Medardo Rosso, Madame X, 1896 -2013 is a looped video that takes as its subject a catalogue reproduction of Rosso's well-known sculpture. Rosso often photographed his own work but this particular image is documentation taken in the 50's after his death depicting Madame X alone atop a pedestal peering out from the gloom. Shirreff reprinted this image on papers with varying surface finishes and, like in earlier videos, re-photographed these secondary images while using a collection of hand-held lights and basic analog studio effects, choreographing the video by sequencing the resulting stills. Madame X, whose identity has always been in question, comes in and out of presence as the video progresses: she sits trapped beneath the half-tone dot pattern of the original black and white reproduction only to then emerge beneath the animating glow of a flashlight. Rosso sculpted material in a manner that would come alive under natural light. In this way Shirreff's video of Madame X is a continuation of these aims-- an attempt to prolong the resonance of her gaze.
3/9/2016- Sent follow up email to Stephano Basilico