‘running to catch a train’ – a performance by Paula Musgrove


running to catch a train (2016, 103MB, 9:07 min)

I’m gently waking DVblog up to post this extraordinary piece of work from Paula Musgrove, with videography from Yasmin Cox (both year two Art & Design students at WSD where – transparency! – I currently teach.)
The performance took place at the private view of the end of year show and the video was then inserted as is,replacing the original performance soundtrack and joining the various physical outputs of the performance to form the substantive exhibition piece ( As you can see in the poster image.)
I think it is marvellous, subtle and profoundly moving work and I hope we will all hear a good deal more from Paula over the coming years.

Alan Sondheim – Last Wine


Last Wine (2013, 96MB, 2:50 min)

Anyone who has followed DVblog for any time at all will know how much we
admire & value the work of Alan Sondheim.
He commands a huge range of technique and tone in both his writing and moving
image work. At one point of his compass there is the fiercely cerebral; at
another a rich humour & at yet another a sense of fellow feeling with, a
striving to understand some of our most puzzling and yet everyday feelings
and states of mind.
Things we’ve all encountered in relationships with family, friends and strangers.
This is a particularly moving piece, the more so because of its uncertainty of tone
– its enactment of the sad awkwardnesses of human interaction.

Lior Shvil – The Kosher Butcher

The Kosher Butcher
The Kosher Butcher (2010, 84MB, 8:56 min.)

“.. Israeli provocateur Lior Shvil presented “The Kosher Butcher,” a darkly humorous commentary on Mideast politics in which he portrays a meatpacking Sweeney Todd.”

Osvaldo Cibils – 2 Humans, 1 Paper


2 Humans, 1 Paper (2013, 10MB, 3:38 min)

I first stumbled across Osvaldo Cibils and his marvellously eclectic and well..simply marvellous work
on Flickr but he seems to have all sorts of things going.
So simple but so, so telling. Kind of Buster Keaton meets Bruce Nauman meets something hard to pin down but lyrical, grotesque and smart all at once.
My kind of artist.
+++
2 humans 1 paper
video art/soundart.
performance with plotter paper 200 x 107 centimeters.
performers: fiorella alberti architect and osvaldo cibils artist.
place: artist’s studio. Via della Cervara, 55 – 38121 – Trento (TN) Italia
22 march 2013, 20 hours

Morrisa Maltz & Lauren Lillie – The Caretaker


The Caretaker (2013, 397MB, 7:24 min)

We’ve been following Morrisa Maltz‘s work since just about the beginning and we’re delighted to show here her first longer, narrative (well, if you count fever dream as narrative), piece.
Quite a lot of firepower (lots of collaborators) deployed here, happily to excellent effect ( In fact the piece actually directed by Lauren Lillie although the look of it is pure & vintage MM). It all retains in buckets the goose-bump factor of earlier work but embeds it into a very satisfyingly rounded whole.
This is great work; it deserves to be seen widely.

Curt Cloninger Blindness


Blindness (1971/1991/2011/2012, 37MB, 3:18 min)

I’m a huge fan of Curt Cloninger’s work, especially his virtuosic but often profoundly moving ( and how often do you hear that word in connection with new media*?) Playdamage sequence.

Here he simply mashes up a section of a 1971 Acconci video with a Jack White cover of a U2 song.
Actually to say mashes up is making it more complex than it is which is – visuals – Acconci; sound – U2 through White. Genius – Cloninger.

*except of course for the ridiculous Bill Viola, where it’s so clearly used by the very easily pleased.

I Don’t Want Your Lasagne Furnace – Donna Kuhn


I Don’t Want Your Lasagne Furnace (2009, 41.4MB, 2:23 min)

Artists I really care for tend to fall into two distinct categories.
The first is the extensive or Picasso category – refusing to be
bound by stylistic limitations or boxes they constantly
reinvent themselves, often seeming like ten artists in one skin.
The other might be called the Giacometti or Morandi model, where
the best part of a lifetime is devoted to an intensive, deep,
exploration of a limited set of themes and content.
They have in common more than would at first appear to be the case.
They are both led by a kind of shamanistic passion, a surrender to
the unconscious, to whim, to a playfulness which can be either infantile
or deadly serious, and they reject the most common practice which is the
dull conformity of making work which attempts to guess the market,
or follow fashion or whatever.
If Sondheim is the net exemplar of the first way then Donna Kuhn
must typify the second.
Small miracles of freshness & originality mined and chiselled from
a tiny pallette! Wit and sadness both! Wonder! Delight!

My Bloody Valentines – Videos by Angus Cameron

Only Shallow
Only Shallow (37.1MB, 3:40 min.)

Here Knows When
To Here Knows When (47.7MB, 4:43 min.)

Soon
Soon (32.9MB, 3:15 min.)

Swallow
Swallow (19MB, 3:25 min.)

My Bloody Valentine videos from the rare & wonderful – Story of Creation.

Curt Cloninger.

3 from Ben Pranger


Morse Gestures (2009, 28.6MB, 2:54 min)


Floating Cup (2009, 1.35MB, 28 secs, silent)


Suitcase in a Box (2009, 59.6MB, 1:00 min)

Assured & smart domestic surrealism from Ben Pranger.

Transfers by Caitlin Berrigan


Caitlin Berrigan – Transfers (Clip) (2009, 8.7MB, 3:21)

Beautifully choreographed piece by Caitlin Berrigan.

Jim Punk & Antonio Mendoza – Dysleksic

dudeboat
dudeboat (2012, 2 MB, 11 secs)

misteriosoxxx
misteriosoxxx (2012, 4 MB, 41 secs)

Slightly traducing the spirit of the project where
the two artists mix, hack and otherwise mutate
and abut up to 9 videos simutaneously in the same web page
as a (very welcome) online adjunct to the current Drawing Surrealism
show at LACMA, we’re featuring a couple of the component parts.
(Because we love both these artists and we want to publicise
everything they do, which is never, ever, dull.)
To view it properly go (and keep on going back) to the
project page and to learn more go here.

David Olmos//José M. Sánchez-Verdú – Paisajes del placer y de la culpa

Paisajes del placer y de la culpa #1
Paisajes del placer y de la culpa #1 (2008, 119MB, 7:49 min)

Paisajes del placer y de la culpa #1
Paisajes del placer y de la culpa #2 (2008, 74MB, 4:52 min)

José M. Sánchez-Verdú is a Spanish composer who creates richly textured and
sensuous music in an uncompromisingly contemporary idiom.
His richness is no frippery but properly fought for and won.
Here is a short movie, in two parts, made by David Olmos, about whom I can find
no information whatsoever, which blends a fictional narrative with footage of
an orchestral performance of one of Sánchez-Verdú’s works
Paisajes del placer y de la culpa – Landscapes
of Pleasure and Guilt.
The film is undoubtedly skillfully made but I remain slightly agnostic
about its premise or even necessity; however no such doubts about some
of the most extraordinary music of recent years.
I grabbed the film from YouTube and as you can see the image quality isn’t great
although in some ways the graininess appeals and seems apposite to the subject.

Samuel Beckett – Quadrat I + II

quadrat1
Quadrat I + II (1981, 4.3MB, 1:04 sec.)

Quad (Play), by Samuel Beckett.

Bonnie Prince Billy Again


Agnes (2004, 7.3MB, 3:12 min)


Horses (2004, 16.7MB, 4:37 min)

Agnes video by David Shrigley
& Horses by Braden King,
both of them classy bits of work.
There’s a PhD to be had for someone along the lines of
‘The Curatorial Role of the Recording Artist’.
BPB/Will Oldham’s CD cover art never disappoints –
the acme of hip good taste ( though not in a bland way, I think)
– & the same is true of his videos.
I particularly love the projection-within-the vid trope of Horses.
Also -what songs!

Huzzah for Brittany Shoot!


Woah (2009, 6.1MB, 41 sec loop)


Bush Shoe (2009, 2.8MB, 27 secs)


Protest (2009, 14.1MB, 26 secs)

It’s the James-Bond-Martini scenario – tinder dry & leaving you
both shaken and stirred.
Three reasons to say “Huzzah for Brittany Shoot!“.

PS nobody in the UK actually says Huzzah, whatever you might have been told.

Will Goss – from Magenta’s Caress

beanstalk
Beanstalk [from Magenta’s Caress #3] (2010, 125 MB, 3:50 min)

This is great. It forcibly calls to mind the early work of the sainted Hal Hartley
and whilst it’s arguable that some of what’s on offer here is like a sort
of condensed supercharged bucket of HH’s stylistic tics I find none of that
irritating in the way I might have expected, rather it’s a definite plus, by some odd
counter-intuitive magic. It’s the very over-the-topness of it all that lends
it its huge charm.
More from Will Goss soon.

Curt Cloninger – Pop Mantra #4 (Rain Down On Me)

rain down - 10:00 am
Rain Down On Me: 10:00 am (2012, 22MB, 1:27 min)

rain down - 3:43pm
Rain Down On Me: 3:43pm (2012, 20MB, 1:01 min)

rain down - 6:00pm
Rain Down On Me: 6:00pm (2012, 110MB, 6:32 min)

Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, 14 September 2012, 10am – 6pm:
Curt Cloninger repeatedly performs a short excerpt from the
Radiohead song “Paranoid Android” for eight hours blindfolded.
The performance is the fourth in an ongoing series.
Video documentation by Alice Sebrell

Full documentation

Bob Ross is alive. The Joy of Painting..

miron_bilski
Bob Ross is alive (2008, 22MB, 2:50 min.)

joy_painting
The Joy of Painting (2008, 15MB, 5:45 min.)

Bob Ross came to prominence as the creator of ‘The Joy of Painting’,
a program on public television in the US. Here are a couple of great parodies
that poke fun at Bob and his calm and enduring nature.
Top is from Dutch filmmaker Miron Bilski (from the viral video award)
Bottom is from artists Max Kotelchuck and Peter Nowogrodzki.

Morrisa Maltz – Character 3/3 – Iris

character_1_1
Character 3/3 – Iris (2012, 67MB, 1:20 min)

Last one of three and all a pleasure to post and to view.
Here’s to lots more work from Morrisa.

Robb Bradely/Randy Newman – I’m Dreaming of a White President

 I
I’m Dreaming of a White President (2012, 15MB, 3:16 min)

Great bit of film-making to match a genius song.
But…but…
Of course you want Obama to win just
to wrongfoot the racists et. al. but you
can’t help wishing he’d actually done something
to merit the mad hostility of the rich, the bigots
and the terminally gullible.

Andy Warhol Eats A Hamburger


Jørgen Leth – 66 Scenes from America (1981, 9.9MB, 4:16)

Pretty self-explanatory: Andy eats a burger.
Scene from controversial Danish filmmaker
Jørgen Leth’s 1981 composite film, 66 Scenes from America.

Morrisa Maltz – Character 2/3 – Inverted Rose

character_2_3
Character 2/3 – Inverted Rose (2012, 43MB, 55 secs)

2nd in the series of 3, the first of which we posted last week.
I think these are lovely and haunting and I’m impressed by Morrisa
Maltz’s diligence and imagination.
(I love what she does with sound, too)
Is it just me or do these slightly conjure Isadora Duncan for anyone else?
Last one on Friday.

Richard Haley – Extending a Rain Puddle’s Reach By 16 Inches

puddleextension1
Puddle Extension (2007, 5MB, 6:42 min.)

Masonite, masking tape, and plastic sheeting device
designed to extend a rain puddle’s reach by 16 inches.
By Richard Haley.

In the realm of ‘A Series of Practical Performances In The Wilderness’
by Cary Peppermint and Christine Nadir. (1) (2)

Morrisa Maltz – Character 1/3 (Infinite Loop)

character_1_1
Character 1/3 [Infinite Loop] (2012, 130MB, 1:07 min)

I love Morrisa Maltz’s work. I particularly relish the way
she doesn’t rest on her laurels but pushes herself ever on to new
and (over-used word in the arts but, I think, apposite here)
fearless ways of thinking about and making things.
This is the first of three pieces best described, literally,
as moving pictures.
Tremendous!

Lucy Mills – Sunday Afternoon Narcissism

sunday afternoon narcissism
Sunday Afternoon Narcissism (2012, 190MB, 2:46 min)

Hypnotic and disorientating chunk of enchantment from London artist
Lucy Mills.
Only one cavil and that’s the title – the self-deprecation involved might
serve to camouflage the actual richness of this piece, at least from the
casual viewer*.

Let’s be optimistic and assume careful viewing, which work of
this quality certainly merits.

* Although, on reflection, the ‘Sunday Afternoon’ also suggests a certain
dreamy languor quite in keeping with just how gently ravishing it all is.

The One That Got Away – Marisa Olson

olsonidolstill
The One That Got Away (2005, 19MB, 9:02 min.)


In the Fall of 2004,Marisa Olson gained worldwide attention
while training to audition for American Idol

Mad King Thomas/Kevin Obsatz – Eat up, Little Pearl – trailer

eat up little pearl - trailer
Eat up, Little Pearl – trailer (2012, 42MB, 3:26min)

Absolutely wonderful promotional/performance video from US performance/dance
outfit Mad King Thomas (whom I know little about but would love to see),
the vid directed, apparently, by Kevin Obsatz who was behind the
video haikus we posted in July.
Video…&..er…troupe…all great, great.

2 from Donna Kuhn

mailmanmoronsuperman
mailman, moron, superman (2008, 76.3MB, 3:27 min)

spinning
Spinning (2008, 47.2 MB, 2:00 min)

Two pieces from Donna Kuhn in 2008.
I wrote then:

We’ve shown a number of pieces by Donna Kuhn here previously.
I wondered to myself a couple of times, I must admit, whether the fact of
having developed such an intensely freighted and personal syntax and vocabulary might
not at some point become a block to further development, whether there was a limit to
the elaboration (and not of course simply the formal elaboration but of how much
in the way of new approaches to her subject matter this process could be made to yield) of this
admittedly extraordinarily beautiful and singular set of moves.
Well no sign of it yet – instead there is this remarkable process of intensification,
of continual, ever finer and more nuanced scrutiny, distillation and development.
It’s like watching an never ending succession of rabbits being pulled out of
hats and it’s quite, quite beautiful and moving.
All of it something of a masterclass, but the use of sound especially colors me
green with envy – wonderful!

Barney Doodlebug at i-Kast 2012

i-kast 2012
iKast 2012 (2012, 70MB, 3:23min)

i-kast voodoodoodles
iKast voodoodoodles (2012, 89MB, 2:35min)

voodoo1
voodoo 1 (2012, 362MB, 9:58min)

Here’s some more gripping work from Michael Barnes-Wynters a.k.a Barney Doodlebug
who previously opened my eyes to a thriving live arts scene in Manchester, UK.
Featured here are two videos of a new piece by Michael which figured in i-Kast,
“a live intervention transmission for www.artplayer.tv with artists roney fraser-munroe,
naomi kashiwagi and michael barnes-wynters” in May of this year.
The first video is an excellent short documentary overview of the event
with interviews with key figures.

Michael is going to be running an event for 15-25 year olds as part of the season
in the new Tate Modern space “The Tanks” on Thursday 23 August.

Video Haiku: Four Frame Dance Project


Video Haiku – Four Frame Dance Project: Megan Mayer (2008, 22.4MB, 3:38)

Second in a series of four frame dance videos from
Video Haiku in 2008.
Lovely, inspiring, and fun.
Next week, some more recent work by Kevin Obsatz, the person behind this.