haunting
imagery. His films reimagine our familiar surroundings, both natural and
man-made.
Recently, Robbie Land has completed a group of four long-awaited new films,
including the twenty-minute opus Floridaland. For our first show at the Museum
of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Film Love is proud to host Land in person for
premieres of these works. Land will introduce the films and answer questions
about them, as well as show a selection of older films.
Precipice is an unconventional dance film in which Land photographed and
re-photographed dancers to achieve a pointillist texture, then re-choreographed
the dancers in the editing. Created without a camera, Old Florida Salt Marsh is
animated with collected images cut, glued and taped directly to the celluloid.
Micanopy Winter Wonderland documents an antique jukebox from a logging town,
which was converted into a diorama winter wonderland scene with animated
characters that move to the crude sounds of an old 78rpm record. Floridaland
documents defunct Florida theme parks from 1960s, 70s and 80s, creating a
personal reflection on the changes in our environment over time.
ROBBIE LAND: FLORIDALAND AND OTHER NEW 16MM WORKS is a
Film Love event. The Film Love series provides
access to rare but important films, and seeks to increase awareness of the rich
history of experimental and avant-garde film. The series is curated and hosted
by Andy Ditzler for Frequent Small Meals. Film Love was voted Best Film Series
in Atlanta by the critics of Creative Loafing in 2006, and is featured in
Atlanta Magazine’s Best of 2009. Archives of the series may be found at
www.filmlove.org.
