From the Film Maker

Compared to other more peaceful landscape paintings, I feel that Wheat Field with Cypresses provokes feelings of loneliness, sadness, anger and even violence. As Van Gogh himself said, ‘My pictures are almost a cry of anguish.’ I think that the feelings of agitation in the painting come in part from the mass of twisting lines and dynamic curves repeated several times throughout, and this characteristic is what inspired the choice of professional bowling as an activity. Spare is about a tenpin bowler who is spending an evening practising alone in the bowling alley. The colours of Van Gogh’s painting are echoed in those of the bowling alley’s décor, and the repetition in the work is reflected in the character’s repeated actions, and in his apparent frustration and loneliness. The film also attempts to convey a sense of the character’s impending death or departure, referring to Van Gogh’s final days and his suicide.

Jeongeun Choi

A piece inspired by Vincent van Gogh, Wheat Field with Cypresses, 1889