MARK V. LORD: L.A. NOIR

Since 1999, Mark V. Lord has plied his trade as a professional screenwriter in New York and Los Angeles, while maintaining a mostly private practice as a photographer. Palos Verdes Art Center is proud to present L.A. NOIR, Lord’s first solo exhibition, opening September 10 with an artist reception 6 – 9 pm. The exhibition is curated by Gail Phinney and will be on view through December 31, 2016.

“Post-war film noir was inspired by hardboiled American crime fiction made famous by Los Angeles writer Raymond Chandler and expresses the cynicism of the period through themes of corruption, loss, and desire. Lord’s depictions of Los Angeles are filled with the deep shadows and low-key lighting characteristic of these films, but with a decidedly contemporary twist. With the addition of fragmented text and dialogue distilled from crime scene and criminal trial transcripts, Lord’s evocative images function as imaginary movie stills documenting an L.A. noir film that never was. The incongruity of text and image confounds expectations and challenges conventional constructs of storytelling. The resulting installation engages viewers to shape their own narratives while revealing the creative process of this singular writer and photographer.”

Gail Phinney, Curator

“Noir, as a screenwriter, I’m very familiar with. It is something I’ve studied, I’ve written about, I’ve admired. It has stood the test of time in storytelling. There is something inherently attractive to noir.

When I shoot photographs, I shoot them for myself – and for the subjects, oftentimes giving them away . . . Give me a second of your time, and I’ll give you a record of your life. It makes a good bargain with the city.

I think there is still a noir aspect to contemporary Los Angeles . . . for me to feel a photograph is successful, there is a sense of fleeting time, of an ache of something almost familiar that is gone in the second you photograph it that says something about what came before, and what might come after.

It is also a gem you have to find. You can walk for a long time before the light hits the moment in the right way to catch that emotion. So you walk.”

Mark V. Lord