The film and video works by A K Dolven share a concern with portraiture, painterly composition and the passage of time. Each work focuses on individuals or couples in intense states of absorption. The carefully composed, painterly images are shot in real time and left unedited. Unfolding slowly, recorded scenes provide viewers with clues about the wider scenario, but reveal nothing conclusive.
Much of Dolven’s work makes reference to famous paintings which she re-stages in a contemporary setting, often accompanied by a house or drum n¹ bass soundtrack. In the same way a portrait painter captures a precise moment in the life of a sitter, Dolven focusses attention on a specific moment in time captured by the camera. By showing the protagonists in slight, almost imperceptible movements she highlights the subjectivity of the perception of time.
Her works Portrait with Cigarette and The Kiss make direct reference to paintings by Edvard Munch which Dolven took as a starting point to explore contemporary notions of identity, pleasure and desire.
Newer works such as it could happen to you and headlights, follow through an interest in painterly composition and portraiture whilst introducing greater intrigue. She presents double portraits of a man and woman, be it lying next to each other or in the headlights of a car. Yet the larger story is denied the viewer – there are no clues as to their relationship or the narratives surrounding the filmed moment.
A K Dolven is a Norwegian artist currently living and working in London.
A Film and Video Umbrella touring exhibition. ‘It Could Happen to You’ was commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella and Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art.