Chartwell Notes

Edition of 3, AP1 & AP2

Daniel Crooks’ video work An Embroidery of Voids, acquired from Anna Schwartz gallery in Melbourne in 2014, is the second work of Crooks’ in the Chartwell Collection. It was a central commissioned work in the large Melbourne Now exhibition at the NGV over the summer of 2013/14, installed as a singular projection in a darkened room. Voids is a slow-moving, steady paced video collage, situating the viewer in a journey through various lanes and in-between spaces which unfold in sequence. While the laneway is an icon of Melbourne’s city life, this work has a wider appeal to a general audience; there is the sense that Voids could have been filmed anywhere.

There is a feeling of expectation as each laneway draws nearer; just as you expect to reach the end or vanishing point, the image blends into the next space. Voids transfixes you as you tunnel through these collaged spaces. The intrigue created in this video through the sense of unfolding space and time lent itself to prolonged viewing, often a challenge for video works. The admission of this work into the collection builds on the representation of Crooks’ practice and allows the public to follow his technical and conceptual developments. (RW, 2014)

Anna Schwartz Gallery »