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Watt, John
Peepers
1973

John Watt studied Fine Arts at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick from 1971 to 1973 where he worked as a painter, sculptor and printmaker until discovering videobased art forms. Watt is considered a pioneer of the medium and this tape was included in the Art Gallery of Ontario’s 1974 exhibition Videoscape, the first major survey of video art in Canada. Peepers is a twenty-minute intimate closeup of Watt’s eyes as he gazes intensely at the viewer. The artist and the spectator stare at each other simultaneously, engaging in a dialogue of looking.

 
Watt, John
born Toronto 1953
Peepers
1973
black and white video recording on 3/4" u-matic tape with no sound
15 min. (total duration)
Purchase, Olympic project funding, 1976
19-091

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