David Zwirner Exhibition in New York
2017
July 10–August 4
Seascape, a new film by James Welling, made its United States debut in the artist's solo exhibition at the gallery in 2017.
In Seascape, Welling combines his family's past with the histories of cinema, photography, and painting. The film is an homage to the artist's grandfather, William C. Welling, who studied with the American Impressionist painter Wilson Irvine and corresponded with the seascape painter Frederick Waugh (1861-1940). In the early 1930s, Welling's grandfather shot black-and-white reversal footage of the Atlantic Ocean in Ogunquit, Maine, at the suggestion of Waugh. He used the footage to create oil painting which, in turn, is the basis for James Welling's Seascape.
As a collaborative work between the artist, his grandfather, and his brother, who created the sound, Seascape extends Welling's interest in incorporating autobiographical elements into his work.