About
Aboutbeyond
enquiries@paullemmon.com
Digital video is everywhere. Thanks to the miracle of data compression it can be streamed to our screens in an instant (give or take a bit of buffering). Though considered a solid transmitter of truth since its earliest days, and utilised as such in news footage, journalism, video interviews, closed-circuit TV and the like; the medium of moving image has now acquired a whole new fragility in it's digital form. The coding and compression algorithms needed to transfer video files to our screens have given rise to powerful potential for distortion, fragmentation and manipulation. As with video tape, digital film is really only a set of instructions for a monitor describing how the illusion of an image should be displayed. But, unlike it's VHS predecessor, the coding can be directly accessed and rearranged systematically or randomly. The visual results of this breaking of the code can be striking, but, as we have already seen with the development of 'deepfakes', so too could the ideological.
My paintings exploit the possibilities of this video disruption by applying it to all manner of film footage found online, from films to TV, to news to influencer clips, in order to explore the shape-shifting qualities of the digital world, foregrounding its illusory qualities and their effect on our idea of truth and what lies beyond the screen.
Group shows
2023
Coventry Biennial, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum
Tales from the Tower, Arcadia gallery, Coventry
2022
SEVEN: Skyscraper Stories, Arcadia gallery, Coventry
Prize Exhibition, RBSA gallery, Birmingham
2021
On Paper, Paper Gallery, Manchester
2016
The Art Movement, London
2015
London Art Fair, Islington
2014
Art Hamptons, New York
Monaco Art Fair
2013
Paris IPSO
2011
Avenue, London
Bath Fine Art
2010-13
20/21 International, Royal College of Art, London
2009
National Open Art Competition, Chichester
Solo shows
2018
Brew, Folkestone
2017
The Art Movement, London
2013
Avenue, London
2010
Art London, Chelsea
Avenue, London
2008/9
Langton Street gallery, London
Digital video is everywhere. Thanks to the miracle of data compression it can be streamed to our screens in an instant (give or take a bit of buffering). Though considered a solid transmitter of truth since its earliest days, and utilised as such in news footage, journalism, video interviews, closed-circuit TV and the like; the medium of moving image has now acquired a whole new fragility in it's digital form. The coding and compression algorithms needed to transfer video files to our screens have given rise to powerful potential for distortion, fragmentation and manipulation. As with video tape, digital film is really only a set of instructions for a monitor describing how the illusion of an image should be displayed. But, unlike it's VHS predecessor, the coding can be directly accessed and rearranged systematically or randomly. The visual results of this breaking of the code can be striking, but, as we have already seen with the development of 'deepfakes', so too could the ideological.
My paintings exploit the possibilities of this video disruption by applying it to all manner of film footage found online, from films to TV, to news to influencer clips, in order to explore the shape-shifting qualities of the digital world, foregrounding its illusory qualities and their effect on our idea of truth and what lies beyond the screen.
1968 Born Birmingham
1993 BA (Hons) Graphic Design, Kingston UniversityGroup shows
2023
Coventry Biennial, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum
Tales from the Tower, Arcadia gallery, Coventry
2022
SEVEN: Skyscraper Stories, Arcadia gallery, Coventry
Prize Exhibition, RBSA gallery, Birmingham
2021
On Paper, Paper Gallery, Manchester
2016
The Art Movement, London
2015
London Art Fair, Islington
2014
Art Hamptons, New York
Monaco Art Fair
2013
Paris IPSO
2011
Avenue, London
Bath Fine Art
2010-13
20/21 International, Royal College of Art, London
2009
National Open Art Competition, Chichester
Solo shows
2018
Brew, Folkestone
2017
The Art Movement, London
2013
Avenue, London
2010
Art London, Chelsea
Avenue, London
2008/9
Langton Street gallery, London
Awards
2008/9
RK Harrison prize, NOAC, Chichester