Tony Conrad

American, 1940-2016

Yellow Movie 2/23-24/73

Tony Conrad (American, 1940–2016). Yellow Movie 2/23–24/73, 1973. Emulsion: thick-textured sterling gray low lustre enamel (water base); base: dusty rose seamless paper; 92 x 107 inches (233.7 x 271.8 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Charles Clifton Fund, by exchange, 2012 (2012:54). © The Estate of Tony Conrad. Photograph by Tom Loonan.

© Estate of Tony Conrad

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

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© Estate of Tony Conrad

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Tony Conrad

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

Yellow Movie 2/23-24/73, 1973

Artwork Details

Collection Highlight

Materials

Emulsion: Sterling gray low lustre enamel (water based, thick textured); Base: Dusty rose seamless paper

Measurements

sheet: 92 x 107 inches (233.68 x 271.78 cm)

Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Credit

Charles Clifton Fund, by exchange, 2012

Accession ID

2012:54

Tony Conrad was one of the earliest practitioners of video art. Conrad moved to Buffalo, New York, in 1976 to teach video at the University at Buffalo’s Center for Media Study, where he remained for the rest of his life and actively contributed to the cultural fabric of the city. As an inventor of Minimalist music and pioneer in Structuralist filmmaking, he is considered to be one of the most influential creative luminaries of his generation. From the beginning of his career, Conrad experimented with the cross-pollination of different artistic mediums and genres, often pushing the boundaries of how these are traditionally defined.

Yellow Movie 2/23–24/73 is from a series in which Conrad explored the intersection of film and painting. He conceived of these works not as paintings but as films of incredibly long duration, devoid of the action or narrative typically associated with Hollywood cinema. When the works were first debuted in 1973, Conrad referred to their installation as a “screening.” To make this work, and others like it, he painted a rectangle of cheap house paint on paper and framed it with a black border. Over time the central painted rectangle will slowly yellow, much in the same way film emulsion does. This yellowing happens with or without exposure to light; it is always “screening,” as the passage of time itself actively marks its surface.

Other Works by This Artist