Lewis uses 35mm film, professional actors, crew and simple filming techniques to undermine the characteristics that define mainstream and avant-garde cinema. By subtly referencing classical motifs and genres (for example, dense foliage to represent sexuality and the combination of landscape and portrait) Lewis weaves connections between the history of art and film, and suggests that the evolution of film and technology are intrinsically linked to other visual cultures.

Lewis turned from photography to filmmaking in the mid 1990's, although photography still plays an important role in his work today (his 'location photographs' are often precursors to completed films). Earlier works, such as Peeping Tom (2000) and Upside Down Touch of Evil (1997) focused on deconstructing cinema history by selecting and re-creating particular elements of well-known films, employing simple shots and techniques.

The works exhibited in the show, which dated from 2001, documented a significant shift in Lewis' practice. Glamorous locations were replaced with observations of everyday situations, actions and places. The focus of Lewis' gaze became the brutalist concrete structures and council estates found in his London studio's back yard. Both Rear Projection films reveal a desolate Canadian landscape with dilapidated buildings - a far cry from the lush tropical gardens depicted in Jay's Garden, Malibu or the sublime parkland of Algonquin Park (a previous work we commissioned for Liverpool Biennial 2002).