GATESHEAD, UK.- Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art presents Sam Taylor Wood - Still Lives, on view through September 3, 2006. One of the leading artists of her generation, Sam Taylor-Wood is widely acclaimed for her compelling psychological portraits in photography, film and video. Creating ambiguous orchestrated scenarios that focus on the extremes of human emotion, ranging from desire to anger, and loneliness to boredom, she presents enigmatic situations loaded with latent but explosive energy. Taylor-Wood’s frequent depiction of screen icons poses intriguing questions about identity and performance.

This major BALTIC exhibition brings together renowned pieces presented alongside several new works. Premiering at BALTIC are Prelude and The Last Century. Prelude is a new film work in which the artist filmed a musician playing a piece of music by Bach. The musician appears at one with his instrument during the virtuoso performance, but the cello has been digitally erased. The Last Century is a 7 minute 12 second long film made inside a smoky pub that appears to stretch time and extend a single moment.

Shown alongside these works are Self-Portrait Suspended, a series of self portraits of the artist weightless and suspended in mid-air; the acclaimed work David - a video portrait of footballer David Beckham sleeping; Bram Stoker’s Chair series and the complete series of Crying Men. This series of 27 photographic portraits of international male film stars, who were each asked by the artist to cry for the camera features Tim Roth, Gabriel Byrne, Laurence Fishburne, Woody Harrelson, Michael Gambon, Jude Law, Hayden Christiansen, Ryan Gosling, Robert Downey Jr., Paul Newman, Ed Harris, Benicio Del Toro, Willem Dafoe and Kris Kristofferson. The exhibition also presents two large rarely seen works, Contact, a six and half metre installation of photographs made in 2000 and Atlantic, a three part film installation created in 1997.

Testing our physical and emotional limits, Sam Taylor-Wood examines the vulnerability and fragility of the human body, addressing the major themes of life and death, and reflecting on our own mortality. Whilst contemporary in feel and presentation, her work references the symbolism of Dutch still life and Renaissance paintings. This exhibition consolidates Taylor-Wood as an artist whose work is magical, beguiling and constantly surprising. This exhibition has been curated and organised by BALTIC

Sam Taylor-Wood was born in London in 1967. She graduated from Goldsmiths College in 1990 and currently lives and works in London. Since her first solo show at White Cube in 1995, the artist has had numerous solo exhibitions including Fundacio La Caixa, Barcelona; Kunsthalle, Zurich; Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.; Fondazione Prada, Milan; Matthew Marks Gallery, New York; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and Hayward Gallery, London. In 1997 she received the Illy Café Prize for Most Promising Young Artist at the Venice Biennale and was nominated for the Turner Prize.