Speaking of May…..
Kenneth Anger
Spring’s here, so let me tell you about Kenneth Anger, because he really gets me going, if you know what I mean. I just realized his P.S.1 exhibition opened a while ago in New York City -and thankfully the show’s up until September 14, so it’s an extra-fitting time to write about him. According to its press release, this exhibition is “the first major survey of the filmmaker’s body of work at a U.S. museum in over a decade.” Emergency to go to NYC, much?
Anger has been producing dazzlingly seductive and abstruse films since the forties. His aesthetic of extravagant glamour and grandiose occult is remarkable, as is his ability to gracefully walk the fine line between camp and decadent romanticism. I have especially fond feelings for Scorpio Rising, which I find exemplifies best Anger’s talent at translating pop culture into mythology (and vice versa). Revolving around desirable and untameable Gods of Death (Dean, Brando and sexy queer bikers) and their evocative Thing that Goes (sparkly glammed-up motorcycles), Anger’s mythopoeic narrative challenges notions of sin and desire with its rebellious heroes that piss on Adolf Hitler and fuck Jesus Christ to the sound of catchy 50’s songs.
In Lucifer Rising or Rabbit’s Moon for example, Anger shows his more spiritualistic tendencies with fantasy-based universes where rituals are more “magic” and less metaphorical. The inspiring and elaborate mise en scène featured in these films serves dramatic and subversive otherworldly subject matters. Fun fact of the day, the soundtrack of Lucifer Rising by Bobby Beausoleil is the only movie soundtrack in history recorded inside a prison. (Thanks wikipedia).
Kenneth Anger’s persona and personal history, as well as his two best-selling Hollywood Babylon books (look for the gorgeous hard-copy edition at the Webster Library), all rely on alluring mythicalness rooted in decadence, drama and insurgence. His fascination with the flipside of the glamour coin, where the glorious falls deep down into the morbid pits of excess and perversion, definitely plays out in his films. Saturated by the turmoil of life, sex and death, his art is striking and outlandish, a histrionic and occult fantasy fuelled by rumours and rituals. Anger’s body and richness of work is larger than life, which is why I urge you to head to the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center before the exhibition is over. And make sure you don’t forget to take a look at the other artists showcased in the building, as there is nothing but quality art in there.
Anger’s iconic work is also available on dvd, thanks to Fantoma Films who recently commercially released two compilations of HD transfered Anger films, complete with bonuses, audio commentaries and lovely booklets. As Mondo Digital puts it after an insightful review: “easily one of the most essential DVD releases of this or any other year.” Hopefully, newer films like Mouse Heaven (2005), Elliott’s Suicide (2007), Ich Will! (2008), I’ll Be Watching You (2007) or Foreplay (2008) will soon be released in a third volume.
Filed under art shows, artists, events, experimental film, out-of-town, profiles | Tags: Kenneth Anger, New York City, P.S.1, queer | Comment (1)New York and Montreal, look out!
I am beyond the moon about the latest Pavilion Project, several evenings of animated work by Marina Roy, who is a Vancouver based artist you may or may not know. SKOL here in Montreal, as well as several other Quebec organizations, have teamed up with Pavilion Projects and the Délégation du Québec à New-York to present 2 nights of her animations, one in New York, the other here in Montreal.
Um, her work is CRAZY, as in CRAZY AMAZING, and I am sheepishly, adamantly, adoringly in full-on-arts-love with her aesthetic. Roy’s own website hosts much info from many years of practice, and not alot of it new work, but I think it’s the newest stuff (interior views of elaborate and decadent rooms and hallways) that knock the socks clear off the feet.
All the info you will ever need to know about this night is here. The date to look out for in Montreal is the 28th of March at Le Pick Up, (7032 Waverly) more info (like when it starts) TBA. (Trust me, I will keep you in the loop about this one)
Please, please go in my place in New York, and report back if you can. It’s your responsibility. I am serious. Go. Stop reading this blog and get on it. I promise I will do the same for folks who can’t come to the Montreal version.
Filed under animation, artists, out-of-town | Tags: animation, Marina Roy, New York City, Pavilion Projects, Skol | Comment (0)Joshua Allen Harris
Maybe you’ve seen Joshua Allen Harris’ inflatable street art before, but if not it’s worth seeing. I saw a video of his first piece, a bear made of shopping bags, last summer but never heard anything else about the artist. I recently found some more videos of his pieces in action and though I would share them with you. Joshua makes sculptures out of shopping and garbage bags and attaches them to subway air vents. When the subway passes underneath the wooshing air turns what looks like a pile of garbage into an animated creature and as the subway leaves it deflates and blends into its surroundings again. To see more visit his youtube channel.
Filed under artists, out-of-town, profiles, street art | Tags: joshua allen harris, New York City, plastic bags, sculpture | Comment (1)My New York Diary (Kind of)
Sorry y’all Julie Doucet fans, I’m actually going to talk about my own trip to New York City, and not about the awesome cartoonist’s. That will happen some other time (and maybe somewhere else), but not today. Anyhow, this January I hopped on a greyhound overnight-party-machine and went for a carefully google mapped out visit of the city.
I vividly remember Funny Not Funny, curated by Becky Smith and Allison Kave over at the Bellwether gallery (134 Tenth Avenue, between 18th and 19th streets). According to the press release, it’s a group show that deals with “the language, content, and representation of humor in overt and subtle ways. Artists who incorporate wit, absurdity, or satire into their practice create and confront the challenge of making serious work with humorous content, and question our understanding of “what is funny”. The exhibition aims to reveal the careful balance of levity and intellectual rigor inherent to works by artists who take the risk of using the language of humor in a discipline that is not a joke.”
I spent most of my time in the gallery in the final room for many reasons, one of them being Tamy Ben-Tor’s video, Normal (2006); in which she brilliantly performs as a familiarly overbearing and anxious (but latently fragile) character leaving voice messages after voice messages. The video showcases her excellent role-playing skills, as well as her fine sense of humour which resonates in many ways with the realistically grotesque style of Ryan Trecartin, Erica Eyres and Prettythingsss (btw, it turns out both are youtube subscribers of Trecartin, the more you know…). Speaking of Trecartin, he was also part of the show with his collaborator Lizzie Fitch and their elusively (and genitally?) humorous installation:
David Shrigley was also on hand, exhibiting a few giggle-worthy drawings. And although I will admit I prefer to enjoy his art in book or pocket format, props must be given to him regardless, for his masterful wit and sense of comedy. The crudity of his lines and letters, and his queasy use of space and text, seems to transform the way words are internally read into something invariably funny that make me pee my pants, hard. You can get 2 of his artbooks, a set of postcards and two smaller booklets by him at the Drawn & Quarterly bookstore (211 Bernard W), just saying.
I suggest you take a look at this to see more of this show’s jewels. Coming up soon: MOMA, PS1, New Museum and Greene Naftali kind-of-coverage, plus cool zinesters and more?
Filed under art shows, installation, out-of-town, review, video | Tags: Bellwether gallery, David Shrigley, Drawn & Quarterly, Erica Eyres, Lizzie Fitch, New York City, Prettythingsss, Ryan Trecartin, Tamy Ben-Tor | Comment (0)
