Hollis Frampton Winter Solstice (1974)

1974, 33 , color, silent Shot at U. S. Steel s Homestead Works in SOLSTICE is full of outpourings of fire, of smoke, of sparks, of molten metalall erupting against an otherwise black background in an activated pictorial space. The complex abstract compositions that flash upon the screen in fullscale explosions of white light or in the aftermath of effervescent sparks reflect Frampton s painterly handling of the camera (handheld and fluid) and his rhythmic use of color (blue frames are used to mark each cut). While WINTER SOLSTICE pays homage to the work of a number of New York school painters, its steel mill setting represents, as Frampton noted, A pretextual locus dearly beloved by our Soviet Bruce Jenkins