Bradford Kessler Closer and Closer to Crossing the Shifting Sands. 35mm projection on sand. 2008

A one minute 35mm film loop taken from “The Wizard of OZ” seamlessly matched with the beat from “Closer” by the Nine Inch Nails is cast on sand from Kansas and the area of exhibition from a wall mounted projector. The title is taken from the last dying words of OZ creator Frank L. Baum. “Now we can cross the shifting sands.” In this work, Dorothy’s only way to escape the land of Oz (her dream) and return back home to Kansas (her reality), by three clicks of the ruby red slippers is caught in an infinite state of trial. The scene, which takes place in Oz and was originally shot in technicolor, is transfered to match the sepia tones of the scenes which take place in Kansas, altering the escape from the dream to the escape from reality. Dorothy is presented smashed under the gallery wall in the same way the slippers were found on the corpse of the Wicked Witch of the East, smashed under the house.

-Austin M. Powers, Curator of Between Spaces Dafeng Gallery, Beijig