Jonathan Bower + Gabriel Polonsky
October 1 - 14, 2023
“Steel Wool” by Jonathan Bower
Above stills from “Steel Wool;"
Tell us about the artwork. What makes it unique?
“Shot on a phone and using a 9-volt battery to spark the material into life, this film resulted from a lockdown-prompted reexamination of the unremarkable materials which populate daily life. Playing on the idea of ‘process’ as both an artistic approach and an industrial one, the film examines a domestic, manufactured, anonymous material and discovers something visceral, unruly and individualistic.”
Tell us about yourself. How did you come to be an artist in video / digital media?
“Having made films in various different contexts for years, I found my interest moving towards investigation and abstraction, texture and rhythm. I assembled a toolkit of programs, filters, and lenses that enables this, and allows me to investigate aspects of the physical world that would otherwise be overlooked.”
“Linelight” by Gabriel Polonsky
Above stills from “123-19”
Tell us about the artwork. What makes it unique?
“When I was eleven, I saw a 35mm scratch film on a TV show about local filmmakers called “Screening Room." Then I thought, “what if I could make my own Super8mm scratch film?” So, I filmed the dancer and then spent that summer scratching all 2,800 tiny film frames with a magnifying glass and exacto knife. When I was 20 it got accepted onto Screening Room, but then the series got canceled and it was never shown. So many decades later I'm honored that it's finally being shown here at the Fountain Street Sidewalk Gallery!”
“It is truly great, maybe the greatest film by the youngest person in the history of cinema. ”
Tell us about yourself. How did you come to be an artist in video / digital media?
“I grew up in a family of accomplished artists. I've been drawing, painting, illustrating, sculpting, animating, and making films all my life, I was impossible to escape. I started my professional animation career at Olive Jar Animation, Boston, where I worked with some amazingly talent people. Then I opened my own animation, mixed-media, and illustration studio, GP Studio Arts (facebook.com/GPstudioarts) and wound up getting nominated for a national Emmy Award. I also teach 2D animation, drawing, and storyboarding in various colleges. I'll probably be making art for the rest of my life, if not beyond that.”