Amos Vogel no longer walks the earth. He was a beautiful man and I remember drinking champagne with him in 2005 when we made the deal for getting his book, Film as a Subversive Art back into print (first published in 1974). He was the founder of the subversive cinema club, Cinema 16 (1940), which screened works by notorious film makers such as Kenneth Anger, Maya Deren and Yoko Ono.
He lived a potent life and contributed much to the cultural cannon. I raise a shot of vodka to him tonight. He will be missed and he will be remembered. God Bless his Soul.
You can review a Q&A he did for me here in 2005. Watch Paul Cronin's film in full over at Artist-Talks
And for more on the man and his contribution to film see this article from the Lincon Film Society. And The Sticking Place.
I thought I'd put a little compilation of videos together that either are in direct reference to the exhibition or certainly nudge my memory and thoughts into these places. The show is well worth a visit, his social anthropology and cultural commentaries makes for interesting art.
More on Deller's exhibition with interviews with him and clips from his work here at Artist-Talks
Big Daddy vs Giant Haystacks, circa 1980
Football Hooligans, Chelsea vs Middlesborough, 1989
The Prodigy, Out of Space, 1990
E Zee Posse, Everything Starts with an E, 1989
Acid House 1989 Illegal Rave part 4 Sunrise
Joy Riding is sexy or at least the noise is.
The Battle of Orgreave, 1984-5, Miner's strike
Fashion Films are mostly naff from what I’ve seen, but we’re finally starting to see the emergence of some decent videos from the big fashion houses. The Show, a short to promote Lanvin for H&M and directed by Mike Figgis (below), is super cute and expertly captures the spirit of the luxury brand. But I’m here mainly in praise of Stefano Pilato.
The creative director of YSL is showing himself to be, not only an incredible designer, but a master of media; he knows exactly how to exploit it and deliver his vision. The Manifestos celebrate print and surface, even offering secret stickers of a jubilant Schiffer; and he has just released my current favourite of the fashion shorts, a super slick number directed by his close collaborators Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. You can view it here, but be warned if you’re female you’ll need a strong sense of self when confronting the nuclear vision of womanhood that strides down the stairs towards you and if you’re a man, please, for the benefit of all of us, remember it’s a fantasy and I doubt she’d be interested in you anyway
Fashion Films are mostly naff from what I’ve seen, but we’re finally starting to see the emergence of some decent videos from the big fashion houses. The Show, a short to promote Lanvin for H&M and directed by Mike Figgis (below), is super cute and expertly captures the spirit of the luxury brand. But I’m here mainly in praise of Stefano Pilato.
The creative director of YSL is showing himself to be, not only an incredible designer, but a master of media; he knows exactly how to exploit it and deliver his vision. The Manifestos celebrate print and surface, even offering secret stickers of a jubilant Schiffer; and he has just released my current favourite of the fashion shorts, a super slick number directed by his close collaborators Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. You can view it here, but be warned if you’re female you’ll need a strong sense of self when confronting the nuclear vision of womanhood that strides down the stairs towards you and if you’re a man, please, for the benefit of all of us, remember it’s a fantasy and I doubt she’d be interested in you anyway
The Otolith Group hosted an extraordinary screening at the Tate the other day as part of their contribution to the Turner Prize; Henchman Glance by Chris Marker. Now I am a fan of Marker’s films, but this one has left me speechless. I’m still processing what I saw, so I’ll tell you the facts: In 1961 Nazi Officer Adolf Eichmann was put on trial in Jerusalem. As part of the trial the defendant was pulled into court during the darkness of the night, whilst only the officials were present and made to watch Nuit et Brouillard (below) the first documentary fiction of the Nazi concentration and extermination system. The director in change of documenting proceedings secretly kept the camera silently rolling on Eichmann’s face throughout the screening. Marker, then took this footage and inter-cut it with what Eichmann saw and heard. It’s not easy to watch, and I for one have never seen Holocaust footage like it. The work of course raises many questions, but for me I found that I measured my reaction to Eichmann’s, after all we were both watching. Where I flinched, Eichmann simply scratched; as my hands shot up to protect my vision from what I saw in Nuit et Brouillard, the counter-shot of Eichmann wiping sleep from his eyes disorientated me. Was this pure control hiding something deep below, or beyond cold. Where had Eichmann gone?
Nuit et Brouillard, Alain Resnais, 1956
The Otolith group talk about their work for the Turner Prize nomination, 2010
At the last Frieze Art Fair I picked up a nice looking paper from Image Movement. The paper features a list of artists’ all time favourite movies and it looks like they do some nice projects. I dip into this whenever I am having a blank moment when ordering movies from LoveFilm. I picked a film favoured by Richard Prince, The Honeymoon Killers. Not normally one for the blk and whites I put it off for a few days, but Oh My it took my breath away. It’s a scary tale of two damaged people finding each other. Shirley Stoler, who plays our female protagonist is haunting as a lumpy nurse with a vicious and emotional demeanor and a lack of attachment to anyone. However, her comfort eating and hysterics, those brief moments of passion and hope tied to early dreams of love and meaning make you empathise with her. This is a tale of fantasies gone bad and a very beautiful one at that.
From Tits to Mushrooms, not such a big jump. Remember Disney's Fantasia? My favourite of all the Disney films. This particular scene with the dancing Chinese Mushrooms I just loved, and what I way to get a kid onto classical music! Disney has had it removed from YouTube. Boo. Silly Disney.
This is one of my all time favourite films. The aesthetics are extreme and sublime. Kubric’s genius, i think, is in part to his use of colour and symmetry. Each frame is so considered they’re like paintings from the old masters. And I’ve always appreciated Wendy’s winter wardrobe: the smock dress with red boots, the felt yellow jacket, scarf and jeans and boots, tres chic! She just looks super seventies cool.
When I published Film as a Subversive Art some years ago, one image in particular stayed with me which was a still from the above film. I tried in vain to get hold of it but couldn’t find it anywhere on the net. Brilliant that YouTube now has it and for the first time I get to watch it. The still I’ve posted shows men looking through holes to view a woman who is set on a spit and turned relentlessly by a man on the outside. She’s seen a piece of meat there for the joy of men. You have to watch it (below), come to your own conclusions. Also worth seeing is AI, Love (below), where a woman chases a man across town shouting ‘love’ at him. At times she catches him, sometimes he passes through her, but mostly he tries to escape. The Room (below) is pretty mental too.
Aos, By Yoji Kuri, 1964
Love, 1960 (?)
The Room, (1960)
