Lot 456: Gary Hill , b. 1951 Crossbow video and sound installation

video and sound installation

dimensions variable

Acquired directly from the artist

Executed in 1999, this work is number 2 from and edition of 6, plus 1 artist's proof and is accompanied by an installation manual.
Gary Hill, who has been working in sound and video since 1973, continues to forge the path for technological and artistic innovations within his media. His works investigate the complex interplay of language, visual perception and existence. Through his "time based sculpture" the artist explores the realm situated between one's perception of a given content and ones interpretation of it. This reification of linguistic philosophical debates is brought to a paramount in Crossbow, one of the artist's most successful piece to date. The work consists of a triptych of LCD monitors which present a man's hands and the back of his head while he is writing - drawing the deliberate association of the act of thinking and the one of creating. At the same time the distinct separation of screens and the different and seemingly disconnected nature of the activities command the viewer to question the system of cause to effect relationship which is often taken for granted. Although one finds in Crossbow all the cardinal components which pervade the conceptual art discourse (image, language, sound and time), Hill orchestrates their fragmentation in a new and engaging way by appealing to the audiences senses while inviting them to question at the same time the nature of the encounter with the art object. Far from being didactic and remote, as could have been the art of his processors in the conceptual field, Hill's engagement with everyday technologies as put in evidence in Crossbow advocates for reconciliation with the beholder's environment.