This hand-painted work, six years in the making (37 in the study of The Divine Comedy) demonstrates the earthly conditions of Hell, Purgatory (or Transition), and Heaven (or ‘existence is song’, which is the closest I’d presume heaven to be from my experience). The film is in four parts which are inspired by the closed-eye or hypnogogic vision created by these emotional states. Originally painted on IMAX and Cinemascope 70mm and 35mm, these paint-laden rolls have been carefully re-photographed and translated to 35mm and 16mm compilations by Dan Yanofsky of Western Cine.

Stan Brakhage