Synopisis
Fragments covers the trajectory of Derek Boshier working between a giant drawing, World News, which is about ‘the contrasts between nature and machinery’, and a series of paintings titled Night and Snow which cover ‘fashion, soccer, video games, rock music and mythologies’. The title Fragments also refers to Boshier’s own film work, clips of which are integrated within this film.
Boshier is a British artist living in Los Angeles. Associated with the Pop art movement in London in the sixties, he studied at the Royal College of Art with the likes of David Hockney, RB Kitaj, and Peter Blake and Pauline Boty. It is the landscape of America, and particularly Hollywood, that has long been such an influence on all of these artists.
The statement by the artist Richard Hamilton: ‘I don’t like art films” is perhaps the springboard for all of Scott’s films on artists. Equally, David Lynch’s comment, ‘art films are boring’, sums up a broad attitude to the genre. Positioning himself as both a passionate lover of both art and movies, Scott’s films directly challenge the negative assumptions of what ‘an art film’ can be. They ignite a sense of excitement, mystery and wonder that resides within the making of both art and cinema.
While the film closely follows the making of a specific painting or drawing, Boshier tells off-hand stories commenting on and illuminating his practice. He remarks, ‘it was Degas, of all people, who said, ‘the making of a painting is like the perpetration of a crime - the artist never paints what he sees; he always paints what he wants other people to see’.
As with many of Scott’s films, this documentary explores the nature of the creative process; the camera delving into the act, becomes almost an extension of the work, revealing the journey from first brushstroke or pencil mark to the finished canvas or drawing.
The film was started in the fall of 2018 when Boshier began working for an exhibition of paintings and drawings to open at Gazelli Art House in London, a year later. The music is composed, played and engineered by cellist Derek Stein.