Contemporary art

Filmtract Nº1

Josephine Meckseper

Filmtract Nº1 is a large work by Josephine Meckseper in acrylic sheeting, paint, tape and vinyl on an aluminum frame, with black vertical bars over a red splash, shown in her solo exhibition at MOSTYN in Llandudno, Wales.

Artist: Josephine Meckseper
Medium: Acrylic sheeting, acrylic paint, tape and vinyl on aluminum frame
Dimensions: 244.8 × 122.9 × 6.4 cm
Movement: Contemporary art

War & Violence

Filmtract Nº1 is a work by the German-born, New York-based artist Josephine Meckseper (born 1964). Made of acrylic sheeting, acrylic paint, tape and vinyl mounted on an aluminum frame, it measures 244.8 by 122.9 by 6.4 centimeters. It was shown at MOSTYN, the contemporary art gallery in Llandudno, as part of Meckseper's first solo presentation in Wales, which Wikipedia dates to 2019. The date of the work itself has not been confirmed.

What you are looking at

The panel is tall and narrow, about the height of a person and a half. On a white ground, a burst of red paint spreads across the center, splashed and spattered toward the edges in flecks and drips. Over it run thick vertical bars of black, painted or taped in broad strokes from top to bottom, some broken, some reaching only partway. They read like the bars of a cage, the stripes of a barcode or redactions on a document.

Around the edge of the frame, small black rectangles are spaced at regular intervals, like the sprocket holes of a strip of film, which gives the title its sense. At the lower edge, a few small marks and a touch of blue disrupt the pattern.

How it was made

Meckseper works with industrial materials: acrylic sheet, tape and vinyl instead of canvas and oil. The red looks spontaneous, close to the gesture of Abstract Expressionism, while the black bars and frame are hard-edged and controlled. The tension between the two, an outburst contained by a grid, is the work's main effect, and it changes as you step back.

Meaning

The title combines film and tract, a pamphlet or political leaflet. Meckseper has long explored the meeting point of politics, consumer culture and modernist design, and she has made films as well as vitrines and wall works. Read that way, the red can suggest violence or protest, framed and edited like footage, and the black bars the censoring or packaging of that image for consumption.

Related works

Other works by Meckseper in the catalogue include Afrikan Spir, Scene VI and Masculine Feminine. More at Josephine Meckseper.

Questions & answers

What is Filmtract Nº1 made of?

It is made of acrylic sheeting, acrylic paint, tape and vinyl mounted on an aluminum frame, and measures about 245 by 123 centimeters. Meckseper favors industrial and commercial materials, so the work looks partly like a painting and partly like a sign or display panel.

Where was Filmtract Nº1 shown?

The work was exhibited at MOSTYN, a contemporary art gallery in Llandudno, north Wales, as part of Josephine Meckseper's first solo presentation in Wales, an exhibition dated to 2019. The current owner of the work has not been publicly confirmed.

What does Filmtract Nº1 mean?

The title joins film and tract, a political pamphlet. The red splash suggests violence or protest, while the black bars and sprocket-like marks around the edge evoke film strips, redaction and packaging. The work reflects Meckseper's interest in how political images are framed and consumed.

More by the artist

Josephine Meckseper

All works →

A woman with glossy blond hair against pale blue, her face and shoulders obliterated by torn, streaked fragments of black-and-white and red printed imagery — Josephine Meckseper, May she. Have hear. Birds., 2016 — May she. Have hear. Birds.
Josephine Meckseper · 2016

A mirrored room with a steel bed, seated mannequins, chandeliers, bottles, a drying rack and red scrawled words reflected endlessly — Josephine Meckseper, Scene VI, 2019 — Scene VI
Josephine Meckseper · 2019

A square framed panel of gray-violet tinted acrylic over a black splattered grid, yellow and black strokes, a photo of a white rabbit and a small collage — Josephine Meckseper, Masculine Feminine — Masculine Feminine
Josephine Meckseper

A dark wall shelf holding whiskey bottles, shot glasses and cocktail glasses in front of a black-and-white gestural abstract painting — Josephine Meckseper, Here and Elsewhere — Here and Elsewhere
Josephine Meckseper

A tall steel-and-glass display case on thin legs holding a stuffed black bird, glass vessels, a black panel, a patterned vase and small paintings — Josephine Meckseper, Afrikan Spir — Afrikan Spir
Josephine Meckseper

A raw industrial hall holds a gold-framed vitrine of arranged objects on a white wall, a black and red oil pump jack sculpture and a wall-sized black-and-white photograph — Josephine Meckseper, solo exhibition, Nantes, 2019 — Solo Exhibition
Josephine Meckseper · 2019

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