DEFINING MOMENTS OF HISTORY

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This short series of paintings depicts iconic scenes of great drama and significance, exploring the way fact and fiction can blur together in our minds. The fact that our knowledge of events outside of our direct experience rely so heavily on recorded media such as photography, television and cinema contrasts with our awareness that this same media is used to deceive and manipulate us, often willingly for our own entertainment. This can lead to the black and white of what is true and what is false merging into shades of grey, especially with events viewed through the haze of time. Conspiracy theories spread, disasters lose their impact and the film version replaces historical fact.

New York, 1933 is a still from the 1933 film King Kong, the scene where the eponymous giant ape climbs the Empire State building and is attacked by bi-planes before falling to his death. The character of Kong and particularly that scene is iconic across popular culture, having inspired two remakes and numerous sequels and spin offs across film, television and print.

Lakehurst, 1937 depicts the Hindenburg disaster where 36 people were killed when the LZ 129 Hindenburg zeppelin caught fire while attempting to dock at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey on Thursday 6 May 1937. The disaster is spectacularly caught on film and there also exists a vivid eyewitness audio commentary by journalist Herbert Morrison. A film was made in 1975 based on the disaster called The Hindenburg.

Dallas, 1963 depicts the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the USA, who was fatally shot while riding with his wife Jacqueline in a Presidential motorcade on 22nd November 1963, in Dallas, Texas. Still the subject of widespread debate, numerous conspiracy theories have arisen around the JFK assassination and who was behind it. One of these theories is explored in the 1991 film JFK, made by Oliver Stone.

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INFORMATION

Project Title	Defining Moments Of History
Painting Titles	New York, 1933 Lakehurst, 1937 Dallas, 1963
Year	2002
Materials	Emulsion on MDF with wooden backing frame
Dimensions	H:21cm W:28cm

ADDITIONAL

This is the IMDB entry for King Kong (1933)
The film footage of the Hindenburg disaster synced with the radio commentary of Herbert Morrison can be viewed on You Tube
This is the IMDB entry for The Hindenburg (1975)
This is the IMDB entry for JFK (1991)