Kota Ezawa

Odessa Staircase Redux is a kind of flipbook revisiting the well-known film sequence from Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin. The first frame of every cut is drawn in black ink by hand. The ensuing series of 153 ink drawings is organized to form a typology of camera angles and subject matter that in turn creates a new animation of the scene in the mind of the viewer. Kota Ezawa depicts iconic moments from art history, film, photography, and popular culture and re-presents them as animated videos, slide projections, light boxes, and prints. The work's paired down minimalist aesthetic helps to streamline Ezawa's focus on the changing role of the camera and its effect on the viewer's reception. Co-published with Charles H. Scott Gallery and ECU Press in the Vancouver Special series, edited by Kathy Slade and Christoph Keller. English text.