Sara Cwynar

Red Film, 2018
16mm film transferred to high-definition video (colour, sound)
13 min 1 sec

Sara Cwynar’s Red Film is a compelling exploration of beauty, capitalism and desire. The third film in a trilogy that includes Soft Film (2016) and Rose Gold (2017), the work uses the colour red to create a visual thread linking the endless circulation of objects and images – from a red 1980s convertible to Cézanne jewellery boxes and Comme des Garçons clothing – with questions about truth, value and the mutability of meaning. Language also plays a central role in the form of an enigmatic narration voiced by Cwynar herself. This voice-over, composed of fragmented quotes from influential thinkers like Adorno, Barthes, Descartes and Lacan, underscores the pervasive illusion of choice within the visual culture of capitalism. Cwynar describes this linguistic element as language being reproduced like objects in a factory; ideas and theories become emptied of meaning in relentless cycles of reproduction and standardisation.

Sara Cwynar (b. 1985, Vancouver; lives and works New York) is interested in the way that images accumulate, endure, and change in value over time. Her conceptual photographs and films involve constant archiving and re-presentation of collected visual materials, layering diverse imagery with references to art theory. The works intricately recall advertisements, retail catalogues, and old art history textbooks. Her visual assemblages meditate on how vernacular images shape collective world views, and how those ideals can change through time and contextual manipulation.

Cwynar earned her Bachelor of Design from York University in 2010 and her MFA from Yale University in 2016. She was one of the recipients of the 2020 Sobey Art Award, the 2020 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award, and the 2021 Shpilman Photography Prize. Cwynar has exhibited at the ICA Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Remai Modern, Saskatoon; MoMA PS1, New York; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; and the Fondazione Prada, Milano. Her work is held in the Guggenheim Museum, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Dallas Museum of Art; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Milwaukee Art Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, among others.

Presented by Cooper Cole (Toronto).

Sara Cwynar, Red Film Promotional Still. Image courtesy of the artist and Cooper Cole.