Tillman conceived the idea for “Film Stills Of The Mind”, which is a series of portrait photographs of Chinese Contemporary Artists, in 2005. Over a period of 2 years and after many trips to China, Tillman has taken portrait photographs of Chinese contemporary artists performing various roles, reflecting to a very definite extent, the real atmosphere of contemporary Chinese art.
He interviewed each artist about his or her childhood, seminal moments, dreams, fantasies, philosophy, etc. The interviews were documented with video and will be part of the exhibition installation. Based on these interviews, Tillman created a vision and wove together a film scene by inventing characters for the artists to play, building sets, finding locations, costumes, etc. He then asked each artist to come to his or her set, act out the scene, which is documented using a still camera. This concept is very much influenced by Cindy Sherman’s historical “Film Stills” series.
He interviewed each artist about his or her childhood, seminal moments, dreams, fantasies, philosophy, etc. The interviews were documented with video and will be part of the exhibition installation. Based on these interviews, Tillman created a vision and wove together a film scene by inventing characters for the artists to play, building sets, finding locations, costumes, etc. He then asked each artist to come to his or her set, act out the scene, which is documented using a still camera. This concept is very much influenced by Cindy Sherman’s historical “Film Stills” series.