Charles Huntley Nelson’s installation was a preview of his ambitious work-in-progress, a re-imagining of Alphaville, the 1965 fiction/noir/gangster film by Jean-Luc Godard and a meditation on human creativity, camaraderie, and technology.

Alphaville (Preview) presented large prints of Nelson’s notebook sketches, several finished watercolors, and a video “trailer” that featured imagery of flickering lights, the names of several North American cities, photographs of African American college fraternity members, enigmatic texts, and private symbols. These layered visual elements offered insights into Nelson’s working method, combining historical and contemporary content and utilizing drawing, graphics, and film (appropriated or staged for the camera).

Nelson lived and worked in Atlanta, GA. His untimely death in July 2009 was a significant loss to the Atlanta art community. Nelson had solo exhibitions at South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, SC; Project Row Houses, Houston, TX; CAS Gallery, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL; and Romo Gallery and Rialto Center for the Performing Arts, both in Atlanta, GA.