I Stood Before the Sea was created after a trip up the coast of Northern California. Moved by the vastness of the ocean, I recorded a video out of the window of a moving car. In the unedited video, the image of the ocean is legible, but its presence is entirely absent. Through editing, I tried to encounter the sea again in the few seconds of footage that are distorted, recolored and looped.

Zach McLane is an artist and writer living and working in Los Angeles. His work explores legibility and processes meaning making. It takes shape in essays, videos, and poems. McLane’s research-based practice is grounded critical theory, art history, and film theory. His recent video work uses processes of degradation and repetition as generative tools for meaning. He holds a BA in Narrative Studies from the University of Southern California, where he studied narrative form and contemporary visual culture.