Response to Filmmaker Presentations

Harry Smith:

It seems like Smith was always teeming with different ideals and methodologies in his work. In the video shown by Ben we can see his mind going a mile a minute. And while it would be easy to vilify him as a crazed-stoner, I believe that he was merely full of different impulses and ideas, and that there is certainly ground to his thought process (probably with the aid of drugs, admittedly). With numerous interests in the occult, alchemy, theosophy, anthropology, etc., Harry Smith was an artist who sought a holistic approach to his work. He wanted to show through his work, how multiple methodologies could contribute to a unified artform. His collage-like array of images, masked and layered over one another, along with moving lights and paintings spoke to this approach. His work seems akin to the Bebop jazz from friends/musicians like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.

And as someone mentioned in class, his aesthetic choices have largely been influenctial on the artistic designs of networks like Adult Swim, as well as a music video format. 

Len Lye:

It was as much fun for me to revisit the works of Lye, as I’m sure it was for Madison. As mentioned before, Apple certainly took Rainbow Dance to be a source for its own marketing platform, back when the IPod was first released.

I have seen Lye’s work before, perhaps in FST 200 or 205. I love how he grow up in a lighthouse, and was a Kiwi, as we don’t seem to give much recognition to that side of the world. Such a fun, fanciful upbringing which translates over into his jaunty, visual language.

What impressed me most about Len Lye, along with Harry Smith, was that they both found ways to make films without the use of a camera, how astounding is that! That they both still carved a path for themselves as filmmakers and artists, despite financial constraints. Having literally manipulated thei physical film stock gives their respective films a whole new sense of texture.

In addition, they both have a musicality of motion (of Absolute Film) aesthetic to their works that I definitely enjoyed.  Like little celebrations in experimentation.

Viking Eggeling/ Hans Ritcher:

These artists were two interesting points of reference for the Dada movement (one which I’ve been meaning to look more into). As Artistes Radicaux, their experimentation with picture roll gave the images as sense of musicality in its movement. I believe I was Parker, whom mentioned hearing an actual symphony in Diagonal Symphony. Richter’s sentiment on how everything in one’s life is replicated through their own art is especially insightful. As our influences and inspirations stem often from our environment.

Richter’s influences from Cubism and Dadaism lend to his own unique abstractions. And it was even more interesting to note that he had been a mentor to artists like Brakhage, Deren, and even Kubrick!