Mirror Road is one of Gary Hill's first experiments with the creation of video images using a synthesizer. This research is specifically oriented towards the transformation of the recording of a real scene as a group of abstract shapes and on the variation of colours and texture effects on this single pattern.

The image is made up of fine black lines which outline the irregular contours of oval zones in a plane space and, due to their graphic quality are reminiscent of a drawing. When this tape is played, the viewer guesses at the initial image due to a sequence of reflections: this is a close up shot of puddles of water on asphalt as suggested by the title. The synthesiser and solarisation have allowed the contours to be isolated and variable colours attributed to the different parts of the image determined by the levels of density of the greys.

The majority of the images created in this way lose all links of identification with the original scene. The contrasts and breakdown of colours and textures evoke subjects of different registers. When the background of the image is dark, then the shapes are light, an illusion of an unknown planet and its continents seen by satellite is created. Then, the reverse happens, the shapes become dark on a light screen or bright colours on an almost white set. Cold colours recall the metallic aspect of the technical universe. Material and texture effects are achieved by variations of contrast, so solids and liquids are suggested. Movements occur within the images: simple lateral movements (only the shapes move in a horizontal direction) or cross-movements (the background and shapes move in a reverse direction) or diagonal movements. All of these formal plays create impressions of landscapes (clouds, etc.), feelings (romantic, etc.), and are successively reminiscent of lyrical painting, abstract expressionism, informal art and action painting.

Gary Hill experimented with the possibility of electronic painting in his works during the period 1975-1979, combined in Selected Works I. Among these, Mirror Road stands out by the informal nature of its motif which, by the evocation of different subjects, contributes to the permanent enhancement of the work; whereas the tapes where the image is structured by an architectured shape or an object such as a window (Windows, 1978), tools (Objects with Destinations, 1979) and the bath theme (Bathing, 1977), reveal formal plays of colours and textures limited by the subject.

Thérèse Beyler