Giorgos Chloros’s work, Video portraits 1, is actually not about portraiture, but rather the in-between moments that comprise the majority of our lives, moments of waiting and thinking that are rarely documented. The large-scale video projection (420*225cm) consists of footage of different individuals in the midst of a seemingly mundane instant in their day; however, the person is unknowingly being filmed by the artist, who is covertly positioned a safe distance away. The intention of the work was to film something honest — the camera is being used, but “absent” due to the subject’s ignorance of its gaze.
Typically, Giorgos’ video works are filmed in a studio setting and a direct relationship is established between the subject and the camera. In this project, he allows the location and condition of the public setting to dictate the outcome; he does not interfere with the surrounding activities, he relies on the existing, natural light and finds his subjects by happenstance. The result is a study in the simplest gestures of human behavior, as well as an example of the voyeuristic license taken by artists to observe them.
text by
Laura Mott
