Jeremy Blake's newest DVD artwork, "Reading Ossie Clark", combines original film, figurative drawing and still photography with both painted and digital abstractions in 9-minute continuous loop. In memory of Swinging London's premiere fashion designer, Ossie Clark, and the extraordinary times in which he lived, this artwork features narration by art world icon Clarissa Dalrymple.
The script for the artwork is a prose poem inspired by various fragments of Ossie Clark's recently published diaries. Many people are familiar with Ossie Clark's groundbreaking work in fashion, which peaked spectacularly from 1966 to 1974 when he outfitted and inspired celebrities and socialites around the world, but the diaries he left behind are astonishingly beautiful artifacts as well. Ossie's diary pages are hand rendered, color-coded, stream of consciousness scrawls and sketches featuring the events of his remarkable life. These entries follow the arc of his career, from its glamorous prime to its sobering conclusion in 1996. The visuals of "Reading Ossie Clark" include Blake's hand painted, digitally animated letter forms inspired by Clark's handwriting, that blossom and flow following the changes of tone and tempo of Dalrymple's voice. Additional visuals include moving, painted abstractions that occasionally resolve to filmed footage of the moon, flowers, and floral and geometric motifs based on the patterns of Ossie Clark's dresses. With this piece Blake pays homage to Ossie's extraordinary artistic gifts, and in the process sets a new precedent in contemporary art by creating an in-depth, poetic abstract psychological "portrait".