Steven Chow: You Leave, I Stay Behind
17 November 2012 - 10 February 2013
Steven Chow is an Auckland-based artist and filmmaker whose short films have featured in various film festivals. In the last two years he has expanded his practice to explore the conceptual possibilities of the gallery context. His work is greatly influenced by directors such as Andrei Tarkovsky and Chantal Akerman. Reflecting these influences, Chow's work incorporates long takes and often posits human life against the natural environment to philosophically investigate the perception of time, place and being.
In his first solo exhibition You leave, I stay behind, Chow creates a dual-channel video installation. The work features two opposing window views: one capturing the snow-clad southern alps and the other a fireworks display exploding over a cityscape. Through subtle manipulation and being captured at twilight, the juxtaposing footage suggests a sense of liminality together with a metaphysical emphasis on notions of presence and absence.