Every theory of painting is a metaphysics

A decade ago, David Reed staged "Two Bedrooms in San Francisco," an exhibition for which he modified clips from Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 Vertigo by inserting images of his own paintings into the bedrooms of the film's two main characters, Judy and Scottie. In addition, he made life-size replicas of the two beds as they appear in the film. Finally, on the wall above the beds, he hung the very paintings that had been inserted in the film clip, which ran continuously on a television monitor next to the beds. The work as a whole directs the viewer to establish with the (real) painting the relationship implied between Judy and Scottie - and the relationship the two have with the paintings visible in the doctored film

Although bedroom installations by the '80s became a familiar international art phenomenon, Reed's installation is refreshingly evocative, although Judy's Bedroom does not itself seem ideally suited for most homes. Study Sam Renseiw's short video clip of the bedroom setting, as seen recently in Frankfurt: Try the Vertigo claustrophobia by cliking here, or enter the scene above. (patafilm #222, 00'54'', 4 MB, Quicktime/mov - Flash version here)