Photo courtesy of John Palmer

Starting Saturday and running until July 28, The Black Maria Gallery will feature an exhibit examining landscapes both natural and manmade. Titled “Modern Soil,” the show will include new drawings from Brooks Salzwedel and a series of short films from John Palmer called "Landscape Quartet.” We spoke with Palmer about his black-and-white 16mm project that takes an introspective look at Los Angeles environs.

What inspired these films?

For the purposes of the gallery exhibition and while in process, they will be projected on video, with the ultimate goal to make film prints. The films each have their own focus and visual style, and as a group are meant to examine North American landscapes in relation to development and industrialization.

Obviously, these are often at odds with one another, but I also wanted to explore the poetry and balances found in their co-existence. In the films, both the landscapes and their manmade counterparts become victims to shifts in permanence and scale as they overlap and commingle. I was initially inspired by the diversity of the land in Los Angeles. You can visit a series of seeming contradictions - the ocean, a refinery, a forest, and an urban skyline - in less than half a day, and find both majesty and vulgarity. I was thinking a lot about the ways that we perceive beauty and make associations. I wanted to make something that read a bit like poetry, and to set up some visual mysteries that aren't necessarily meant to be fully solved.

Why did you think the medium of film would be appropriate for this? What motivated you to shoot on film?

I have a personal love for film. I was trained on 16mm, and while I've worked with digital video and HD, I enjoy the tactile quality of film. I like to have my hands on the film stock, the winding crank on the Bolex, etc. In these films, I also play with multiple exposures and everything is edited in-camera. This would have been impossible with shooting on video. I enjoy creative challenges like these - reading the light, shooting
locations in the order they appear, planning every shot in advance of shooting, etc. Film has a romanticism to it as well, with its grain and shadows. This was important for the films so they did not come off as simple comparisons of nature vs. us.

Why did you choose to shoot everything in black-and-white?

Without color, the playing field is leveled a little bit. It's easier to consider the Los Angeles skyline in relation to giant pine trees when they are both living in black-and-white. Disparate images become abstracted; cranes and roots begin to represent ideas and feelings. I didn't want the images to look as though they belonged to a specific day and time. I wanted them to read as documents, strange surveys of the land, that might have been captured at any point over the past 100 years. In all fairness, I also just love the look and feel of black and white film. It feels mysterious, noir-ish, and I definitely wanted these films to have some of that in them.

What are some of the locations you shot in?

The first of the four films is shot entirely in Los Angeles County, and mostly in Los Angeles, at twelve different locations. They vary from the Los Angeles skyline to the Santa Monica Mountains, from the Torrance Refinery to a giant patch of agave. I found all of these locations incredibly beautiful and also sad in a way. I've coupled locations together in hopes of granting each a richer understanding. When I was deciding where to shoot, I did a lot of remembering things I'd seen, searching photos online, and also just driving around looking. I tried to stay away from overly iconic images that scream "Los Angeles" so there is some room for the mind to wander.

You didn't incorporate sound into the film. Why?

The films are silent. They're very minimal and contemplative, and I
wanted the images to command.

What do you find is special to the LA landscape? What are you favorite
spaces here?

Los Angeles has many contradictions, and vastly different elements in a fairly small geographic space. When you consider the entire county, it spans urban to rural, over-developed to untouched. It seems as though these opposites would be visually jarring, but we accept them all as a unified landscape. In terms of nature, I love the mountains and the ocean. They both feel so understated in the context of the city, but have an undeniable presence and serenity. One of my favorite things in Los Angeles is the ocean at night. It's very powerful and mysterious, and one of my favorite places to
think. As far as the city, I like the fact that we have beauty everywhere, but it's often difficult to identify among the sprawl of strip malls, utilitarian architecture, etc. You can pass by and ignore the same building for years, and suddenly one day realize that it takes your breath away. I also love our offbeat spaces, like the street light museum in the Staples parking lot at Santa Monica and Vermont, and the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City.

What is next for you?

I am hoping to make something with a narrative. These films were very solitary in terms of the creative process, and I want to collaborate with others and make something my grandparents might actually like to watch. I'm not thinking Disney, but a story and some actors will be thrown in there somewhere.

"Modern Soil" - new works by Brooks Shane Salzwedel
on view with
"Landscape Quartet" - new films by John Palmer
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 28, 2008
7pm-10:30pm
Show Dates: June 28 - July 26, 2008

Black Maria Gallery
3137 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90039
(323) 660-9393