'Flesh' 2001

Christopher Chapman, Director's Notes
Experimental Art Foundation Yearbook 2001

"Mathieu Gallois' ambitious installation offered an enigmatic and perceptually compelling experience. The work was a life size 'film set' depicting a desert oasis (with plushly-decorated tent, palm trees and sand). The scene was placed on a large studio set-like platform with a curved back painted in Chroma Key blue.

To create certain special effects in film and TV, the use of Chroma Key (or blue screen) technique allows the superimposition of objects and actors in the studio into a separate background scene. Gallois chose to paint the entire scene (sand, trees & tent) in Chroma Key. If it were filmed using the blue screen process, the entire installation would conceivably 'disappear', a nifty metaphor for the idea of a desert oasis as a mirage.

The ambient lighting emphasised the work's references to illusion, as the entire scene appeared insubstantial and mirage like. The title of the work was a reference to its sexualized theme, and to the suspension of desire that is a function of much contemporary cinema."