The Mystery of the Missing Color, 2015, excerpts from 23 min two-channel digital film
“Emily C. Thomas has produced a two-channel detective movie, overwhelmed by fades and overlays, witty montage, and swirling colors that are nothing short of psychedelic. Stick with the transcendental gumshoe, if you can. In one scene, a robed figure with a Queen Elizabeth mask comped over her head watches a cargo ship off the California coast: the English queen defeating the Spanish armada. Thomas’s interest in female power-tropes and nunsploitation films led to her latest sculpture: a monumental spiral of bare-breasted clergywomen. Her installation includes more quietly crafted pieces as well, including a twin-orbed fertility lamp and a nearly minimalist yellow dollhouse—objects possessed with disorienting feminist verve.”
—Travis Diehl
Film Credits:
Written, Animated, Edited and Directed by Emily C. Thomas
Music by William Zeitler, Steven Halpern, Quarteto Em Cy, Mbuti Pygmies of the Rainforest, Teresa Russell
Detail of private eye car decal from The Mystery of the Missing Color, 2015
Selection of six stills from the two-channel film Mystery of the Missing Color
Mystery of the Missing Color, 2015, installation view
detail of Skryscraper Souls: Green, Yellow and White, 2015, installation view
Interior view of Yellow, 2015, installation view
Exhibition view ofFertility Lamp
Exhibition view, Art, Design + Architecture Museum, Santa Barbara, CA, 2015
detail Abbesses of the Abyss Galactically Align, 2015wood, satin, acrylic, false eyelashes, pom poms
Sign found in the gutter of Vermont Ave. Los Angeles, CA, 2012sign paint on board, 28x32"
Ascension, 2015acrylic on panel, 35x50"
*unless otherwise noted, all photography by Emily C. Thomas