ABOUT STUDIO E.M. AND CHRISTOPHER ERNST

Studio E.M. houses the film, video and art work of Christopher (Chris) Ernst, an artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Alongside his independent productions, Christopher also works as a Video Producer for MTV Networks and as Part-Time Faculty for the graduate program in the New School Department of Media Studies. He received his MFA from the University at Buffalo Department of Media Study, where he studied with Tony Conrad as a Dean’s Fellow in the College of Arts & Sciences, and received his BA from Hampshire College, studying with filmmaker Bill Brand. Christopher is the recipient of multiple awards, including the New York State Council on the Arts Individuals Artists Grant in Film, Video, and New Media, and his work has been widely exhibited internationally.

Christopher's creative practice stretches across multiple genres, integrating many divergent aesthetics and styles. As a producer for MTV Networks and through Studio E.M., Christopher has worked on many diverse projects, including music videos, feature films, video art works and commercials.  A number of his recent broadcast productions have been part of larger philanthropic and educational campaigns, including the “9/11 ‘I Will’ Ten-Year Commemoration” and the “Get Schooled” initiative, produced in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  At the same time, he has pursued feature filmmaking as both a collaborative and independent endeavor. He recently worked in creative partnership with artist Geoffrey Alan Rhodes and UK filmmaker Steven Eastwood as Director of Photography on the feature film, Buried Land (2010), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.  Currently, he is completing the post-production phase of his feature narrative film, “In Carcosa,” produced in part with funding from a New York State Council for the Arts grant, and he has just started pre-production for a feature documentary examining the Washington D.C. punk music scene of the 1990’s. His collaborative projects often include work with musicians, including composer Otto Muller, singer/songwriter Drew O’Doherty, and experimental music ensemble Empty House Cooperative. An accomplished musician himself, Christopher has played with a number of bands over the past fifteen years. He currently is a member of the Brooklyn-based instrumental group BELLS≥, which features former members of the Oxford Collapse and Jawbox.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

 
My work is mercurial, but it can be divided into three intersecting “streams” of practice. There are connections between these practices.  My fine-art work focuses on blurring the lines between cinematic experience and the gallery space by applying conceptual strategies of narrative cinema to photography and multi-media installations.  My work in the commercial industry utilizes fine-art aesthetics and experimental film techniques as a means to produce innovative creative for a highly competitive market—in particular, creative that works across multiple distribution platforms.  My independent film practice seeks to re-imagine the feature film using methodologies inspired by critical theory and contemporary art, specifically performance and media art.

I suppose one could look at these intersecting streams as a united effort produced under the umbrella of “screen-based” art. It’s arguable that screen-based media dominates how we communicate. We consume media through a confluence of a billion bright rectangles, windows that frame our interaction with the everyday world. I am certainly dedicated to the production of innovative content for any screen-based platform, concerning myself as much with the end outlet as with aesthetics and content. Or perhaps you could look at my work as “lens-based” art. After all, I am also committed to a creative practice that considers multiple image-making approaches as being unique dialects within a greater lens-based language. The lens does rule, in the end: it’s our window onto the world, the tool that zoom us in and out, focuses in tight and shows us detail, or pulls out to show us the big picture. More than just a photograph or a film, more than just computers and televisions, more than just mobile devices, the language of the lens both communicates and produces the many screen-based spaces we inhabit.

At the end of the day, however, labeling what I do doesn’t matter. The work matters. I make films, art works, videos and other moving images. I create independent projects, provide creative services and solutions for others, look for dynamic collaborations, and seek out support for the creation and sharing of original ideas. I hope the ideas speak for themselves.
Thank you for your interest.