Creating Tearing, I imaged a video that began at loss. I imagined a video was already destroyed, that had already forgotten, whose fragments had been fragmented. I imagined this video that remained fragile, flickering in and out of visibility, that refused to take shape, that existed on the verge of becoming a body, a face, a reflection of light on water. I imagined a video that was so small it had already disappeared, a video that was already a shadow of itself. I found a video of the reflection of light on water I recorded two years prior and uploaded it and downloaded it until its colors began to blur and collaged multiple instances of it together until otherwise invisible patterns appeared with clarity.

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.