This website is undergoing a major reset - I've decided to 'own' my history in cinematography and to integrate that with my 50 year practice as an artist. Please bear with me - Read the few paragraphs below and you may then want to see what kind of art I create. Very shortly I shall be adding a shop.
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Initially, like many a cinematographer, I went to Art School and learnt the fundamentals of drawing, sculpting, etching, Film, Photography and painting - after which I spent 5 years learning sound recording; then in 1976 I went back to university and I studied what we now call "New Media" whilst it still appeared in its analogue form of 'Communication Design' - this meant I studied its separate parts of radio, graphic design, typography, film and video production. Since that time 50 years ago I've been in love with light and sound and developed skills in manipulating this procession of Echo and Narcissus - sound and Image - as a way of encoding my response to the world - and everything I've since done has been to enable me to make art without being dependent on institutional grants.
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To that end for 25 years I worked with many seriously talented individual creators and I had to interpret their desires into light and the movement of the camera. I worked with many famous acts from Grace Jones to Sting, from Van Morisson to Madonna and I composed the lighting schemes for dramas and I shot the worlds 3rd digital to 35mm movie for theatrical release for the British Film Institute and Channel 4.
But I also worked on many documentaries through which my own grasp of the issues of society became solid and cross fertilised with my art. I also worked on historical events like the introduction of the Mac Computer in 1984 as Ridley Scott created his groundbreaking commercial of the same name "1984" (and as I'd shot for Apple I also made my own artwork: Prisoners). Later I worked with the camera that was later to shoot George Lucas' Star Wars and trialled the pathway from data to 35mm. Later, in the last 15 years I became a professor of cinematography, pioneered a variety of technical developments in imaging and sat in on the Academy of Motion Pictures Science and Technology Technical Committee to advise on HD . I was awarded a PhD in High Resolution Imaging in 2018 and that information can be found on this site. All of the above informs my art. |
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I've been exhibiting internationally since my first inclusion of my work in an exhibition in 1978 at Long Beach Museum, then I won a prize at the 4th Tokyo Video Festival in 1979. I'm a lifetime Academician at the Royal West of England Academy and a lifetime Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society. My work has been exhibited at many festivals worldwide winning prizes in Tokyo, Locarno & Montbeliard, Algiers & Amsterdam festivals, at galleries: Tate Britain, National Film Theatre, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, Xi'an academy of Fine Art. The Harris Museum holds a permanent copy of my homage to the famous photographer below, titled: "In Re Ansel Adams"
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BELOW: there's a recent interview for London Community Video Archive shot and edited by Maria Andrews and Produced and Directed by Andy Porter. On all videos: Click the arrow next to the V for Vimeo to show the controls then you can go full screen. So Between 1976 and 1990 my work cycled between Video Art and Documentary - this was due to the cross fertilisation that occurred where video always drove me to innovate. This interview charts the growth from child to artist .
BELOW: A slow walk around a large exhibition at the P3 Gallery in London from 2010 - a lot of installations in early form were exhibited at this show & this is before the audience arrived - we'd literally just got the whole thing up and running - if you can hold on past the first large space there are more installations in the second space.
Exhibitions & Online Releases in 2025
- UK Royal West of England 172nd Annual Open, 5th September 2025 - 10th January 2026 - Sedition International Online Release, Entangled: Messages From Nowhere - The Human Gaze in an Age of Quantum and Tachyonic Entanglement Part IV, September 2025 - Spain, Barcelona Contemporary Exhibition – 4TH EDITION 2025 Barcelona | May 10 – 19, 2025 - Italy, Rome International Art Fair 2025 – 14TH EDITION Rome | May 02 - 15, 2025 - Iceland, Listasafn Árnesinga Art Museum, Hveragerði, March/April 2025- Iceland, Listasafn Árnesinga Art Museum, Hveragerði, March/April 2025 - Germany C.A.R. Media Art Fair, Essen - March 2025 (Directors Lounge Contemporary Art & Media, Berlin) - United Kingdom, Chester International Film Festival March 2025 - United Kingdom, Closeup Cinema, London, March - United Kingdom, Bristol, February, RWA Artists Talk Sedition International Online Release, Glow, February 2025 - United Kingdom, Closeup Cinema, London, February - United Kingdom, Bristol, RWA Open, November, Testing to Destruction (2017 - 2024), Prisoners (1984) September 2024 through to January 2025 - United Kingdom, Closeup Cinema, London, January There's also a collection of mine on Sedition.art called "Diamond Beings" where one of the 6 pieces is free. If you take out an account (again free) you can redeem the free piece which is part 5 Diamond Beings forming over the Takamina Desert Then click ‘Redeem here’ . Use the code TAKAMINA
My various installations have exhibited to audiences of a total of over 6 million in New York at the Cathedral of St John the Divine (five times of 1.2 million each in six month runs). I have also been a cinematographer to artists such as Grace Jones, Annie Lennox, Kiri Te Kanawa, Queen Latifa, Van Morrison, Mariah Carey, Harry Belafonte, Sting, Madonna and many others - and been a writer and director for the BBC and Channel 4 before moving into academia where I researched high resolution imaging and became director of 'The Centre for Moving Image Research' at University of the West of England. I was a Professor of Cinematography and obtained a PhD in high resolution disciplines. My earlier documentaries and artworks have been broadcast on BBC, ITV Channel 4, PBS, KQED, KABC, KTTW, RTE, ZDF and Canal+.
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BELOW: IN RE ANSEL ADAMS - 90 seconds, 2008 - use the bottom right arrow to reveal the controls for sound & full screen)
BELOW: I started working with Sedition Art around 2015 when I got a call and was asked might I want to become a curated artist on that platform. By now, 2024, I'm currently the 7th most collected artist on the platform out of around 2000 artists. Some of whom are very well known. So at this URL you can find around 70 works. Please click the picture above or this link Sedition Art and you'll see the extent of my current phase of work.
Broadcasters that have featured my work
UK, Channel 4 UK, BBC USA PBS Alive From Off Centre France RTE Avance Sur Image Italy, Rai Belgium, RTBF Germany ZDF RTV SLO Slovenia Malaysia Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) Work Held In Collections:
AICE InVideo, Milan The Rewind Study Collection, University of Dundee Video Les Beaux Jours, Strasbourg Staatliche Museen zu Berlin The Harris Museum Preston New York Film Coop The Film and Video Artists Study Collection University of London The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol The Arnolfini Bristol The Lux Centre, London Retrospectives
Strasbourg Museum of Modern Art (12 single screen works shown) Yokohama Creativity City Center (7 single screen works shown) Rome Film Festival, retrospective within Video area (10 single screen works shown) Milan within InVideo Festival, (8 single screen works and 1 installation shown) Kuala Lumpa, Pan Asian Video Festival, (9 single screen works shown) Den Haag, Worldwide Video Festival, (8 single screen works shown) Mill Valley, San Francisco USA, (7 single screen works shown) UK, Bath, Roseberry Studios (50 single screen works show and 4 installations) Salisbury Arts Centre, (Various Installations and single screen pieces) London, Ambika P3 Gallery L (Various Installations and single screen pieces Norway, Bergen Elektronisk Kunst Senter, (6 single screen works shown) New York, Millennium Film Screenings |
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Malta Catalogue 2022
Ansel Adams' remarkable image of Tunnel View, Yosemite - remade with a Red Cinematographic 4k camera with an Angénieux 24 - 290 mm lens Click the picture to view the work
Click the picture to view the work: In Re Ansel Adams
Click the picture above to see my RPS Fellowship submission
Click the picture to the making of "In Other People's Skins" which exhibited at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York to audiences exceeding 1.2 million
The front page of the Xian Daily where "In Other People's Skins" exhibited at the Academy of Arts
Click the picture to see
"Postcards from Beijing"
Portraits of the Arrow Tower Beijing - click the picture
"Van the Man" who I shot several Promos for plus a 19 camera Concert for which I was Technical Director and Lighting Designer
Me having fun whilst with Robert Cahen as we were editing one of his works called "Blind Song"
BELOW: an Image from an early 90 minute script called "The Isle of Glass" which was later made under another title - but that's another story...
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Exhibitions & Online Releases 2025 - 2026
- Italy, Venice, Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello, Anima Mundi, May 2026 - UK Royal West of England 172nd Annual Open, 5th September 2025 - 10th January 2026 - UK London Frieze Oct 2025 - UK London British Art Fair Sep 2025 - Spain, Barcelona Contemporary Exhibition – 4TH EDITION 2025 Barcelona | May 10 – 19, 2025 - Italy, Rome International Art Fair 2025 – 14TH EDITION Rome | May 02 - 15, 2025 - UK Farr’s London, Innovation Through Video: Video Art on Channel 4, Echos from the Static, April, May 2025 - Iceland, Listasafn Árnesinga Art Museum, Hveragerði, March/April 2025 - United Kingdom, Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Arts, April - Germany, C.A.R. Media Art Fair, Essen - March 2025 (Directors Lounge Contemporary Art & Media, Berlin) - United Kingdom, Chester International Film Festival March 2025 - United Kingdom, Closeup Cinema, London, March - United Kingdom, Bristol, February, RWA Artists Talk - Sedition International Online Release, Glow, March2025 - United Kingdom, Closeup Cinema, London, February - United Kingdom, Bristol, RWA Open, November, Testing to Destruction (2017 - 2024), Prisoners (1984) September 2024 through to January 2025 - United Kingdom, Closeup Cinema, London, January Exhibitions & Releases until end 2024 - United Kingdom, Closeup Cinema, London, December - Sedition International Online Release, Entangled /Travelling Faster than Light: The Human Gaze in an Age of Quantum and Tachyonic Entanglement Part IV, November 2024 - United Kingdom, Closeup Cinema, London, November - United Kingdom, Closeup Cinema, London, October - United Kingdom, Bristol, RWA Open, November, Testing to Destruction (2017 - 2024), Prisoners (1984) September 2024 through to January 2025 - CIFRA International Online Release, November, The Mechanism - CIFRA International Online Release, October The Golden Apples of the Sun - United Kingdom, Closeup Cinema, London, September - United Kingdom, The Cube Cinema, Bristol, September - Sedition International Online Release, In Paradiso, August - United Kingdom, Closeup Cinema, London August - United Kingdom, The StoryHouse in Chester, July - Italy Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello, Venice | June 07 - 21, 2024 San Marco Art Space, Venice | June 20 - July 04, 2024 Anima Mundi, Exhibition titled Visions, A Sad and Divine Comedy, June - Italy Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello Venice, Anima Mundi, Exhibition titled Consciousness, Hearts of Oak, May - Sedition International Online Release, Mexico: Landscapes of the Heart, April 2024 - Sedition International Online Release, Un Tempo Una Volta, April 2024 - - Sedition International Online Release, Hearts of Oak, April - Germany, Berlin Paris Recontres, Haus der Kulturen der Welt 9 - 14th April April 2024 - Germany, C.A.R. contemporary art ruhr Photo/Media Art Fair at Zeche Zollverein, March 2024 - Italy Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello Venice, Anima Mundi, Exhibition titled Rituals, Un Tempo Una Volta (Once Upon a Time in Venice) May 10 – 24, 2024 - Germany, Berlin, Director’s Lounge, C.A.R Contemporary Art Ruhr, March 2024 - Germany, Berlin Paris Recontres, Haus der Kulturen der Welt March 2024 Exhibitions in 2023
- France/Germany, November Paris/Berlin Recontres Another Life - UK Bath October 5 weeks Roseberry Studios, Retrospective of work, Various works from 50 years - Sedition International, Online Release, Diamond Beings (5 part collection) - UK Oxford October Various works, Barn Galleries Oxford - UK September Teotihuacán, The Gannon Rooms, Saxmunden - Sedition International, Online Release, September, Gold’s Love is Eternal (5 part collection) - UK August Teotihuacán, Braziers International Film Festival - UK October/December, RWA Bristol God’s Love is Eternal - Australia, Adelaide July, The Art of the Moving Image, Retrospective, July - International Online Release/Italy Visual Container, Diamond Beings Above a Dying Star - Australia, Melbourne Teotihuacán, SceneSound Melbourne, July - Italy Prehistoric, Accademia di belle arti di Napoli, April 18th, Italy - Magmart Festival Exhibitions in 2022 - USA, BlissFest333, Colorado December 17th - 19th 2022, Another Life - Australia, Melbourne, MINA festival November 2022, Another Life - Korea, Seoul Korean Electro-Acoustic Music Society Presence, October - Portugal, Image Play Festival, Funchal, a selection of recent works: Arabesque, Glade, Borderless, Consumed by the Sun, O Great Mother, Barcode Jesus in a World full of Everyday Beeple, Presentiments, November 5th and 6th - Sedition International, Online Release, The Human Gaze in an Age of Quantum Entanglement, (Last 4 parts of 8 parts), November - UK Royal Society of the Arts, London, Another Life, 6th October 2022, London - UK Bristol Royal West of England Academy Open, Premier of new large-scale work: The Human Gaze in an Age of Quantum Entanglement, (8 parts) 30th September - 1st December - Sedition International, Online Release, The Human Gaze in an Age of Quantum Entanglement, (1st 4 parts of 8 parts), October 8th - Visual Container International Online Release, Visual Container TV Release of new work Diamond Beings Forming Above the Surface of A Dying Star from 23 July to 06 September - Italy Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello & Palazzo Bembo, Exhibition titled Visions, Venice, Another Life, September - Australia ILCH Melbourne, Mountain Thunderstorm, International Selection, 9th September - UK Crassh Breaking the Frame Outdoor Festival Cambridge UK, To Stand and Stare: A Somerset Landscape, 30th September - Italy, Fabbrica del Vedere, Cannaregio Venice, 9th September Metamir, Parachronon, Another Life, Portraits of Cannaregio, and a series of other recent moving image art works - Sedition International, Online Release, Another Sun, 9th July - Italy Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello & Palazzo Bembo, Venice, Exhibition titled Visions, For Primo Levi, In Time of War June/July - Malta Valetta Contemporary, Malta, Exhibition titled Meta Landscapes, Another Sun, May/June - Italy Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello & The Room, Venice, Exhibition titled Consciousness, Arabesque, May/June - Australia, Seensound, Melbourne, Presence, Teal House, April/May Screening & International release online - Italy, Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello & The Room, Venice, Exhibition titled Rituals: Carnival of Light, April/May - Italy, Palazzo Bembo & The Room, Venice, Exhibition titled Canvas: Another Sun, March/April - Sedition International, Online Release, Reverie of Forgotten Dreams (La Rêverie des Rêves Oubliés de l’arrière-pays) 9th March - Sedition International, Online Release, Day of the Living Dead 9th March - Iran, Tehran Experimental International Electronic Music and Image Festival, February Exhibitions in 2021 - Japan, Yokohama, Arts Cafe Presence - UK Royal West of England Academy Exhibitions in 2020 - UK Royal West of England Academy - Australia, Melbourne, Seensound - Italy Online Magmart Video Artists United - UK Online Strangleove Festival Exhibitions in 2019 - Turkey Istanbul International Festival - UK Royal West of England Academy Radiant Light - UK Bishops Palace Wells, Intersection of Dreams Exhibitions in 2018 - Slovenia, Ljubliana, Retrospective, SCCA Center for Contemporary Arts - USA Los Angeles, US, Echo Park Film Centre, To Stand and Stare: A Somerset Landscape - UK Royal West of England Academy Exhibitions in 2017 - Netherlands, Romeinse Katakomben Museum - Netherlands, Romeinse Katakomben Museum - Ireland, Dublin, Plastik Festival - USA (Oct 2016 - March 2017) The Cathedral of St John the Divine, NY The Intersection of Dreams (In Re Salvador Dali - Triptych) 2nd Visit - UK Bristol, Royal West of England Academy Exhibitions in 2016 - Italy, Florence, Presidential Palace, Diffrazione - USA, New York, Cathedral of St John the Divine, Triptych - UK, Bristol, Arnolfini, Moving Image Art: CMIR 3 Portraits of Bristol Youth - UK Bristol, Royal West of England Academy - UK Atkinson Gallery Somerset andscape Triptych Westhay, Kings Canyon, Fuertaventura - UK RWA 2016 Bristol Reimagining Venice (Mosaic Triptych) - UK Bristol CMIR: TWO, CentreSpace Bristol Barcode Jesus in a Material World EXHIBITIONS IN 2015 - USA In parallel and opening at the same time, The Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York, Triptych, The Intersection of Dreams (In Re Salvador Dali) 1st Visit - UK In parallel: Bristol Cathedral, The Bristol Triptych: The Intersection of Dreams (In Re Salvador Dali) - UK CMIR:ONE: UWE Arnolfni Portraits of Bristol Youth - UK Strode Cinema, To Stand And Stare: An English Landscape ideas of place and space and the notion of ‘truth’ in documentary early iteration - USA The Cathedral of St John the Divine In Other People’s Skins (2nd visit) New York EXHIBITIONS IN 2014 - UK Bristol Cathedral Reflection on Water (for a visit by the Archbishop of Canterbury) - UK Royal West of England Academy, Bristol Reflection on Water, The Sum of Hands EXHIBITIONS IN 2013 - UK Royal West of England Academy, Bristol Triptych: Portraits or the Youth of Bristol; In Other People’s Skins; Triptych: Portraits of Beijing, New York, Venice; In Re Ansel Adams - UK Harris Museum, Preston (2012 - 2013) In Re Ansel Adams, Accessioned and in the collection to be exhibited at various moments in perpetuity EXHIBITIONS IN 2012 - Italy Milan Triennale, Milan Museum of Design In Other People’s Skins - UK Bristol An English Landscape 70 min, ideas of place and space and the notion of ‘truth’ in documentary (Watershed) - UK Bath High Res Portraiture within low resolution Photoframe display forms Corsham Court, Conference Exploring Transmedia Writing & Digital Creativity, Bath Spa University, July 2012 - UK London Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, Prisoners - UK, Somerset, Black Swan Gallery, Frome, Somerset Portraits of the Working People of Somerset, - UK LUX Online Making News Part of ‘Broadcast Exhibitions EXHIBITIONS IN 2011 - UK Bath Museum of Work Portraits of the Working People of Somerset, August/September - UK South London Gallery, Curated by Lux, Prisoners EXHIBITIONS IN 2010 - USA In Other People's Skins, The Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York, - France, Museum of Modern Art Strasbourg, Retrospective of works - USA New York Center, Millennium Magazine Portraits of CannaregioJ - Japan, Yokohama Creativity City Center, Retrospective of works - UK Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset, 07/10/11-22/01/12 Portraits of the Working People of Somerset - Sweden Vasteras Cathedral In Other People's Skins - UK Walcott Gallery, Bath, In Other People's Skins - China Xi'an Academy of Fine Art In Other People's Skins - UK Retrospective, Salisbury Arts Centre, Research Works from AHRC Fellowship, (including first iteration of Myth and Meaning in the Digital Age ) One Person Show of research works from AHRC Fellowship, Salisbury Arts Center - UK Major Retrospective Time and Resolution: Experiments with High Resolution Imaging, P3 Gallery, London (University of Westminster) Summative Exhibition of 1st AHRC Fellowship P3 Gallery, London (University of Westminster) http://www.visualfields.co.uk/P3exhibition.m4v This was the cumulative exhibition of the AHRC Fellowship and was held in collaboration with University of Westminster. The artefacts and research were highlighted for the Westminster CREAM research group at their Research Away-day. During this exhibition Academics were also approached to discuss issues around the methodology of practice as research EXHIBITIONS IN 2009
- Norway - Bergen Elektronisk Kunst Senter, Screening of Research work, - Italy, Rome Retrospective Rome Film Festival - Italy, Milan InVideo Festival - Italy, Milan Fabricca del Vappore, In Other People's Skins http://www.bestup.it/new/images/stories/home/Comunicato_FDV_inglese.pdf - UK Southwell Minster In Other People's Skins, Southwell Minster - UK The Phoenix Arts Center, Glastonbury, In Other People's Skins - UK Gallery 204, Bristol, Imaginists - work from Venice, - UK The Phoenix Arts Center Glastonbury, 2009. http://www.visualfields.co.uk/imaginiststalking.htm EXHIBITIONS IN 2008 - Malta St James Cavalier Center for the Arts, In Other People's Skins - UK Phoenix Arts Centre, Glastonbury, The Dinner Party - UK Bristol Gallery 204 - In Re Ansel Adams, Gallery 204, Bristol, 26/09/08-27/09/08 - Italy Venice - Scarabocchio Studio Grafico, Cannaregio, Ponte degli Ormensini, Venice, Un Tempo Una Volta (Once Upon a Time), plus Ritratti di Cannaregio (Portraits of Cannaregio), SeptemberUK Wickham Theatre University of Bristol A series of 4 HD installations over four days, - UK Wickham Theatre University of Bristol A series of 4 HD installations over three days - UK Cathedral Tour of In Other People's Skins including: Worcester, Gloucester, Southwark, Winchester, Wells, Bristol, Bath Abbey For Researchers there's also a small site called Video Art Resources with five Channel 4 Video Art programmes (click) On Video produced by Triple Vision - VIDEO ART RESOURCES is concerned with exploring the histories, theories, technologies, cultures and politics of moving image production, interaction and reception. First up: 6 TV programmes on Video Art from the 1986 row two being 1987, the last being 1989. EXHIBITIONS Between 1978 - 2007 In 1978, the Fashion show, (made in 1977) was exhibited at the Long Beach Museum in California by Kathy Rae Huffman, the then curator of moving image work. Next came the Fourth Tokyo Video Festival where I, Cooper and Dedman's piece (written by myself) Talking Heads, won a prize. From then on my work was shown at many festivals, notably the Worldwide Video Festival in Den Haag, Netherlands, but many, many other places including Moscow, Tokyo, Algiers, San Francisco, Locarno, Montbeliard, Paris, Milan, Rome, Seoul, Amsterdam - and many other places around the world. In 1986 the British Film Institute as well as Channel 4 asked me to Shoot “Out off Order” the 3rd electronically produced and released on 35mm ‘film’ in history (after “Harlow” starring Ginger Rogers, 1965 and 200 Hotels, 1972). Though travelling as a cinematographer and occasionally exhibiting between 1992 and 1998 there was a hiatus in Flaxton's work between Zagorsk (1992 and Skin Deep (1999) Flaxton in fact worked on many artists pieces and brought a high level of lighting to many people's work. Having come across HD in 1990, between 2000 and 2007 Flaxton concentrated on HD as a developing production form and tested cameras for Panasonic and Sony and by 1999 he had shot an HD work in the US which was mastered as a 35mm output at Du Art Labs in New York - and from then on spoke at many seminars including the NFT to speak about the transition form Standard Definition (720 x 576 pixels) to the then low level HD Standards of 1280 x 720, the faux HD of 1440 x 1920 and finally the full 1920 x 1080 standard that we all know today. So in eventually entering academia in 2007 with an AHRC Creative Research Fellowship - where the candidates charge was to discover how technical and creative innovations feed upon each other, I then began a second wave of production as an artist - where, having spent many years on moving camera cranes and dollies - I chose to use HD and the camera itself as a window, a portal onto, not only the world - but importantly on the very thing that looks: the self. By 2015 Sedition Art had arrived and was a perfect fit for what I later called my 'Chamber Works’. I also began producing long form moving image artworks during this period characterised by “Myth and Meaning in the Digital Age” (began in 1992 and finished in 2018) , “To Stand and Stare: A Somerset Landscape” (2011 to 2018) to the left and latterly “Mexico: Landscape of the Heart” (2024). Further Biography |