WESTERN FRONT – Steel and Flesh

Description:

Steel and Flesh is a single-channel video production based on the murder mystery comic strips Eric Metcalfe drew in the 1950s. The work straddles Metcalfe’s teenage conception of drama, and the subsequent ability to bracket these ideas in humour, resulting in a dramatic pastiche of poker faces, puns, knives, flesh, and suspense. Metcalfe appears as his alter ego Howard Huge in the role of an owner of a Las Vegas-type gambling house. Throughout the narrative, he is pitted against his archetypal evil nemesis Terrorist the Knifer, played by Andrew James Paterson. Metcalfe also plays the character Ruby the Fob, appearing in drag.

Director Dana Atchley employs mainstream media techniques and styles to tell a disjointed and subversive story with references to Jacques-Louis David’s painting Death of Marat (1793), Picasso’s harlequins, early Kenneth Anger films, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960).

Steel and Flesh features cameos from Hank Bull, Byron Black, Margaret Dragu, Peter Fraser, David Gibbons, Glenn Lewis, Bayard Palmer, Andrew James Paterson, Lily Pearl Rose, Su Schnee, Audrey Skalbania, and Kim Tomczak.

Video documentation is available upon request.

A studio set up featuring photography equipment and a monitor. A man in a suit and tie stands in front of a backdrop, while the photographer in the foreground captures photos of him. The image is in black and white.

A three-quarter front shot of a person hoisting a harlequin backdrop behind a man in a puffed long sleeve shirt, with his open hands raised. His face is painted in a harlequin pattern that matches the backdrop. The unlit area in the background features more camera equipment and a tall ladder.

A front-shot of two people hoisting a harlequin backdrop behind a man in a puffed long sleeve shirt, with his open hands raised. His face is painted in a harlequin pattern that matches the backdrop. Behind them is a long blank backdrop that drapes to the floor and two spotlights above. A monitor with a microphone is in the foreground framing the man with the painted face.
The image is in black and white.

Three people congregate amongst each other, one of them holds a camera directed towards the other two. The background features a room with a long blank backdrop draping to the floor and camera equipment. The image is in black and white.

Backstage of a set, arranged with several pieces of camera equipment and a camera crew. The image is in black and white.

A behind the scenes shot of a camera crew capturing an actor pointing a prop gun to his right.
Behind them is a long blank backdrop that drapes to the floor and two spotlights above. The image is in black and white.

A three-quarter angle-shot of someone pointing a microphone towards an actor, as the moment is captured by the camera-person. The monitor in front of the actor displays his hands together, gesturing down. The background features chairs and other set equipment. The image is in black and white.

A long-shot of a man wearing headphones and pointing a microphone to his right. A shoot-through umbrella stands in front of him. The image is in black and white.

An overexposed shot of a man in headphones pointing a microphone towards an actor as he looks down towards it. The image is in black and white.

A long-shot of an actor cast in stark lighting. He is wearing a coat and a surprised expression. The image is in black and white.

Captions:

Eric Metcalfe filming Steel and Flesh (1980).
Hank Bull filming Steel and Flesh (1980).
Hank Bull filming Steel and Flesh (1980).
Margaret Dragu, Eric Metcalfe and Dana Atchley filming Steel and Flesh (1980).
Production of Steel and Flesh at Western Front (1980).
Production of Steel and Flesh at Western Front (1980).
Production of Steel and Flesh at Western Front (1980).
Hank Bull on the set of Steel and Flesh (1980).
Hank Bull and Andrew James Paterson on the set of Steel and Flesh (1980).
Andrew James Paterson filming Steel and Flesh (1980).
Eric Metcalfe filming Steel and Flesh (1980).
Eric Metcalfe filming Steel and Flesh (1980).
Eric Metcalfe filming Steel and Flesh (1980).
Eric Metcalfe filming Steel and Flesh (1980).
Eric Metcalfe filming Steel and Flesh (1980).

Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.