JUSTIN WARSH
EXTENDED PLAY, OR A TRAILER FOR INFINITE JEST
NOV 08, 2024-
NOV 12, 2024
NOV 12, 2024
ORGANIZED BY ALYSSA DAVIS
SARA’s and Dunkunsthalle are pleased to announce Extended Play, an exhibition of new work by artist Justin Warsh (b.1987), organized by Alyssa Davis and programmed by Sara Blazej during her curatorial residency as SARA’S at Dunkunsthalle on 64 Fulton Street, New York, NY from November 8th through the 12th.
The centerpiece of the show is Warsh’s four minute short film Extended Play or a trailer for Infinite Jest: The Motion Picture, which is structured as a theatrical trailer for a nonexistent feature film adaptation of David Foster Wallace’s postmodern masterpiece Infinite Jest. Warsh’s film creates the desire for a longer film which does not and will never exist.
The desire which the cinefile experiences is unlike that experienced by the art lover. Both the cinefile and the artlover desire to possess the object of their affection. Yet that desire must remain unfulfilled for the cinefile. The desire to possess a painting, for example, can be satisfied by purchasing the painting and hanging it on one’s wall. Yet, a film is not easily possessed. There’s the vhs, the dvd, the criterion edition blu ray, even an original 35mm print, but for the cinefile these objects ultimately prove insufficient. He desires more. He wants to inhabit the space of the film. So he scours auction sites for things like Marty McFly’s hoverboard, Dorthy’s Ruby Red slippers and Marcellus Wallace’s briefcase airsealed inside transparent acrylic boxes. Yet these objects also fail to satisfy the cinefile. And even if he were to stand on the hoverboard donning his screen-worn puffy orange vest,
The centerpiece of the show is Warsh’s four minute short film Extended Play or a trailer for Infinite Jest: The Motion Picture, which is structured as a theatrical trailer for a nonexistent feature film adaptation of David Foster Wallace’s postmodern masterpiece Infinite Jest. Warsh’s film creates the desire for a longer film which does not and will never exist.
The desire which the cinefile experiences is unlike that experienced by the art lover. Both the cinefile and the artlover desire to possess the object of their affection. Yet that desire must remain unfulfilled for the cinefile. The desire to possess a painting, for example, can be satisfied by purchasing the painting and hanging it on one’s wall. Yet, a film is not easily possessed. There’s the vhs, the dvd, the criterion edition blu ray, even an original 35mm print, but for the cinefile these objects ultimately prove insufficient. He desires more. He wants to inhabit the space of the film. So he scours auction sites for things like Marty McFly’s hoverboard, Dorthy’s Ruby Red slippers and Marcellus Wallace’s briefcase airsealed inside transparent acrylic boxes. Yet these objects also fail to satisfy the cinefile. And even if he were to stand on the hoverboard donning his screen-worn puffy orange vest,
he could not conjure Marty Mcfly. Aphrodite cannot grant our cinephilic Pygmalion his wish. His desire is one that is fundamentally unsatisfiable. Film is a medium that by its nature creates unrealizable desires. But the instrument which creates the desire for that desire is the trailer. The trailer advertises the coming attractions; it creates a desire that the audience previously didn’t know it had. Warsh’s film, which was always conceived as a trailer and is not a pitch for a longer film, plays with that tension.
Infinite Jest is not only the name of the novel itself, but it’s also the name of a powerful and destructive film within the fictional world of the book, which connects the book's various characters. Warsh’s adaptation is the product of years of painstaking work and meticulous attention to detail. A recreation of an authentic 90s video store. Period correct aqua and magenta t-shirt designs for the fictional Enfield Tennis Academy. The searching eyes of a wall mounted Kit-Cat clock reflected in a gilded bathroom mirror. All these elements give the film a richness which is aided by the grainy 16mm Kodak stock on which Warsh shot the film.
Several props from the film are exhibited in the gallery alongside the film itself. The art of prop making often involves taking a familiar object and rendering it unfamiliar. George Lucas in his film Star Wars used parts of an old Graflex press camera flash in order to create Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber. Warsh brings a similar spirit to his props. A precise carving of a Nintendo console becomes a piece of medical headwear. There’s also a
Infinite Jest is not only the name of the novel itself, but it’s also the name of a powerful and destructive film within the fictional world of the book, which connects the book's various characters. Warsh’s adaptation is the product of years of painstaking work and meticulous attention to detail. A recreation of an authentic 90s video store. Period correct aqua and magenta t-shirt designs for the fictional Enfield Tennis Academy. The searching eyes of a wall mounted Kit-Cat clock reflected in a gilded bathroom mirror. All these elements give the film a richness which is aided by the grainy 16mm Kodak stock on which Warsh shot the film.
Several props from the film are exhibited in the gallery alongside the film itself. The art of prop making often involves taking a familiar object and rendering it unfamiliar. George Lucas in his film Star Wars used parts of an old Graflex press camera flash in order to create Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber. Warsh brings a similar spirit to his props. A precise carving of a Nintendo console becomes a piece of medical headwear. There’s also a
In move towards breaking away from the cinephile’s dilemma and creating a possessable object, Warsh has printed several editions on Kodak duraclear, an obsolete transparent film stock that has been reworked from its original function for use with backlit advertisements. Duraclear has more recently been phased out and replaced by inexpensive LED screens. The deep blues of the duotone prints stand out boldly against the white backing paper which gives the images a radiant quality. Warsh applies the artistic gestures of the film to the material and conceptual byproducts of its production, thus the prints exist somewhere between advertisement and artwork, like the film from which they are derived.
The various elements which make up the exhibition serve as a way to extend the language of cinema into the reflective space of the gallery and to provide viewers an opportunity to consider the relationships between text and image; fiction and reality.
Justin Warsh is a filmmaker from New York City with a formal education in drawing and printing who is currently developing more projects to leverage audience desires for emergent media, narratives with an eye for humanism, and opportunities for novel film grammar.
PROGRAMS
NOV 10, 2024 3PM
CONVERSATION WITH STEVE MACFARALANE