Christopher Richmond’s video Bone Cut (2017) focuses on the memorable introduction of the future in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). In this historic scene, Kubrick juxtaposes two seemingly unrelated objects in the air, the earth-bound bone and the celestial space ship orbiting earth, squeezing human history into one cut. In Richmond’s Bone Cut, the viewer is mesmerised by the bone endlessly spiralling in the air. Yet, there is no progression from this primitive tool to the more advanced one – the spaceship, the future. The viewer is left in a state of suspension. The work seeks to remind the viewer of some of cinema’s most salient technological imperatives: to break the causal rule of before and after as well as to overcome the Newtonian law of gravity. The bone appears to float and rotate endlessly in the never-ending moment. To obtain this effect, Richmond utilized match cuts as in 2001—an edit that matches movement or objects to create a sense of “seamless” transition from one shot to the next. Ignoring the current trend of digital processing—the ability to render 3D forms and rotate them seamlessly with 3D software—Richmond utilized a far more laborious technique. He edited multiple shots with match cuts to create this continual motion that in rapid succession both hides and reveals itself.

 

Christopher Richmond (b. 1986) earned his MFA from the Roski School of Art and Design at USC in 2014. His video and photographic works have been widely exhibited in galleries around the world, and his work can be found in notable collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). He lives and works in Los Angeles.

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Direct link to the artist page

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