Ellen Altfest is known for her still life paintings in which she renders every detail of her subjects on a one-to-one scale. The World Must Be Measured by Eye follows the meticulous, repetitive and painstaking creative process of Altfest — the painter studies the subject, mixes paint, matches colors, measures the distance and puts the paint on the canvas with a small brush. Through observing Altfest at work, The World Must Be Measured by Eye examines the act of creation and the act of seeing. As the painter’s excessive realism and careful composition push the painting to the realm of abstraction, the film also explores the boundary between representation and abstraction. 

Buffalo, New York, which was once a prosperous city, is home to several architectural masterpieces built in the late 19th century to the early 20th century, such as the Darwin D. Martin House by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Guaranty Building by Louis Sullivan, and Kleinhans Music Hall by Eliel and Eero Saarinen. While some important buildings, including the Larkin Building by Wright, were demolished, the preservation movement has been active for the past several years. Architecture is embraced as a treasure, but it can be a burden to the city at the same time. Like many other American cities, Buffalo has suffered from economic downturn for decades. Industries have left and the population has declined almost by half. One of the issues that Buffalo has been facing is vacant properties. Since 2000, the city has demolished thousands of vacant homes and buildings to clean up some neighborhoods, which created vacant lots in turn. Exploring the architecture and cityscape of the post-industrial American city, this film meditates on the relationship between architecture, city, society, and history.

Since the early 1970s, Rackstraw Downes has committed himself to painting from observation, on site, from start to finish. He has painted both urban and rural landscapes as well as interior spaces, in New York, Texas, and Maine. Although he simply paints exactly what he sees, the ordinary sites become transformed into extraordinary scenes. In 2014 Downes spent the summer painting the site located in the northern part of Manhattan and his studio in SoHo. This film captures the painter working on site, outdoors and indoors, in an observational style. It expresses the atmosphere of his work as well as the surroundings. Some of his past works, which he painted in New York City, are also included in the film along with the footage which I shot, visiting those sites on my own. In addition, known as a skilled writer, Downes recites a couple of texts specially for this film. This film is a unique but truthful portrait of the painter, captured through my point of view and inspired by the painter’s art.

Joan Jonas, who started exploring new media in the mid-1960s, is one of the most influential artists in contemporary art. This film follows Jonas working on her new installation and performance Reanimation for dOCUMENTA(13) in 2012. Inspired by the novel Under the Glacier by Icelandic writer Halldór Laxness, she created a video installation piece, mixing footage of a trip to Norway, music, text, drawings, props, and reanimated videos from her past works. For the performance, she collaborated with jazz pianist Jason Moran who had worked with her on multiple projects over the past years. In the film, the artist offers insights into her art and inspirations.

Since the mid-1970s, James Casebere has been making photographs of tabletop models which he builds in his studio. The subject of his work ranges from suburban interiors to institutional structures, inspired by political events and social issues. In his photographs, these models often give the impression of reality. Each image transports viewers into an ambiguous environment, evoking a sense of emotional place. From the spring of 2009 to the fall of 2010, I visited the artist’s studio in Brooklyn on a regular basis and documented the process of making the series titled Landscape with Houses. As the subprime mortgage crisis occurred, Casebere became interested in American suburbs and started creating a model of an American suburban landscape.