Thomas Dylan Eaton

Où sommes-nous ? Qui sont-ils ?
Le monde de Thomas Dylan Eaton est à mi-chemin entre le théâtre, le rock, le surréalisme et la poésie. Personnages sortis de son imaginaire délirant, attachant et curieux.
Lui et ses doubles, ses acolytes.
On pénètre dans l’univers d’une troupe de théâtre, on assiste aux répétitions, à la représentation d’une pièce, on ne sait pas trop au juste. Fiction et réalité se mêlent, souvenirs, fantasmes, quotidien…
Peu importe, on jubile, on profite, on découvre, on cherche, on a envie d’aller voir de plus prêt… que pourrait-il bien arriver ?

« Silent Theatre is a photographic document of a makeshift theatre troupe, taking its haunting private rituals as a point of departure. Photographed in stark black and white the images combine double exposure, superimposition and re-photography, recalling the techniques of optical media pioneers.

The use of black and white surveillance film complements this optical ‘trickery’ with a look of degraded chiaroscuro. The dialectic and crude presentation of light and dark is intended to mirror the contrast between the nostalgic ideal of a theatre troupe as an ecstatic community and its portrayal in my photography via a series of isolated and claustrophobic events.

The iconic images, suggesting emancipation, miracle working, possession and resurrection, are like the ‘primal scenes’ presented by early photographers and cinematographers in the fairground sideshow and peepshow. The idea I am representing is an initial impulse towards theatre and how this theatre became fused with the techniques (trickery) of pioneering photographers and cinematographers. »

Thomas D.Eaton 2007/2008

Thomas Dylan Eaton, photographe, écrivain et réalisateur, est né à Londres en 1980.
Diplômé de la Camberwell College of Arts à Londres, il y vit et y travaille.

Thomas Eaton is a Photographer, Writer and Filmmaker. He has traveled extensively to complete his projects including lengthy stays in European Russia and Siberia. His first solo show of photography, Silent Theatre opens at Galerie Plume (Paris) in April 2008. In May his writing will be published by Parkett Art and in September his films and photography will be exhibited at Galerie Walden (Berlin). He is a founding member of the moving image collective The Haunted Screen and has just completed an research role on Kenneth Anger’s new film, Ich will!
Selected Exhibitions
Silent Theatre (April 2008) Solo Show of photographic work at Galerie Plume, Paris.
Cinema Messianism and Crime (May 2008) 3000 word essay on Kenneth Anger scheduled for publication in Parkett 82.
The Haunted Screen (Berlin, September 2008) Joint exhibition of film works at Galerie Walden, Berlin.
Infernal Cakewalk, Trick film & Beyond (Liverpool, November 2007) Film work selected for screening at the Foundation for Arts and Creative Technology, as part of a program curated by James Harding.
Heiligenacht (Berlin, September 2007) Screenings of Film works at Tilsiter Kino and Lichtblick Kino, with the filmmaker Dalia Neis and the celebrated accordionist Tomomi Takahashi.
The Calder File (London, March 2007) Readings celebrating the legacy of the notorious publisher John Calder (Naked Lunch, Last Exit to Brooklyn). The event was described by Starhaven press as, “the real thing...organized by two youngsters who seem as if to have stumbled on the great insurgent tradition...”
Coda Saint Joan (London, June 2005) A celebration of avant-garde performance in the back rooms of bookstores, Coda Saint Joan was a series of film screenings held in the Calder bookshop, in commemoration of the aftermath of the festivals of Lag Ba’Omer and Saintes-Maries de la Mer.
Publications
Dominique (March, 2007) Photography selected for publication by the Master Édition of the Sorbonne. Presented at the Salon du Livre, Paris.
Cabinet de monstruositiés (March, 2006) Photography selected for publication by the Master Édition of the Sorbonne. Presented at the Salon du Livre, Paris.
Research
Kenneth Anger’s Ich will! (Oct 2006-Oct 2007) Research in the collections of the Imperial War Museum (London) and the Bundesarchiv (Germany) on behalf of the Filmmaker Kenneth Anger. Correspondence is held in the Anger Files of the Anthology Film Archive, New York and the Imperial War Museum, London.
Education
BA (Hons) Degree in Fine Art, Camberwell College of Art. 1999-2002.