A History of Clouds (1991)

Overview

The sky looms in the background of all human activity. It is elementary then that artists should be preoccupied with a phenomenon whose ageless nature remains elusive and opaque. Bruce and Norman Yonemoto's A History of Clouds (33:46 mins, Color) investigates the representation of clouds as they appear in art, first as amorphic elements in early oil painting, then as photographically reproduced elements of 20th-century works. This premiere videowork ends in the advertising studio where clouds provide a "natural" backdrop for commodified dreams. The journey from representation to sales presentation is complete.