Derek Jarman, Blue, 1993, Courtesy Basilisk Communications, Photograph: Liam Daniel. |
Derek Jarman, Painter, Filmmaker, Pioneer, as Curated by Isaac Julien |
Isaac Julien and Tilda Swinton at Derek Jarman's grave, Photograph: Nina Kellgren.
Derek Jarman, B2 Movie, 1980, Courtesy James Mackay.
Derek Jarman, Caravaggio, 1986, Courtesy BFI. |
Serpentine Gallery The exhibition highlights Jarman’s work in film and painting, including his pioneering presentation of the moving image within the gallery context. The exhibition is conceived and designed as an immersive environment by Julien and will feature several examples of rarely seen films from the Derek Jarman Super-8 archive, shown here for the first time since the 1970s, an installation of his film Blue, (1993), as well as a selection of his paintings. Julien will also make an installation of photographic light boxes for the exhibition, documenting Jarman’s cottage and garden in Dungeness. A survey of the work of Derek Jarman curated by foremost artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien, forms the central part of a major season celebrating the life and work of Jarman, the leading British filmmaker of his generation. The Derek Jarman survey is a timely re-appraisal of Jarman’s work and includes: • The premiere at the Serpentine, and on More4, of Derek, a new film about the artist featuring Tilda Swinton, directed by Julien and selected for the World Cinema Competition: Documentary at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival as well as for the 2008 Berlin Film Festival; Jarman was arguably the single most crucial figure of British independent cinema through the 1970s, 80s and 90s and films such Sebastiane (1976), Jubilee (1977), Caravaggio (1986), The Last of England (1987), The Garden (1990), Wittgenstein (1993) and Blue (1993) epitomised his own era. He struggled for Gay Liberation and lived with the impact of AIDS and was a participant observer, noting with pen or camera all that passed before him — from the punk and Thatcher years, from Hampstead Heath to film premiere. Derek, Julien’s new film about Jarman, whom he knew as a friend, is a film of Jarman’s life, as well as the story of England from the 1960s to the 1980s. At its centre is a daylong interview Jarman recorded in 1990 with film producer and author Colin MacCabe. A message in a bottle, it surveys Jarman’s life from the point of view of his death. Tilda Swinton is the film’s narrator, reading a letter she wrote to Jarman a decade after he died. Clips of Jarman’s feature-length and Super-8 films are juxtaposed with news and current affairs footage of the times that his life illuminated. Derek will play at the Gallery throughout the exhibition. Isaac Julien is a prominent artist and filmmaker, represented in museum and private collections throughout the world. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2001 for his films The Long Road to Mazatlán (1999), made in collaboration with Javier de Frutos, and Vagabondia (2000), choreographed by Javier de Frutos. Earlier works include Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask (1996), Young Soul Rebels (1991) which was awarded the Semaine de la critique prize at the Cannes Film Festival 1991, and the acclaimed poetic documentary Looking for Langston (1989). In autumn 2007 his most recent work WESTERN UNION: Small Boats premiered at Metro Pictures, New York, and he presented a live multi-screen performance work, Cast No Shadow, at Sadler’s Wells, London and BAM, New York (Peforma 07). He is also a Trustee of Serpentine Gallery. |
Derek Jarman installation at Third Eye Centre, Glasgow, 1989, From Isaac Julien, Derek, 2008, Super-8mm, 16mm and 35mm film and high definition tape, Courtesy of Normal Films. |
