Cinematic Ontologies

Chambers Gallery, Christchurch

March, 2023

Drawing Strategies 9 - desert music, 2022, 
Acrylic on 640gsm Fabriano mounted on panel, Framed-unglazed, 855 x 1142 x 70mm
L: Drawing Strategies, 2019-2022, Acrylic on inkjet mounted on panel, Framed-unglazed, 305  x 460 x 70mm
R: Drawing Strategies 4, 2022, Acrylic on panel, Framed-unglazed, 380  x 485 x 70mm
L–R: Drawing Strategies 6 & 7, 2022, 
Acrylic on 640gsm Fabriano mounted on panel, Framed-unglazed, 455  x 330 x 70mm, each
Drawing Strategies 8, 2022, 
Acrylic on panel, Framed-unglazed, 635 x 765 x 70mm
Limited Edition Catalogue
L–R: Drawing Strategies 3 & 5, 2022, 
Acrylic on panel, Framed-unglazed, 355  x 280 x 70mm, each
Soltero separates light and dark from the interior of the cinema, mirroring and projecting the results to create an image which is inherently Rorschachian in its effect. Rorschach prints allow one’s own experiences to influence what they see, a theme evident in Soltero’s paintings.

Mark presents the opportunity for the viewer’s past to reflect within the positive and negative space of his paintings, forming a subconscious link between the painting and their memories, allowing past and present to collide in the current moment. The paintings themselves materialise moments of metaphysical impact, which can change constantly depending on the experiences that one has had.

The immaterial concept of time has therefore become material itself. Mark’s methods embrace an image referencing the past, a cinematic space which no longer physically exists, and conjoins this with the present, his contemporary interpretations. The Irving was an old-style theatre, we would now consider ‘boutique’. Through his work, Mark has released it from being condemned to history, a memory and photograph, and has given it new meaning in contemporary spaces. During his process, Mark pulls the image apart, dissolving the originally analogue medium into digital images which are segmented into layers of light and dark. This use of media, both analogue and digital, embrace and connect the old and new; past and present.
 



©MMXXIVMark Soltero – Visual Artist