PICTURES ELSEWHERE | “Arts are positional games and each time an artist is influenced he rewrites his art’s history a little.” (for Michael Baxandall and Sylvia Gray)
       
     
2:18:17 (art historian black to Haint blue)
       
     
PICTURES ELSEWHERE | “Arts are positional games and each time an artist is influenced he rewrites his art’s history a little.” (for Michael Baxandall and Sylvia Gray)
       
     
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PICTURES ELSEWHERE | “Arts are positional games and each time an artist is influenced he rewrites his art’s history a little.” (for Michael Baxandall and Sylvia Gray)

This project was made possible by the Southern Constellations Fellowship at Elsewhere Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina. Residence took place February 2019.

PICTURES ELSEWHERE considers the pivotal art historian Michael Baxandall's methodology alongside the material legacy reinterpreted by all Elsewherians, the space and materials ultimately passed down from proprietress Sylvia Gray. This resulted in three new works: a performance for video, a book, and a live performance.

To explore further, visit Elsewhere Museum’s website here.

2:18:17 (art historian black to Haint blue)
       
     
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2:18:17 (art historian black to Haint blue)

For 2 hours, 18 minutes, 17 seconds, I filmed myself deinstalling, cleaning, and reinstalling the works and surfaces in the Ghost Room. Timed to bridge sunset and dark, the viewer witnesses me shed the cliché monochrome black of the art historian in favor of the Haint blue light that becomes apparent as darkness settles. Wearing black is a tactic art historians use to avoid distracting from the images we discuss, to become visually insignificant in the presence of pictures. Haint blue is a Southern tradition intended to trick ghosts into thinking the roof of a porch is the sky, thereby passing through, if not avoiding, the residents. My donning of Haint blue in the form of light on my unclothed body declares rather than mutes my physical presence and invites Baxandall and Gray to pass through me. I cleaned the room deeply as a way to honor the gifts they left behind, and to prepare to visit with them. The video provides an opportunity to reflect on the art historian as a physical body.

To view the entire 2:18:17 video, email me: jtobiasfranco@gmail.com