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Maxwell Cornell, Bachelor of Arts Studio Arts

Celluloid Highway

An exploration of meditative states of mind in film

Artist Statement:

When the lights dim, and the projector lights up, the audience is transported to another reality where they can ruminate on ideas, symbols, images, and feelings. The world falls away and for a while there is just the screen and the audience. Film provides the viewer with a visual experience that transcends conventional reality and allows the viewer to exist in a meditative state of mind.

I create film pieces that provide this kind of experience. The films I create use looping abstract patterns of images and sounds that cannot be found in the world around us. The abstracted visuals create a sensation of existing apart from everyday life. With these films, I create a space for the viewer where time stands still, and the world feels far away. The films that have left the longest impression on me have inspired this in me and I hope to create work that creates this sort of experience for others. 1960’s and 1970’s experimental cinema has been particularly influential for me especially important to me. I was inspired by work by artists like Stan Brakhage, Andrei Tarkovsky, and David Lynch all of whom try to elicit the sort of experiences that I find to be so powerful. I have created a series of films that are unique to me but exist within this cinematic tradition. Moving forward, I aim to create work that continues in this direction and creates sensory experiences that help create meditative and unconventional spaces for viewers to find respite in.

Capstone Presentation:

Capstone Documentation

I’m an experimental filmmaker from New England who creates video pieces that are inspired by directors and video artists like David Lynch, Stan Brakage, and Andrei Tarkovsky. I want to create work that feels like it exists outside of time and space. Having been born in the early 1990’s, I have seen the media formats evolve over time starting with VHS, then DVDs, and now online streaming. This technological progression and the way people engage with work due to these shifts is something that I think about a lot in my work and I aim to create work that feels not of this current moment but instead exists outside of our time.  

Maxwell Cornell

Education

2016 – 2020     Landmark College, Putney, VT Bachelors of Studio Arts

Awards

2018                 Freedom + Unity Film Competition 3rd Place: Vermont & New Hampshire Contemporary Issues

Maxwell Perkins Cornell 

Celluloid Highways 

 

Image List: 

 

SCRAMBLED TEST PATTERNS VOLUME 1  

Video Art 

12:11 

2020 

 

SCRAMBLED TEST PATTERNS VOLUME 2  

Video Art 

4:56  

2020 

 

For Lease 

Video Art 

21:07 

2019 


Capstone Research

Note: The contents of these Capstone Project pages reflect the work done by students in their classes under the guidance of faculty. The College takes no position on subject matter nor responsibility for its presentation.

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