Cine-Matrix
1977


156 3” X 4” Cardboard Rectangles
GRID: 26 Rows X 6 Rectangles Per Row
118.5” X 20.5”

During the late 1970s and early 1980's I made a series of photographic and sculptural works that explored ways of representing a range of essential cinematic "ideas," outside of conventional cinematic grammar. I made paper films -- some of them found objects re-imagined -- photographic collages, assemblages of cardboard and other materials, and a wide range of other conceptual works, all in search of alternative ways of expressing my love of cinema without necessarily making (actual) films.

CINE-MATRIX is a collage of 156 3’ X 4” cardboard frames, each cut out by hand from found pieces of cardboard (industrial detritus), during a 12-month period in 1977 – 1978. I accumulated a collection of thousands of cardboard frames, from which the organization of CINE-MATRIX took shape. It is an important work for me because it was the first large-scale piece I ever made that helped me understand and synthesize my intuitive affinities to found objects, to editing, to the possibilities of para-cinema, and to my love of filmmaking.

The work is structured in 26 rows, one for each letter of the alphabet. There are all sorts of playful relationships between frames – vertically, horizontally, and diagonally. CINE- MATRIX is aware of itself as a grid, as a series of filmstrips, as a linear structure, as something built out of random stuff, as a found object, and as an extremely precise constellation of visual information.