Roll away the stone

About the edition

Cowboys, horses, Coca Cola – Matt McCormick’s motifs are deeply rooted in American culture. The western epic “The Giant” (1956) also tells of the American myth: the vastness of the country, its traditions and opportunities for advancement. Including the patriarchal, classist and racist structures, unusual for the time it was created. The film classic serves Matt McCormick as inspiration for his print “Roll away the stone”, which was created as part of the artflash Cinema Editions. We see a black and white quote from the famous crucifix scene on the edge of the set: James Dean as the supposed Jesus, the gun on his neck, his hands resting on it, Elizabeth Taylor kneeling in front of him like Mary Magdalene. “In that particular work I was narrowing in on the crucifix positioning of Dean and him having come to be this almost Christlike figure of Hollywood,” says Matt McCormick. “'Roll Away The Stone' was meant to further that connection.” Heroic and religious stories have been inscribed in our thinking over the centuries and have long been accompanied by fundamental doubts. McCormick's art vibrates in this tension.

What makes the movie “The Giant” to one of your favorite films?

I reference Giant for more of the place that it sits within the American myth. The cast of Giant includes James Dean, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and Dennis Hopper, all whom hold important places within the lore of Hollywood and the surrounding counterculture. There’s also the added factor that the filming of the movie in Marfa lead to it becoming this artistic Mecca of sorts with Donald Judd making is pilgrimage there. The movie itself is important to the discussion, but the surrounding elements take center stage when I’ve been working on this body of work. The preceding narratives of the actors contrasted with their personally lives are endlessly fascinating micro representations of America as a nation and a cultural cauldron.