Interested in the empirical observation of natural phenomena, his early work integrated the viewer's image with prerecorded information.
He has been described as a "pioneer in video research [...] with an almost scientific attention for taxonomies and descriptions of ecological systems and environments".
[1] His seminal work Wipe Cycle –co-produced with Ira Schneider in 1968– is considered one of the first video installations in art history.
[5] In October 1969, Frank Gillette and Michael Shamberg founded the Raindance Corporation, a "media think-tank [...] that embraced video as an alternative form of cultural communication.
[6] Described as an "abstract painter turned media activist",[6] Frank Gillette's fascination with Marshall McLuhan's ideas made him connect with Paul Ryan –who was McLuhan's assistant at the Center for Media Understanding at Fordham University in the Bronx.
[8] During the spring of 1968, Ryan facilitated access to four Portapack video cameras, that Gillette (and others) used to make alternative television.
[6] Raindance Corporation was conceived in 1969 by Frank Gillette to "promote and disseminate ideas about video as a radical alternative to centralized television broadcasting".
[6][8] Raindance was later joined by Phyllis Gershuny and Beryl Korot, who worked producing the publication Radical Software.
Video installation with one CCTV camera, six videotape recorders (two playback prerecorded material and four record and playback time-delay loops), nine television monitors of which one is a receiver, one audio tape deck, and one automatic switcher, 9½ x 8 x 2 ft.
Wipe Cycle (1969) is a seminal video installation by Frank Gillette and Ira Schneider that transposes present-time demands as a way to disrupt television's one-sided flow of information.
Consider an example of the "earliest uses of real-time closed-circuit video technology in an art gallery",[2] Wipe Cycle "expanded the relation of the audience to the artwork, from passive receptors to actual participants".
[9] In the exhibition TV as a Creative Medium (1969), this installation was constructed in front of an elevator so that each visitor was immediately confronted with his or her image.
[10] Gillette and Schneider sought to "create a experience that would break the conventional single-screen TV perspective by providing a complex mix of live images and multiple viewports".
[13] Taking its title from the four consonants of the ancient Hebrew name for God, Tetragramaton contemplates the relationship between man, technology, and ecological systems.
Characteristic of much of Gillette's work—which treats video as a field of light, movement and reflection—Muse extends beyond optical sensation to engage the viewer in metaphysical contemplation.
Originally designed as a three-channel work, Quidditas is a study of Cape Cod's woodland and coastal landscapes.
A stunning graphic composition of form and surface, Rituals for a Still Life links Gillette's video and collage work.
In this three-channel work, Gillette employs systematic formal strategies to chart the rich texture and aura of the Hawaiian landscape.
Rhythmically composed, Mecox is an artificial system that gracefully charts the patterns of a natural ecosystem.
In this three-channel work, Gillette presents a microcosm of Mecox Bay, a salt marsh on Long Island, by reconstructing it within a contained aquarium[19] Video, color, sound, 27:20 min.
The work focuses on humans’ experience with the natural world positions through art historical genres.
Riverrun was premiered at the exhibition Frank Gillette: Excavations and Banquets (February 9 – April 21, 2019) at the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse,[21] New York, and is in its permanent collection.
Level of Service Not Required - Fine Art Gallery, La Jolla, California https://www.losnotrequired.com/gillette 2019.