Kenneth Anger

by Julien on March 30th, 2009

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.