If you want to know how the definition of “scandal” has changed with the decades, you couldn’t do much better than to see “Taking Venice,” Amei Wallach’s highly enjoyable and revealing documentary about a legendary uproar in the art world. The film chronicles what happened at the 1964 Venice Biennale — the exhibition of contemporary art, held every two years, that culminates in the awarding of an esteemed grand prize. At the time, the Biennale was considered to be a kind of art-world equivalent of the Olympic Games. Not just artists but the nations they represented were jockeying for cultural supremacy. In the ’50s and early ’60s, the grand prize often went to the French, but in 1964 the U.S. decided to mount a campaign of “cultural diplomacy” in the hopes that one of its own artists — Robert Rauschenberg — would win the Biennale.
Rauschenberg’s mixed-media paintings, known as “combines,...
Rauschenberg’s mixed-media paintings, known as “combines,...
- 5/31/2024
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Norman Lear not only knew about television, but the late TV icon was also an influential art collector along with his wife of 37 years, Lyn Davis Lear.
And now, several pieces from the Lears’ art collection will hit the Christie’s auction block, including David Hockney’s 1967 “A Lawn Being Sprinkled.” When the “All in the Family” creator bought the work in 1978 for $64,000, it marked the highest price paid for a piece by the British artist. Christie’s estimates it will bring in $25-$35 million after debuting during the 20th Century Evening Sale in New York City on May 16. “I remember when I first met Norman, he had a gallery,” Lyn Davis Lear told me. “He loved showing people art.”
David Hockney’s “A Lawn Being Sprinkled.”
Norman Lear was introduced to the local Los Angeles art scene in the 1970s by agent-turned-television-producer Richard “Dick” Dorso. “They were great friends...
And now, several pieces from the Lears’ art collection will hit the Christie’s auction block, including David Hockney’s 1967 “A Lawn Being Sprinkled.” When the “All in the Family” creator bought the work in 1978 for $64,000, it marked the highest price paid for a piece by the British artist. Christie’s estimates it will bring in $25-$35 million after debuting during the 20th Century Evening Sale in New York City on May 16. “I remember when I first met Norman, he had a gallery,” Lyn Davis Lear told me. “He loved showing people art.”
David Hockney’s “A Lawn Being Sprinkled.”
Norman Lear was introduced to the local Los Angeles art scene in the 1970s by agent-turned-television-producer Richard “Dick” Dorso. “They were great friends...
- 5/14/2024
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
“In the Streets” is the first edition of the Notebook Insert, a seasonal supplement on moving-image culture. For the Multiplex column, we ask filmmakers, critics, and artists for short-form responses to the topic in question.Illustration by Lale Westvind.Martine Syms (Los Angeles)Artist; director, The African Desperate (2022)1.I’m shopping with **** and *** at a high-end store. I have a rare jewel up my butt. We’re looking for gifts. I run into Alex ****. She works at the store now. I try to remember lyrics to a punk song I wrote in high school. I jump up and I’m on a glider, gliding around town. I see a sign for legal services. Her & Her Feminist Law Office. The ad is a giant pair of pink panties. I decide to land there and check out their services. I have two Rimowa suitcases with me. I attempt to walk down the steps to the elevator,...
- 5/2/2024
- MUBI
"Is it your theory not to have a theory?" Zeitgeist Films has revealed an official trailer for a documentary film called Taking Venice, a remarkable true story from art history. This premiered at Doc NYC last year and is opening in limited theaters starting in May. The film received critical acclaim at the 2023 Rome Film Festival, Sao Paulo Film Festival, and Fort Lauderdale Festival. The documentary uncovers the true story behind rumors that the 1964 Venice Biennale was rigged – by the U.S. Government and a team of highly placed insiders – so that their chosen artist, Robert Rauschenberg, would win the grand prize. "This fun caper movie explores the true story behind the rumors... With an extraordinary cast of experts and insiders from the art world and extensive archival footage, the [doc] reveals the plans of ambitious curator Alan Solomon and pioneering art dealer Leo Castelli to win the 1964 Grand Prize for American...
- 4/2/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
New York, NY, February 26, 2024 – The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts will present the world theatrical premiere of Merce Cunningham: The Events at Dia Beacon, a 40-minute film drawing on footage from the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s unique, site-specific Events at Dia Beacon in 2008 and 2009. The screening will take place on Monday, April 8, at 6pm, at the Library’s Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center.
From 2007 to 2009, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company presented a series of Cunningham’s Events in the galleries of Dia Beacon. This film, edited by award-winning film director/editor Daniel Madoff, is a compilation from five of these site-specific stagings with footage from the dress rehearsals and live performances.
Says producer Nancy Dalva: “The film creates an entirely new cinematic event with linkages revealing the choreographer’s idiosyncratic methodology and acute sensitivity to environment. Cunningham arranged these multi-stage performances after careful site visits,...
From 2007 to 2009, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company presented a series of Cunningham’s Events in the galleries of Dia Beacon. This film, edited by award-winning film director/editor Daniel Madoff, is a compilation from five of these site-specific stagings with footage from the dress rehearsals and live performances.
Says producer Nancy Dalva: “The film creates an entirely new cinematic event with linkages revealing the choreographer’s idiosyncratic methodology and acute sensitivity to environment. Cunningham arranged these multi-stage performances after careful site visits,...
- 2/27/2024
- by Music MCM
- Martin Cid Music
Exclusive: Zeitgeist Films, in association with Kino Lorber, has acquired North American rights to filmmaker and art critic Amei Wallach’s Taking Venice, a doc that explores the rumored rigging of the 1964 Venice Biennale.
Taking Venice will make its North American premiere at Doc NYC on November 10, followed by a theatrical release from Zeitgeist in spring 2024 alongside an educational, home video, and digital release on all major platforms by Kino Lorber.
With expert interviews and extensive archival footage, Taking Venice uncovers the true story behind rumors that the U.S. government and a team of high-placed insiders rigged the 1964 Venice Biennale so their chosen artist, Robert Rauschenberg, could win the grand prize.
Full Synopsis reads: At the height of the Cold War, the U.S. State Department was determined to fight communism with culture, setting its sights on the 1964 Venice Biennale. They engaged the help of high-profile art insiders, including art...
Taking Venice will make its North American premiere at Doc NYC on November 10, followed by a theatrical release from Zeitgeist in spring 2024 alongside an educational, home video, and digital release on all major platforms by Kino Lorber.
With expert interviews and extensive archival footage, Taking Venice uncovers the true story behind rumors that the U.S. government and a team of high-placed insiders rigged the 1964 Venice Biennale so their chosen artist, Robert Rauschenberg, could win the grand prize.
Full Synopsis reads: At the height of the Cold War, the U.S. State Department was determined to fight communism with culture, setting its sights on the 1964 Venice Biennale. They engaged the help of high-profile art insiders, including art...
- 11/14/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Fashion designer Issey Miyake, known equally well for bold and timeless pleated pieces as well as simpler ones like Steve Jobs’ iconic black turtleneck, died at the age of 84 from liver cancer.
In Memoriam 2022: 100 Great Celebrities Who Died This Year!
Miyake founded and ran his eponymous design studio which became a titan of high-end women’s fashion lines. His incredible design appeal crossed generations and eras and is a consistent favorite among celebrities like Grace Jones, Solange Knowles, Meryl Streep and many more.
Issey Miyake was born on April 22, 1938, in Hiroshima, Japan. He revealed in 2009 that as a seven-year-old child, he was one of many Japanese people affected by the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He first wanted to be a dancer as a child, but later gained an interest in fashion by reading his sister’s fashion magazines.
Miyake graduated from Tama Art University in...
In Memoriam 2022: 100 Great Celebrities Who Died This Year!
Miyake founded and ran his eponymous design studio which became a titan of high-end women’s fashion lines. His incredible design appeal crossed generations and eras and is a consistent favorite among celebrities like Grace Jones, Solange Knowles, Meryl Streep and many more.
Issey Miyake was born on April 22, 1938, in Hiroshima, Japan. He revealed in 2009 that as a seven-year-old child, he was one of many Japanese people affected by the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He first wanted to be a dancer as a child, but later gained an interest in fashion by reading his sister’s fashion magazines.
Miyake graduated from Tama Art University in...
- 8/15/2022
- by Jacob Linden
- Uinterview
“Nightclubbing,” the first-ever documentary about the legendary New York City nightclub Max’s Kansas City, which from 1965 through 1981 was a hotbed for the city’s rock, glam, punk and new wave scenes, has announced a series of screenings across the globe in July and August.
The film — the full title of which is “Nightclubbing: The Birth of Punk Rock in NYC” — will screen along with another doc from Chip Baker Films, “Sid: The Final Curtain,” which is a brief documentary about the late Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious’ final concert, which took place at Max’s.
“Nightclubbing” is the sixth music documentary from Spanish filmmaker Danny Garcia (others include “The Rise and Fall of The Clash” and “Rolling Stone: The Life and Death of Brian Jones” about the group’s founder and original leader). It premiered at the Dock of the Bay Film Festival in San Sebastián, Spain last month...
The film — the full title of which is “Nightclubbing: The Birth of Punk Rock in NYC” — will screen along with another doc from Chip Baker Films, “Sid: The Final Curtain,” which is a brief documentary about the late Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious’ final concert, which took place at Max’s.
“Nightclubbing” is the sixth music documentary from Spanish filmmaker Danny Garcia (others include “The Rise and Fall of The Clash” and “Rolling Stone: The Life and Death of Brian Jones” about the group’s founder and original leader). It premiered at the Dock of the Bay Film Festival in San Sebastián, Spain last month...
- 6/22/2022
- by Jem Aswad
- Variety Film + TV
A look back at a 1983 Jean-Michel Basquiat interview forced me to once again consider Toni Morrison's reverberating words. In "Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and Literary Imagination," she argued that "a real or fabricated Africanist presence was crucial to their sense of Americanness." "Their," in this case, meant white literary authors. She posited that they distinguished themselves as a cohesive entity, while their identity and work hinged on the existence of a Black population kept in the shadows - historical integrity be damned.
Morrison's argument can be extended to the world of visual art and, more specifically, to Basquiat's presence in NYC's "neo-expressionist" art movement of the late '70s and early '80s. A year after his 1988 death, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) was offered Basquiat's work, and the organization declined. Then-Head Curator Ann Temkin contended that his paintings were not marketable. Temkin later admitted, "I didn't recognize it as great,...
Morrison's argument can be extended to the world of visual art and, more specifically, to Basquiat's presence in NYC's "neo-expressionist" art movement of the late '70s and early '80s. A year after his 1988 death, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) was offered Basquiat's work, and the organization declined. Then-Head Curator Ann Temkin contended that his paintings were not marketable. Temkin later admitted, "I didn't recognize it as great,...
- 2/15/2022
- by marjua estevez
- Popsugar.com
By now, it seems as if we’ve read, seen, and heard about every reaction possible to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, since it’s been the fodder for countless stories meant to explain to later generations why it was a pivotal point in history. But nothing quite prepared me for a tender moment between Andy Warhol and poet John Giorno 80 pages into his memoir, Great Demon Kings, on that day in 1963.
“Andy and I grabbed each other, hugged and hugged, pressing our bodies together, trembling. We both started crying,...
“Andy and I grabbed each other, hugged and hugged, pressing our bodies together, trembling. We both started crying,...
- 8/10/2020
- by Jerry Portwood
- Rollingstone.com
To mark the release of Cunningham on 6th July, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on DVD.
Director Alla Kovgan, traces Merce’s artistic evolution over three decades of risk and discovery between 1944–1972, from early years as a struggling dancer in postwar New York to his emergence as one of the most visionary and influential choreographers in the world.
Misunderstood and rejected by the dance world of his time, Merce persevered against all odds and developed a new dance technique and a new way of thinking about making dance performances in collaboration with composer John Cage and visual artist Robert Rauschenberg. Rooted in both imaginary realms and actual life experiences, the film features excerpts from Cunningham’s works, re-imagined for cinema at interior and exterior locations. The precise choreography of the camera allows viewers to “step inside the dance”; and the archival materials evoke the charged atmosphere of the time,...
Director Alla Kovgan, traces Merce’s artistic evolution over three decades of risk and discovery between 1944–1972, from early years as a struggling dancer in postwar New York to his emergence as one of the most visionary and influential choreographers in the world.
Misunderstood and rejected by the dance world of his time, Merce persevered against all odds and developed a new dance technique and a new way of thinking about making dance performances in collaboration with composer John Cage and visual artist Robert Rauschenberg. Rooted in both imaginary realms and actual life experiences, the film features excerpts from Cunningham’s works, re-imagined for cinema at interior and exterior locations. The precise choreography of the camera allows viewers to “step inside the dance”; and the archival materials evoke the charged atmosphere of the time,...
- 6/29/2020
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Cunningham director Alla Kovgan on Merce Cunningham, Robert Rauschenberg and John Cage: 'In a way they are timeless' Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze In the second half of my conversation with Alla Kovgan on Cunningham (read the first half here), we discussed her appreciation for the significant role Derrick Tseng played in getting the film made, Director of Choreography Jennifer Goggans and Supervising Director of Choreography Robert Swinston and Notes on Choreography, storyboarding for locations in New York and shooting in Germany with Mko Malkhasyan.
Also: The timelessness of the collaborations by Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage and Merce Cunningham and the transcendence of time that Karl Ove Knausgård in My Struggle assigns to works of art as compared to science.
Merce Cunningham, Carolyn Brown, Viola Farber, Cynthia Stone, Marilyn Wood, and Remy Charlip in Summerspace Photo: Robert Rutledge Cunningham has a flawless score by Hauschka aka Volker Bertelmann (BAFTA and Oscar-nominated...
Also: The timelessness of the collaborations by Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage and Merce Cunningham and the transcendence of time that Karl Ove Knausgård in My Struggle assigns to works of art as compared to science.
Merce Cunningham, Carolyn Brown, Viola Farber, Cynthia Stone, Marilyn Wood, and Remy Charlip in Summerspace Photo: Robert Rutledge Cunningham has a flawless score by Hauschka aka Volker Bertelmann (BAFTA and Oscar-nominated...
- 3/4/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Chicago – In the post World War II art scene, when New York City took over the cutting edge while Europe lay in tatters, there emerged a dance creator who influenced the avant garde like no other. Merce Cunningham lived until age 90, and from the time he began in dance to the end of his life, the legacy was his impactful contribution. In an affecting new 3D documentary entitled “Cunningham,” director Alla Kovgan goes over the life and times of the dancer and the artist.
’Cunningham,’ Directed by Alla Kovgan
Photo credit: Magnolia Pictures
Merce Cunningham began his career with dance legend Martha Graham in 1939, and gave his first solo presentation in collaboration with composer (and life long partner) John Cage in 1944. He broke out on his own in 1953 with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1953, and was Artistic Director of that company until his death in 2009.
Director Alla Kovgan of...
’Cunningham,’ Directed by Alla Kovgan
Photo credit: Magnolia Pictures
Merce Cunningham began his career with dance legend Martha Graham in 1939, and gave his first solo presentation in collaboration with composer (and life long partner) John Cage in 1944. He broke out on his own in 1953 with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1953, and was Artistic Director of that company until his death in 2009.
Director Alla Kovgan of...
- 1/2/2020
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Alla Kovgan’s “Cunningham” is a documentary that stages excerpts from some of Merce Cunningham’s most representative dances in 3D, and these 3D dances take up about one third of the film’s 90-minute running time. They are often exciting but sometimes frustrating, and Cunningham himself makes for an enigmatic subject.
Cunningham made dances that were built around an ideal of freedom and possibility — one of his favorite words — but with dark underpinnings. He rehearsed them without music, and he was not too interested in costumes or sets. Cunningham was dedicated to pure movement, which meant that he was not concerned with what his dances could mean to others on the level of interpretation or narrative; his best work involves a series of movements so unexpected that they cause a kind of jolt to the senses.
Before he died in 2009, Cunningham left behind templates for how his dances might go forward without him.
Cunningham made dances that were built around an ideal of freedom and possibility — one of his favorite words — but with dark underpinnings. He rehearsed them without music, and he was not too interested in costumes or sets. Cunningham was dedicated to pure movement, which meant that he was not concerned with what his dances could mean to others on the level of interpretation or narrative; his best work involves a series of movements so unexpected that they cause a kind of jolt to the senses.
Before he died in 2009, Cunningham left behind templates for how his dances might go forward without him.
- 12/12/2019
- by Dan Callahan
- The Wrap
Alla Kovgan at Magnolia Pictures on Cunningham composer Hauschka: “He became almost like a ceramic artist who would give a shape to the entire film.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Alla Kovgan’s Cunningham, shot by Mko Malkhasyan with Joséphine Derobe (Wim Wenders’ Les Beaux Jours D'Aranjuez with Reda Kateb and Sophie Semin; Everything Will Be Fine; The Berlin Philharmonie in Cathedrals Of Culture; Pina and If Buildings Could Talk with Alain Derobe) as the Director of Stereography, Director of Choreography Jennifer Goggans with Supervising Director of Choreography Robert Swinston and a flawless score by Hauschka aka Volker Bertelmann (BAFTA and Oscar nominated composer with Dustin O'Halloran for Garth Davis’s Lion) takes us creatively into the world of Merce Cunningham.
John Cage with Merce Cunningham and Robert Rauschenberg Photo: Douglas Jeffrey
In the first half of my conversation with Alla Kovgan we discussed Merce Cunningham’s collaborations with Robert Rauschenberg and...
Alla Kovgan’s Cunningham, shot by Mko Malkhasyan with Joséphine Derobe (Wim Wenders’ Les Beaux Jours D'Aranjuez with Reda Kateb and Sophie Semin; Everything Will Be Fine; The Berlin Philharmonie in Cathedrals Of Culture; Pina and If Buildings Could Talk with Alain Derobe) as the Director of Stereography, Director of Choreography Jennifer Goggans with Supervising Director of Choreography Robert Swinston and a flawless score by Hauschka aka Volker Bertelmann (BAFTA and Oscar nominated composer with Dustin O'Halloran for Garth Davis’s Lion) takes us creatively into the world of Merce Cunningham.
John Cage with Merce Cunningham and Robert Rauschenberg Photo: Douglas Jeffrey
In the first half of my conversation with Alla Kovgan we discussed Merce Cunningham’s collaborations with Robert Rauschenberg and...
- 12/11/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Conor Oberst praised the music and art of Daniel Johnston and remembered the unique spirit of the late outsider folk hero, who died Wednesday of natural causes at the age of 58.
Oberst said he was “lucky enough” to have played several shows with Johnston over the past two decades, but noted that prior to those gigs many people warned him that Johnston might “act ‘crazy’ or ‘off’ or something.” But, Oberst said, he never encountered that side of Johnston.
“When I locked eyes, and was talking with him, I felt...
Oberst said he was “lucky enough” to have played several shows with Johnston over the past two decades, but noted that prior to those gigs many people warned him that Johnston might “act ‘crazy’ or ‘off’ or something.” But, Oberst said, he never encountered that side of Johnston.
“When I locked eyes, and was talking with him, I felt...
- 9/12/2019
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Good nonfiction storytelling requires artistry beyond talking heads and archives, though creative vision sometimes feels purposely concealed or standardized in documentaries to prioritize substance over style. But here’s a dance documentary that splendidly flaunts its artistic point of view, and fittingly so. This is a good time to remember that nonfiction films can be theatrical experiences that demand to be seen on the largest screen possible.
Shot in glorious 3D that makes the technical mode feel indispensable, Kovgan’s ode to choreography master Merce Cunningham is sensational in every sense of the word. Renewing one’s appreciation of the many wonders of the human body and the space in which it fills and drifts, “Cunningham” celebrates all the things our joints and flexed muscles are capable of, as seen through the mind and poetic dances of an iconic creator.
The artist Kovgan celebrates throughout the vivid frames and staging...
Shot in glorious 3D that makes the technical mode feel indispensable, Kovgan’s ode to choreography master Merce Cunningham is sensational in every sense of the word. Renewing one’s appreciation of the many wonders of the human body and the space in which it fills and drifts, “Cunningham” celebrates all the things our joints and flexed muscles are capable of, as seen through the mind and poetic dances of an iconic creator.
The artist Kovgan celebrates throughout the vivid frames and staging...
- 9/8/2019
- by Tomris Laffly
- Variety Film + TV
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, hosted an intimate dinner and auction for its supporters at The Peninsula Paris.
CeeLo Green Performs at amfAR Dinner in Paris
Credit/Copyright: Getty Images
Five-time Grammy Award-winning artist Cee Lo Green performed for guests including Heidi Klum, Tom Kaulitz, Maria Borges, Caroline Scheufele, Coco Rocha, Anna Cleveland, Carine Roitfeld, Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld, Ellen von Unwerth, Michele Lamy, Caroline Vreeland, Cindy Bruna, Valery Kaufman, Madison Headrick, Tom Pecheux, Sofia Resing, Larsen Thompson, Ian Bohen, Min Pechaya, Prince Wenceslas, Rachel Zoe, and amfAR Global Fundraising Chairman Milutin Gatsby, among others. The Mike Flowers Pops band also performed.
amfAR VP of Development, Eric Muscatell, opened the evening by welcoming guests and thanking event sponsors Perrier-Jouët and The Peninsula Paris for making the night possible, and also gave a special thanks to amfAR Global Fundraising Chairman Milutin Gatsby, Carine Roitfeld and Caroline Scheufele of Chopard for their continued support of amfAR.
CeeLo Green Performs at amfAR Dinner in Paris
Credit/Copyright: Getty Images
Five-time Grammy Award-winning artist Cee Lo Green performed for guests including Heidi Klum, Tom Kaulitz, Maria Borges, Caroline Scheufele, Coco Rocha, Anna Cleveland, Carine Roitfeld, Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld, Ellen von Unwerth, Michele Lamy, Caroline Vreeland, Cindy Bruna, Valery Kaufman, Madison Headrick, Tom Pecheux, Sofia Resing, Larsen Thompson, Ian Bohen, Min Pechaya, Prince Wenceslas, Rachel Zoe, and amfAR Global Fundraising Chairman Milutin Gatsby, among others. The Mike Flowers Pops band also performed.
amfAR VP of Development, Eric Muscatell, opened the evening by welcoming guests and thanking event sponsors Perrier-Jouët and The Peninsula Paris for making the night possible, and also gave a special thanks to amfAR Global Fundraising Chairman Milutin Gatsby, Carine Roitfeld and Caroline Scheufele of Chopard for their continued support of amfAR.
- 7/10/2019
- Look to the Stars
True Stories
Blu ray
Criterion
1986 / 1.85:1 / 89 Min. / Street Date – November 27, 2018
Starring David Byrne, John Goodman, Swoosie Kurtz, Pops Staples
Cinematography by Ed Lachman
Directed by David Byrne
A concert film filmed over four nights at the Pantages Theater in 1983, Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense has the redemptive quality of a classic noir – as Talking Heads’ music churns from slow simmer to barn-burning tent-show revival, band leader David Byrne contends with his own Hollywood style character arc – at movie’s end the “tense and nervous” loner has reclaimed his soul in more ways than one.
The success of Demme’s film lead to Byrne’s next incarnation, as a movie director and oddball tour guide investigating a small southwestern town in 1986’s True Stories. Animated by unpredictable mood swings, quirky tempos and cosmopolitan naiveté, it’s the cinematic equivalent of a Talking Heads song.
After an introductory film within a...
Blu ray
Criterion
1986 / 1.85:1 / 89 Min. / Street Date – November 27, 2018
Starring David Byrne, John Goodman, Swoosie Kurtz, Pops Staples
Cinematography by Ed Lachman
Directed by David Byrne
A concert film filmed over four nights at the Pantages Theater in 1983, Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense has the redemptive quality of a classic noir – as Talking Heads’ music churns from slow simmer to barn-burning tent-show revival, band leader David Byrne contends with his own Hollywood style character arc – at movie’s end the “tense and nervous” loner has reclaimed his soul in more ways than one.
The success of Demme’s film lead to Byrne’s next incarnation, as a movie director and oddball tour guide investigating a small southwestern town in 1986’s True Stories. Animated by unpredictable mood swings, quirky tempos and cosmopolitan naiveté, it’s the cinematic equivalent of a Talking Heads song.
After an introductory film within a...
- 12/15/2018
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
After years of planning, the Anthology Film Archives first opened its doors in New York City towards the end of 1970. That opening came with great interest and fascination of how the world’s first “museum of film” was going to operate like no other theater before it.
Articles on the Anthology’s grand opening ran in both the New York Times and New York magazine in late November. Plus, the Anthology itself ran a full page ad in the Times with the screening calendar of its first four days. Through that printed material, those early days can be pretty well reconstructed.
The Anthology itself says that it opened its doors on November 30, 1970; but, according to an article in the Times the previous day by film critic Vincent Canby, that opening was an invitation-only event at which work by George Méliès, Joseph Cornell, Jerome Hill and Harry Smith was screened. Jonas Mekas...
Articles on the Anthology’s grand opening ran in both the New York Times and New York magazine in late November. Plus, the Anthology itself ran a full page ad in the Times with the screening calendar of its first four days. Through that printed material, those early days can be pretty well reconstructed.
The Anthology itself says that it opened its doors on November 30, 1970; but, according to an article in the Times the previous day by film critic Vincent Canby, that opening was an invitation-only event at which work by George Méliès, Joseph Cornell, Jerome Hill and Harry Smith was screened. Jonas Mekas...
- 6/2/2018
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Every so often, when you hear that a painting by Picasso just sold at auction for a record $179 million, or that a Pollock or a Basquiat or a Jeff Koons now routinely fetch prices worthy of a Silicon Valley start-up, it’s easy to wonder what, exactly, is going on. Is this a true expression of the art’s value? Or is it the symptom of some skyrocketing hothouse bubble that has decadently transformed art into gold?
“The Price of Everything,” Nathaniel Kahn’s brilliant and captivating documentary about how the art world got converted into a money market, is shrewd enough to know that the answer is both. The movie gazes, with a good amount of woe (but also with the pleasurable voyeuristic charge that tends to accompany displays of great wealth), at what the art world has become: the staggering auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, where masterpieces,...
“The Price of Everything,” Nathaniel Kahn’s brilliant and captivating documentary about how the art world got converted into a money market, is shrewd enough to know that the answer is both. The movie gazes, with a good amount of woe (but also with the pleasurable voyeuristic charge that tends to accompany displays of great wealth), at what the art world has become: the staggering auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, where masterpieces,...
- 4/1/2018
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Where does art exist? If it sounds like a trick question it’s because it is. It begins in the mind of the creator, but from there it can go off in many different directions. How we consume art and the role of the museum and the art collector is called into question in Nathaniel Kahn’s documentary The Price Of Everything. Instead of approaching the topic with fiery passion, Kahn takes his time to explore the subject from all sides, including dozens of artists, curators, historians, and collectors that are enveloped in the world. Everyone plays a role in the contemporary art world (regardless of your direct involvement) and Kahn calls into question the moral, financial, and creative concerns when art is more than just a means to express oneself.
In his introduction to the film, the director compared it to the work of Robert Altman. This isn’t too far off,...
In his introduction to the film, the director compared it to the work of Robert Altman. This isn’t too far off,...
- 3/12/2018
- by Michael Haffner
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Counterpoints to the Narrative Lichtundfire Gallery, NYC May 31 - June 30, 2017 The exhibition is jointly organized through Lichtundfire and Katharine Carter & Associates, D. Dominick Lombardi, Curator.
The concept of walls and borders has been tossed around with such frequency of late, and with such politically charged implications, it seems almost anticlimactic that artists would address this notion within a primarily aesthetic context. Counterpoints to the Narrative curated by D. Dominick Lombardi, features a group of artists exploring ideas that are simple, yet provocative, visuals of this complex subject matter. Sparky Campanella, Mark Sharp, and Martin Weinstein, two painters, one photographer, whose work, seen in combination is much more than a contrast in method and style; rather, it is a meditation on visuality and viewership. These artists are creating work that explores some of the ideas Rudolf Arnheim has put forth regarding the contrast between "seeing into" a work of art, and "seeing as.
The concept of walls and borders has been tossed around with such frequency of late, and with such politically charged implications, it seems almost anticlimactic that artists would address this notion within a primarily aesthetic context. Counterpoints to the Narrative curated by D. Dominick Lombardi, features a group of artists exploring ideas that are simple, yet provocative, visuals of this complex subject matter. Sparky Campanella, Mark Sharp, and Martin Weinstein, two painters, one photographer, whose work, seen in combination is much more than a contrast in method and style; rather, it is a meditation on visuality and viewership. These artists are creating work that explores some of the ideas Rudolf Arnheim has put forth regarding the contrast between "seeing into" a work of art, and "seeing as.
- 6/6/2017
- by bradleyrubenstein
- www.culturecatch.com
Babette Mangolte. © Fleur van Muiswinkel If the name Babette Mangolte doesn’t ring with the same familiarity as such storied French cinematographers as Raoul Coutard and William Lubtchansky, it’s not for lack of innovation or accomplishment. Born in Montmorot in 1941, Mangolte moved to New York in 1970 following a number of years as an assistant cinematographer and apprentice to director Marcel Hanoun. There she quickly integrated herself into the city’s burgeoning experimental cinema scene, befriending luminaries such as Jonas Mekas and Stan Brakhage, and soon after met a 20-year-old Chantal Akerman whom she proceeded to collaborate with on a series of groundbreaking works throughout the mid-70s. Influenced as much by structuralism as the films of the French New Wave, Mangolte and Akerman deftly utilized time and space as cinematic conduits to visually articulate themes of dislocation, alienation, and female autonomy. Their most celebrated work, the landmark feminist dispositif Jeanne Dielman,...
- 3/30/2017
- MUBI
To mark the 30th anniversary of Andy Warhol’s death, the designers over at Shutterstock have released an eye-catching array of re-imagined posters for the nine films nominated for Best Picture by the Academy, as part of their annual Oscar Pop! poster series.
Read More: David Lynch Turns ‘La La Land’ Into a Twisted Drama in Mashup Video — Watch
Using only images taken from Shutterstock, each poster is inspired by a different pop artist, and riffs on motifs from the films’ original posters. This colorful eye candy is sure to get you in the mood for Sunday night. Check out the posters, with commentary from the designers below:
“Moonlight” (Artist Inspiration: Peter Blake)
“The film is split into three chapters in Chiron’s life, so I incorporated Peter Blake’s use of grids, as well as simplified imagery, to represent the forces that shaped his life.” — Kate Crotty.
Manchester by the Sea...
Read More: David Lynch Turns ‘La La Land’ Into a Twisted Drama in Mashup Video — Watch
Using only images taken from Shutterstock, each poster is inspired by a different pop artist, and riffs on motifs from the films’ original posters. This colorful eye candy is sure to get you in the mood for Sunday night. Check out the posters, with commentary from the designers below:
“Moonlight” (Artist Inspiration: Peter Blake)
“The film is split into three chapters in Chiron’s life, so I incorporated Peter Blake’s use of grids, as well as simplified imagery, to represent the forces that shaped his life.” — Kate Crotty.
Manchester by the Sea...
- 2/23/2017
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
He uses a walker, and a stroke has affected his speech, but the old charm is still there as the actor recalls his old Hollywood friends Burt Lancaster and John Wayne – and how he was never really a tough guy
Both the house and the man are smaller than you would expect, a result of the diminishing effects of old age that come to us all, if we are lucky enough to live that long. Kirk Douglas, now 100 years old, and Anne, his wife of 62 years, moved into the small bungalow in Beverly Hills about 30 years ago when they downsized from the multiple mansions where they had entertained friends such as Fred Astaire, Lauren Bacall and Ronald Reagan while Frank Sinatra knocked up Italian meals in their kitchen. But if their current home looks unprepossessing from the outside, there are extraordinary treasures within: a Roy Lichtenstein, personally inscribed to Douglas,...
Both the house and the man are smaller than you would expect, a result of the diminishing effects of old age that come to us all, if we are lucky enough to live that long. Kirk Douglas, now 100 years old, and Anne, his wife of 62 years, moved into the small bungalow in Beverly Hills about 30 years ago when they downsized from the multiple mansions where they had entertained friends such as Fred Astaire, Lauren Bacall and Ronald Reagan while Frank Sinatra knocked up Italian meals in their kitchen. But if their current home looks unprepossessing from the outside, there are extraordinary treasures within: a Roy Lichtenstein, personally inscribed to Douglas,...
- 2/12/2017
- by Hadley Freeman
- The Guardian - Film News
2016 New York Film Festival poster - Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Cemetery Of Splendor director Apichatpong Weerasethakul has designed the 54th New York Film Festival poster to join the ranks of Laurie Anderson, Andy Warhol, Bruce Conner, Richard Avedon, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, Diane Arbus, Martin Scorsese, Julian Schnabel, Jeff Bridges, Maurice Pialat, John Baldessari, Cindy Sherman and Laurie Simmons.
Bruce Conner's Angels (1986) at MoMA in New York City Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Ava DuVernay’s documentary The 13th will open the festival, Mike Mills' 20th Century Women starring Annette Bening with Billy Crudup, Elle Fanning, Lucas Jade Zumann and Greta Gerwig is the centrepiece and James Gray's The Lost City Of Z with Sienna Miller, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland and Charlie Hunnam is the Closing Night Gala selection.
“Apichatpong Weerasethakul is more than just a ‘logical’ choice to do our poster—he’s one of the world’s greatest filmmakers...
Cemetery Of Splendor director Apichatpong Weerasethakul has designed the 54th New York Film Festival poster to join the ranks of Laurie Anderson, Andy Warhol, Bruce Conner, Richard Avedon, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, Diane Arbus, Martin Scorsese, Julian Schnabel, Jeff Bridges, Maurice Pialat, John Baldessari, Cindy Sherman and Laurie Simmons.
Bruce Conner's Angels (1986) at MoMA in New York City Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Ava DuVernay’s documentary The 13th will open the festival, Mike Mills' 20th Century Women starring Annette Bening with Billy Crudup, Elle Fanning, Lucas Jade Zumann and Greta Gerwig is the centrepiece and James Gray's The Lost City Of Z with Sienna Miller, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland and Charlie Hunnam is the Closing Night Gala selection.
“Apichatpong Weerasethakul is more than just a ‘logical’ choice to do our poster—he’s one of the world’s greatest filmmakers...
- 8/15/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
On February 15th, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj will both be returning to the Grammys — and both will be vying to take home their first trophy. Like Patti Smith (one nomination), Nas (11) and Snoop Dogg (17), neither has won a gramophone of his or her own. Here's a rundown of the pop stars, punk icons and rock geniuses whose work has never been recognized by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Snoop Dogg
Times nominated: 17
As of 2015, Snoop Dogg was tied for first place in the dubious competition to...
Snoop Dogg
Times nominated: 17
As of 2015, Snoop Dogg was tied for first place in the dubious competition to...
- 2/9/2016
- Rollingstone.com
51st, 52nd, 53rd New York Film Festival Director Kent Jones Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Heart of a Dog director Laurie Anderson has designed the 53rd New York Film Festival poster, joining the ranks of Andy Warhol, Bruce Conner, Richard Avedon, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, Diane Arbus, Martin Scorsese, Julian Schnabel, Jeff Bridges, Maurice Pialat, John Baldessari, Cindy Sherman and Laurie Simmons.
The 2015 New York Film Festival poster
Even though this year's New York Film Festival runs from September 25 through October 11, the Opening Night Gala world premiere of Robert Zemeckis’s The Walk in 3D, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Philippe Petit with Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon and Ben Schwartz, will be held on September 26.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center Board Chairman Ann Tenenbaum expressed her delight when the new poster was announced “We are thrilled to welcome Laurie Anderson to the Nyff family, and to have an artist of her...
Heart of a Dog director Laurie Anderson has designed the 53rd New York Film Festival poster, joining the ranks of Andy Warhol, Bruce Conner, Richard Avedon, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, Diane Arbus, Martin Scorsese, Julian Schnabel, Jeff Bridges, Maurice Pialat, John Baldessari, Cindy Sherman and Laurie Simmons.
The 2015 New York Film Festival poster
Even though this year's New York Film Festival runs from September 25 through October 11, the Opening Night Gala world premiere of Robert Zemeckis’s The Walk in 3D, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Philippe Petit with Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon and Ben Schwartz, will be held on September 26.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center Board Chairman Ann Tenenbaum expressed her delight when the new poster was announced “We are thrilled to welcome Laurie Anderson to the Nyff family, and to have an artist of her...
- 8/11/2015
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Emma Sulkowicz’s Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight) concluded this month with her graduation from Columbia University. Now that it’s put to bed, so to speak, a series of questions arises. Among them: What should become of the mattress itself? She herself told the Times on Class Day: “If some sort of museum wants to buy it, then I’m open to that. But I’m not going to just throw it away.” Mattress Performance has been admired for, among other things, its ability to catalyze a conversation outside the bounds of art. It has also been controversial for that same reason. As an art object, it could fit in with a rich lineage of bed-based artworks. In 1955, Robert Rauschenberg arrived upon one of his first so-called “combines” with Bed, an assemblage of a pillow, sheet, and quilt splattered with oils and hung like a painting on the wall.
- 5/28/2015
- by Andy Battaglia
- Vulture
The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World Museum of Modern Art, NYC December 14, 2014-April 5, 2015
Between 1942 and 1963 Dorothy Canning Miller was the curator of the influential Americans shows at the Museum of Modern Art. Beginning with Americans 1942: 18 Artists From 9 States and ending with Americans 1963, Miller presented the work of artists such as Hyman Bloom, Robert Motherwell, Jay DeFeo, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Lee Bontecou, and Frank Stella -- artists who would ultimately be the defining contributors to the mid-century American art historical canon. After a gap of nearly a half-century, MoMA once again is reviving this tradition with Laura Hoptman’s The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemoporal World, an exhibition of seventeen painters representing current trends in painting.
In contrast to the U.S-centric exhibitions of the past, Forever Now emphasizes the concept of "a-temporality," a phenomenon of culture defined by the science fiction/cultural theorist William Gibson,...
Between 1942 and 1963 Dorothy Canning Miller was the curator of the influential Americans shows at the Museum of Modern Art. Beginning with Americans 1942: 18 Artists From 9 States and ending with Americans 1963, Miller presented the work of artists such as Hyman Bloom, Robert Motherwell, Jay DeFeo, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Lee Bontecou, and Frank Stella -- artists who would ultimately be the defining contributors to the mid-century American art historical canon. After a gap of nearly a half-century, MoMA once again is reviving this tradition with Laura Hoptman’s The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemoporal World, an exhibition of seventeen painters representing current trends in painting.
In contrast to the U.S-centric exhibitions of the past, Forever Now emphasizes the concept of "a-temporality," a phenomenon of culture defined by the science fiction/cultural theorist William Gibson,...
- 2/25/2015
- by bradleyrubenstein
- www.culturecatch.com
French producer Ilann Girard, boss of Arsam International and exec producer on March of the Penguins, has revealed further details of his new CineMart project Cunningham.
The 3D documentary, inspired by the life and work of legendary Us dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham, has been scripted and is being directed by Alla Kovgan.
The film will follow Cunningham from his early days as a struggling dancer in New York to his eventual emergence as one of the most influential choreographers of the Twentieth Century.
“It is one of those very ambitious projects about modern artists that has a lot of technology,” Girard said of a film that, inevitably, has been compared to Wim Wenders’ 3D Pina Bausch film, Pina (2011).
The project has already secured support from the Cnc in France and from the Rockefeller Foundation. Around a third of the €3.4m budget will come from the Us but Girard is in Rotterdam looking for European partners as well...
The 3D documentary, inspired by the life and work of legendary Us dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham, has been scripted and is being directed by Alla Kovgan.
The film will follow Cunningham from his early days as a struggling dancer in New York to his eventual emergence as one of the most influential choreographers of the Twentieth Century.
“It is one of those very ambitious projects about modern artists that has a lot of technology,” Girard said of a film that, inevitably, has been compared to Wim Wenders’ 3D Pina Bausch film, Pina (2011).
The project has already secured support from the Cnc in France and from the Rockefeller Foundation. Around a third of the €3.4m budget will come from the Us but Girard is in Rotterdam looking for European partners as well...
- 1/25/2015
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Robert Rauschenberg called his friend Ray Johnson an artist who existed in “the gap between art and life.” Doesn’t sound like the greatest of compliments coming from a best friend — but these are artists, and the lines between art and life are blurred. Johnson was a character, a provocateur, and just as likely to be cited by other people as an inspiration as to be remembered for his actual work. Though the work was really good! Active from the late 1940s up until his death in 1995, Johnson provoked Pop Art into being and followed the Dada tradition of using collage and cutouts as a satirical force to poke fun at society — take, for example, his “moticos,” a.k.a. small collages laden with logos and pop-culture references, which predated Andy Warhol by a decade.But it might just be that the most impressive thing about Johnson was his incredible...
- 11/18/2014
- by Julie Baumgardner
- Vulture
In his half-century as one of the universally sanctified titans of modern art, Jasper Johns has led a private life, if not a reclusive one, shuttling between his homes in Connecticut and St. Martin with a circle of friends who are protective of him and guarded on his behalf. “He’s spent his whole life cultivating a certain air of mystery,” says David Ross, a friend of the artist and the former director of the Whitney. Those who still see him say Johns, now 84, can be a brilliant, charming presence, but also by turns slightly cool and prickly—the counterweight, in temperament, of his vivacious late friend and partner Robert Rauschenberg. Another friend compares him to fellow introverts like Philip Roth and Philip Glass: superficially polite yet diffident—and, at moments, abrupt and even biting. The work comes first, and they work alone. Johns’s primary studio—a large,...
- 11/17/2014
- by Robert Kolker
- Vulture
We have always loved this sculpture and pass it every day when here.
From Wikipedia about this great artist:
Robert Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations. Rauschenberg was both a painter and a sculptor and the Combines are a combination of both, but he also worked with photography, printmaking, papermaking, and performance. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1993. He became the recipient of the Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts in 1995 in recognition of his more than 40 years of fruitful artmaking. Rauschenberg lived and worked in New York City as well as on Captiva Island, Florida until his death from heart failure on May 12, 2008.
From Wikipedia about this great artist:
Robert Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations. Rauschenberg was both a painter and a sculptor and the Combines are a combination of both, but he also worked with photography, printmaking, papermaking, and performance. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1993. He became the recipient of the Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts in 1995 in recognition of his more than 40 years of fruitful artmaking. Rauschenberg lived and worked in New York City as well as on Captiva Island, Florida until his death from heart failure on May 12, 2008.
- 2/17/2014
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
You can watch a trailer for it online, but artist Jamie Shovlin's 1970s-style exploitation film is not all it seems…
Jamie Shovlin is a conman, a trickster, the most artful of dodgers. His entire career consists of elaborate hoaxes. He has faked any number of artworks, quite apart from inventing the artists themselves, beginning with the teenage prodigy Naomi V Jelish (spot the anagram), whose words and images were bought wholesale by Charles Saatchi after her strange disappearance – though that may be a fiction in itself.
Shovlin was born in Leicester in 1978 (or so it is claimed by the various galleries that represent him). He was shortlisted for the Becks Futures award in 2006 for his terrific archive of invented memorabilia for the German cult band Lustfaust, who never recorded an actual record. You got their music by sending a blank cassette (they despised the record industry) and designing your own label.
Jamie Shovlin is a conman, a trickster, the most artful of dodgers. His entire career consists of elaborate hoaxes. He has faked any number of artworks, quite apart from inventing the artists themselves, beginning with the teenage prodigy Naomi V Jelish (spot the anagram), whose words and images were bought wholesale by Charles Saatchi after her strange disappearance – though that may be a fiction in itself.
Shovlin was born in Leicester in 1978 (or so it is claimed by the various galleries that represent him). He was shortlisted for the Becks Futures award in 2006 for his terrific archive of invented memorabilia for the German cult band Lustfaust, who never recorded an actual record. You got their music by sending a blank cassette (they despised the record industry) and designing your own label.
- 1/5/2014
- by Laura Cumming
- The Guardian - Film News
The Royal Academy of Arts announces details of exhibition called Dennis Hopper: The Lost Album
More than 400 previously unseen photographs from the 1960s, which were discovered in cardboard boxes after the death of the actor Dennis Hopper, are to go on display in Britain for the first time.
The Royal Academy of Arts on Friday announced details of an exhibition called Dennis Hopper: The Lost Album.
Hopper is best known as a hell-raising actor and director with films such as Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now and Blue Velvet. But he was also a respected artist and photographer.
The Ra's director of exhibitions, Kathleen Soriano, said the discovery of the boxes by his family, after his death in 2010, revealed "just how obsessively Hopper took photographs with a 35mm Nikon camera that his wife gave him after their house, with all his paintings in it, was destroyed by fire in 1961".
Hopper took photographs of everything.
More than 400 previously unseen photographs from the 1960s, which were discovered in cardboard boxes after the death of the actor Dennis Hopper, are to go on display in Britain for the first time.
The Royal Academy of Arts on Friday announced details of an exhibition called Dennis Hopper: The Lost Album.
Hopper is best known as a hell-raising actor and director with films such as Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now and Blue Velvet. But he was also a respected artist and photographer.
The Ra's director of exhibitions, Kathleen Soriano, said the discovery of the boxes by his family, after his death in 2010, revealed "just how obsessively Hopper took photographs with a 35mm Nikon camera that his wife gave him after their house, with all his paintings in it, was destroyed by fire in 1961".
Hopper took photographs of everything.
- 11/9/2013
- by Mark Brown
- The Guardian - Film News
Birthday shoutouts go to Brandon Beemer (above), who is 33, Josh Groban is 32, and a special Birthday shoutout to Ae Reader Allan J., who is 44! In ratings news, The New Normal was up a bit, while Smash was even with last week's series low.Colorado tight end Nick Kasa was asked a stream of questions at the NFL Scouting Combine that included, "Do you like girls?" The NFL is investigating. MTV has officially set the date for Season Three of Teen Wolf: Monday, June 3rd at 10 Pm Et. Is the Museum Of Modern Art putting artists back in the closet? Specifically, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, who are referred to as "friends."Pianist Van Cliburn has died at the age of 78. Our thoughts are with his fans and his partner Thomas L. Smith. Jesse Tyler Ferguson stopped by The View to talk about the Modern Family backlash, his engagement, and the Tie The Knot foundation.
- 2/27/2013
- by snicks
- The Backlot
Dieter Roth. Björn Roth Hauser & Wirth Through April 13, 2013
Bruno Alfieri, one of the most outspoken writers on Jackson Pollock’s work, was not so impressed by an exhibition of Pollock's poured paintings. To Alfieri, the artwork seemed to be thrown together randomly, with little thought. In 1950, Time magazine's article "Chaos, Damn It!" quoted Alfieri on Pollock's work: There is "nothing but uncontrolled impulse. ... It is easy to detect the following things in all of his paintings: chaos; absolute lack of harmony; complete lack of structural organization; total absence of technique, however rudimentary; once again, chaos."” A cursory appraisal of the work of Dieter Roth, and his son Björn Roth, might initially elicit the same response.
This three-decade-long meditation on what Robert Rauschenberg called the "gap between art and life" is a collection of candy, clothes, and old workbenches (Grosse Tischruine [Large Table Ruin] [1978-1998]), as well as paintings, videos of the artist at work...
Bruno Alfieri, one of the most outspoken writers on Jackson Pollock’s work, was not so impressed by an exhibition of Pollock's poured paintings. To Alfieri, the artwork seemed to be thrown together randomly, with little thought. In 1950, Time magazine's article "Chaos, Damn It!" quoted Alfieri on Pollock's work: There is "nothing but uncontrolled impulse. ... It is easy to detect the following things in all of his paintings: chaos; absolute lack of harmony; complete lack of structural organization; total absence of technique, however rudimentary; once again, chaos."” A cursory appraisal of the work of Dieter Roth, and his son Björn Roth, might initially elicit the same response.
This three-decade-long meditation on what Robert Rauschenberg called the "gap between art and life" is a collection of candy, clothes, and old workbenches (Grosse Tischruine [Large Table Ruin] [1978-1998]), as well as paintings, videos of the artist at work...
- 2/8/2013
- by bradleyrubenstein
- www.culturecatch.com
1. Clint and the ChairA new genre of performance art—call it “Neo-Verity”—became shockingly vivid and visible in front of tens of millions this year. The first manifestation appeared the evening of August 30, when Clint Eastwood staged his infamous empty-chair performance at the Republican National Convention. Instead of playing out a highly scripted, rehearsed scene of political pseudo-reality, Eastwood seemed to split reality in two onstage: As Republican stalwarts willed themselves to see an American icon elevating irony to new heights and sticking it to the president, everyone else saw a party marooned in a self-replicating, self-fortifying private reality. That distinction exploded wide at around 10:30 p.m. on November 6. In one of the most unforgettable political performances of all time, Karl Rove tried to create his own topography of truth while annulling mathematical fact in actual time. Neo-Verity was established. Robert Rauschenberg famously said he wanted to work in...
- 12/3/2012
- by Jerry Saltz
- Vulture
Feeling a little nostalgic for the Grandfather of Grunge? So is La-based artist Jenice Heo.
In an exhibit on display now at The Morrison Hotel Gallery, Heo pays homage to the living legend using found items inspired by the alternative rocker's songs. Simply titled "Neil Young Series," the assemblage show consists of classic car parts, Native American artifacts, vinyl records and even Victorian quilts pieced together in installations that mimic the style of Robert Rauschenberg. Emblazoned with oil paint and fixed to empty canvases, the multi-media compositions evoke the nuances of the Young's lyrics as well as the quirky interests of the prolific guitarist himself.
Heo, who has worked with a number of recording artists over her career, including Beck, Devendra Banhart and Jim James, collaborated with Young on the design of his Nya Vol. I Box Set in 2010. In the process, Young introduced Heo to the work of assemblage artist,...
In an exhibit on display now at The Morrison Hotel Gallery, Heo pays homage to the living legend using found items inspired by the alternative rocker's songs. Simply titled "Neil Young Series," the assemblage show consists of classic car parts, Native American artifacts, vinyl records and even Victorian quilts pieced together in installations that mimic the style of Robert Rauschenberg. Emblazoned with oil paint and fixed to empty canvases, the multi-media compositions evoke the nuances of the Young's lyrics as well as the quirky interests of the prolific guitarist himself.
Heo, who has worked with a number of recording artists over her career, including Beck, Devendra Banhart and Jim James, collaborated with Young on the design of his Nya Vol. I Box Set in 2010. In the process, Young introduced Heo to the work of assemblage artist,...
- 11/21/2012
- by Katherine Brooks
- Huffington Post
This text was begun in mid-to-late 2010. I posted two work-in-progress excerpts on my personal blog in December of that year. Following Scott's death, I decided that it was time to revise and complete it.
***
More often than not, innovation resembles deficiency. Jean-Luc Godard couldn't tell a story, Yasujiro Ozu never learned the 180 degree rule, Robert Bresson didn't know how to direct actors, D.W. Griffith first didn't understand that the audience wanted to see the whole actress and not just her face and then didn't understand how you were supposed to make a talkie—and, toward the end of his career, Tony Scott made movies the wrong way, never letting an image hold long enough for the viewer to figure out just exactly what was going on.
The party line on Tony Scott is that he was a "stylist," a man who made popular, "technically accomplished" and therefore insubstantial films; he...
***
More often than not, innovation resembles deficiency. Jean-Luc Godard couldn't tell a story, Yasujiro Ozu never learned the 180 degree rule, Robert Bresson didn't know how to direct actors, D.W. Griffith first didn't understand that the audience wanted to see the whole actress and not just her face and then didn't understand how you were supposed to make a talkie—and, toward the end of his career, Tony Scott made movies the wrong way, never letting an image hold long enough for the viewer to figure out just exactly what was going on.
The party line on Tony Scott is that he was a "stylist," a man who made popular, "technically accomplished" and therefore insubstantial films; he...
- 8/22/2012
- MUBI
Smuggled out of Iran inside a cake, Jafar Panahi's latest film is a remarkable addition to the literature of oppression
There is unlikely to be a wittier, braver, more serious film shown in Britain this year than the 51-year-old Iranian director Jafar Panahi's This is Not a Film. Made while under house arrest in Tehran using an iPhone and a digital video camera, it's an act of defiance in the face of the arbitrary, vindictive, capricious, utterly humourless regime of the ayatollahs and President Ahmadinejad. The film was smuggled out of Iran in a cake and it proved to be one of the most widely discussed entries at the 2011 Cannes festival, where it was a last-minute submission.
Following the fall of the Shah in 1979, Iran's film industry virtually collapsed for a variety of religious, economic and political reasons, but from the late 1980s it began to make a remarkable recovery,...
There is unlikely to be a wittier, braver, more serious film shown in Britain this year than the 51-year-old Iranian director Jafar Panahi's This is Not a Film. Made while under house arrest in Tehran using an iPhone and a digital video camera, it's an act of defiance in the face of the arbitrary, vindictive, capricious, utterly humourless regime of the ayatollahs and President Ahmadinejad. The film was smuggled out of Iran in a cake and it proved to be one of the most widely discussed entries at the 2011 Cannes festival, where it was a last-minute submission.
Following the fall of the Shah in 1979, Iran's film industry virtually collapsed for a variety of religious, economic and political reasons, but from the late 1980s it began to make a remarkable recovery,...
- 3/25/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
China Chow was introduced to the Manhattan art world as a child when her father's restaurant, Mr. Chow, became the choice hangout for art legends including Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Robert Rauschenberg. Since then, Chow has made her mark as a model, muse, activist, actress and social network hub. She is now beginning her 2nd season as host and judge of 'Work of Art: The Next Great Artist' on Bravo, in which 14 contestants compete in art challenges for an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum and $100,000. We interviewed China about the new season, her past with art superstars and more.
How will this season of Woa be different from last season?
This season of Work of Art will include new challenges, new guest judges and of course, new artists. Since we'd done this before, Jerry, Bill and I were much more comfortable working together as a group. I think that comes through,...
How will this season of Woa be different from last season?
This season of Work of Art will include new challenges, new guest judges and of course, new artists. Since we'd done this before, Jerry, Bill and I were much more comfortable working together as a group. I think that comes through,...
- 10/18/2011
- by Priscilla Frank
- Huffington Post
Pablo Ferro is "more popularly known for his work as a master title sequence designer (Dr Strangelove and The Thomas Crown Affair among countless others) and occasionally an actor as well (Greaser's Palace)," writes Marcus Herring in an entry punctuated with clips and exclamations, "but Pablo also crafted a number of the most memorable trailers of all time…. The Cinefamily is devoting an entire evening to showcasing the genius of Pablo Ferro on Tuesday September 27th, with Pablo himself in attendance! He'll bring loads of unavailable commercials (Beachnut Gum!), rare 35mm trailers (the Japanese version of A Clockwork Orange!), lost animations, and of course, his famous title sequences. We'll finish everything off with an ultra-rare presentation of Pablo's 1969 short The Inflatable Doll, starring one of our favorite on-screen strangemen, Don Calfa!" More on Pablo Ferro from Holly Willis; plus, three sites dedicated to his work: 1, 2 and 3.
"Greece, of course,...
"Greece, of course,...
- 9/24/2011
- MUBI
A bike fest on the Belfast Waterfront, the Turner Prize exhibition at the Baltic, a film festival on Jersey and hip-hop at Sadler's Wells – here's our pick of cultural events in the coming months
August
Comedy
Camden Fringe London
With an eye for the experimental and the strange, this festival spreads out over venues across the borough, with theatre, stand-up, improv and shadow puppets from the likes of comediennes Morris & Vyse and puppet company Pangolin's Teatime.
1-28 August, camdenfringe.com, tickets from £5
Theatre and dance
Five Truths at the V&A, London
Multi-screen installation brings together five interpretations of Ophelia's madness in Hamlet. Five Truths explores the differences in approach of five of the most influential European theatre directors, including Bertold Brecht and Peter Brook, and how they might have imagined the scene, in a film created by National Theatre associate director Katie Mitchell.
• Until 29 August, vam.ac.uk, admission free
Peter Hall Company,...
August
Comedy
Camden Fringe London
With an eye for the experimental and the strange, this festival spreads out over venues across the borough, with theatre, stand-up, improv and shadow puppets from the likes of comediennes Morris & Vyse and puppet company Pangolin's Teatime.
1-28 August, camdenfringe.com, tickets from £5
Theatre and dance
Five Truths at the V&A, London
Multi-screen installation brings together five interpretations of Ophelia's madness in Hamlet. Five Truths explores the differences in approach of five of the most influential European theatre directors, including Bertold Brecht and Peter Brook, and how they might have imagined the scene, in a film created by National Theatre associate director Katie Mitchell.
• Until 29 August, vam.ac.uk, admission free
Peter Hall Company,...
- 8/5/2011
- by Dale Berning
- The Guardian - Film News
As his latest film Beginners arrives in cinemas, we caught up with writer and director Mike Mills to talk about the making of the film...
Beginners, the new film from Mike Mills, has been promoted oddly. The posters currently adorning the country are bright, white affairs, complete with a grinning Ewan McGregor, a pouting Mélanie Laurent, and a dashing, neckerchief-clad Christopher Plummer. There’s also a cute dog, for good measure.
When coupled with the most basic of plot synopses - that 70-odd year old Hal (Plummer) comes out as gay to his son, Oliver (McGregor) - it looks like we’d be in for a pleasant, buoyant indie comedy.
However, the roots of Beginners go deeper. This is actually a very personal story, unapologetic in its tone, and marked by grief. Mills’ own father came out in his old age, and died only a few years later. The resulting...
Beginners, the new film from Mike Mills, has been promoted oddly. The posters currently adorning the country are bright, white affairs, complete with a grinning Ewan McGregor, a pouting Mélanie Laurent, and a dashing, neckerchief-clad Christopher Plummer. There’s also a cute dog, for good measure.
When coupled with the most basic of plot synopses - that 70-odd year old Hal (Plummer) comes out as gay to his son, Oliver (McGregor) - it looks like we’d be in for a pleasant, buoyant indie comedy.
However, the roots of Beginners go deeper. This is actually a very personal story, unapologetic in its tone, and marked by grief. Mills’ own father came out in his old age, and died only a few years later. The resulting...
- 7/20/2011
- Den of Geek
American artist Cy Twombly, whose scribbly yet detailed art made him one of the most important artists of the 20th century, is dead at 83.
Twombly died in Rome Tuesday (July 5). The cause is not immediately known, according to the New York Times, but Twombly had been battling cancer.
The artist was a contemporary of Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns and relocated to southern Italy in the late 1950s, just as the New York art scene was gaining critical attention. There he cultivated his singular style, which one-time curator Kirk Varnedoe once described as "discomfiting to many critics and truculently difficult not just for a broad public, but for sophisticated initiates of postwar art as well."
Still, Twombly had many fans within the art world and was considered influential by his peers -- his free, graffiti-like stylings can be seen in the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat. He avoided publicity and didn't like critics,...
Twombly died in Rome Tuesday (July 5). The cause is not immediately known, according to the New York Times, but Twombly had been battling cancer.
The artist was a contemporary of Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns and relocated to southern Italy in the late 1950s, just as the New York art scene was gaining critical attention. There he cultivated his singular style, which one-time curator Kirk Varnedoe once described as "discomfiting to many critics and truculently difficult not just for a broad public, but for sophisticated initiates of postwar art as well."
Still, Twombly had many fans within the art world and was considered influential by his peers -- his free, graffiti-like stylings can be seen in the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat. He avoided publicity and didn't like critics,...
- 7/5/2011
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
CinemaSpace is presenting Lewis Klahr: Hieroglyphs of Lost Time with Lewis Klahr himself present, on Wednesday, May 18th and Thursday, May 19th at 7:00pm in the Segal Centre CinemaSpace here in Montreal.
The Acclaimed collage artist will be making his first appearance in Montreal with two programs featuring many of his most celebrated cut-out animations in 16mm and video, including the complete epic series Engram Sepals (Melodramas 1994-2000) and stunningly beautiful Daylight Moon. This two-day event offers a rare opportunity to survey Klahr’s prolific career as a filmmaker whose poetic sensibility parallels that of artists such as Joseph Cornell, Bruce Conner and Robert Rauschenberg.
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Called “the reigning proponent of cut and paste” by J. Hoberman of the Village Voice, master collagist Lewis Klahr has been making films since 1977. He is known for his uniquely idiosyncratic experimental films and cut-out animations which have screened extensively in the...
The Acclaimed collage artist will be making his first appearance in Montreal with two programs featuring many of his most celebrated cut-out animations in 16mm and video, including the complete epic series Engram Sepals (Melodramas 1994-2000) and stunningly beautiful Daylight Moon. This two-day event offers a rare opportunity to survey Klahr’s prolific career as a filmmaker whose poetic sensibility parallels that of artists such as Joseph Cornell, Bruce Conner and Robert Rauschenberg.
-
Called “the reigning proponent of cut and paste” by J. Hoberman of the Village Voice, master collagist Lewis Klahr has been making films since 1977. He is known for his uniquely idiosyncratic experimental films and cut-out animations which have screened extensively in the...
- 4/27/2011
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Hollis Taggart Galleries Red Lenin by Andy Warhol
The Armory Show features 274 contemporary and modern art galleries at Piers 92 and 94 in New York. Spanning 31 countries, the works for sale include Robert Rauschenberg’s rarely-seen transfer drawings, a 24-foot by 36-foot site-specific neon fence by Ivan Navarro and 13 trees by Sam Van Aken that have been grafted to each bear 40 different kinds of fruit.
For modern collectors, works by Pablo Picasso, Fernando Botero, Emil Nolde and Andy Warhol can easily be...
The Armory Show features 274 contemporary and modern art galleries at Piers 92 and 94 in New York. Spanning 31 countries, the works for sale include Robert Rauschenberg’s rarely-seen transfer drawings, a 24-foot by 36-foot site-specific neon fence by Ivan Navarro and 13 trees by Sam Van Aken that have been grafted to each bear 40 different kinds of fruit.
For modern collectors, works by Pablo Picasso, Fernando Botero, Emil Nolde and Andy Warhol can easily be...
- 3/3/2011
- by Alexandra Cheney
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
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