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.

Morrisa Maltz – Character 3/3 – Iris

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.

Morrisa Maltz – Character 2/3 – Inverted Rose

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.

Morrisa Maltz – Character 1/3 (Infinite Loop)

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!

Morrisa Maltz – Two New Movies

I Don’t Know That Would You Like to Search the Web for it? (2012, 96MB, 38 secs)

Image White/Red (2012, 12MB, 35 sec loop)

Another DVblog favourite today, I’m glad to say.
Morrisa Maltz, returning to the world of art from her foray
into commerce (but that so elegant and sharply done), presents
us with two new vids, mysterious and lovely both; one that
feel ecstatic and the other with, perhaps, a darker note, I think.
Anyway, partly because I think it’s enlightening and partly because, dammit,
I can, I reproduce below an edited verison of an exchange
Morrisa and I had about these.

MM:
…think I’m moving in a bit of a different direction…I’m working
on a few pieces that are much shorter and meant to loop- sorts of images
that function more as paintings and could possibly fit in sculptures
or present themselves framed on a wall… I’m not sure if those would
work for DVblog, but I’m attaching two pieces that function in that way,
one that is similar to old pieces a bit and one that is entirely meant
to loop and function as more of an “image” than a video……..
I’m really trying to get back in the groove after all the Mofone excitement
so no worries if you don’t like these pieces and don’t want to write
about them or want to write something not so great about them…
MJS:
I think they’re both great & I’d love to do a post about them.
For me change is a sign of life. Nothing depresses me more than the all
too frequent art school advice to find a “thing” and to keep doing it.
Imagine Picasso with this philosophy…
Anyway – although they are different you have very distinctive fingerprints 🙂
MM:
I think that change is extremely important for an artist , and it’s …
unfortunate that artists quite often get pegged into one way of making
things and continue to work in that vein- that seems to contradict
the whole idea of an artist for me…

Morrisa Maltz – an interesting intersection of art & commerce

Saved By The Bell/Mofones (2011, 33MB, 54 secs)

The title of this post being words that seldom pass my lips but which in this case
are entirely to the point.
The splendidly creative video artist Morrisa Maltz whose work we’ve been delighted
to feature here several times made these..um..arty-i-phone holders, which are, it has
to be said, rather good and to cut a long story short their commercial potential was
spotted and now she is a C….E….O & Urban Outfitters are selling her stuff.
You can read a fuller account here and you can view & buy here.
I hope she spends all of any money she makes on giving herself time to make more of the
very smart and fetching art videos she’s so good at.
Anyway this is a promotional vid for the moFones, lovingly carved from “Saved by the Bell”.
She even does marketing classily.

Morrisa Maltz – Device Activated

Device Activated (2011, 10MB, 1:54 min)

And after Tuesday’s ad here’s another piece of personal work
from Morrisa Maltz and it’s simply glorious.
I’m tempted to say it feels like restoration comedy on some
sort of mind-altering compound but it’s much, much weirder,
more beautiful & haunting than that.

Keep ’em coming Morrisa!
We’ll show them as long as you let us!

Morrisa Maltz – MoFone commercial

MoFone commercial (2011, 8MB, 1:31 min)

First of two pieces this week from the very talented Morrisa Maltz,
this one is a commercial for some kind of art-phone venture she seems
to be involved in.
Whilst I might pass on the product, I’m stuck dumb by the glorious
verve and insouciance of the ad.
It’s interesting – her personal work is very identifiable ( in a good way, I
hasten to add, and, as you’ll see later this week it moves onwards).
This is utterly different but also a really really neat bit of film-making,
suggesting deep reserves of skill and smarts as well as vision.

Morrisa Maltz – Previous Process

Previous Process (2010, 15MB, 1:25 min)

New work from Morrisa Maltz, both revisiting and developing
themes, images and ideas from previous work.
Maltz’s work is growing & unfolding at a slightly scary pace.
The piece too, a little bit scary; or, better, unheimlich.
Interesting to compare it even with the last piece of hers we posted here,
bare weeks ago.
I want to say Maltz has a natural feel for image, cut, sound
but I suspect it is actually worked for and worked for hard.
Good. No falling back, then, on glib facility but lots
more change, development and fascinating work to come.

Morrisa Maltz – First Class

First Class (2010, 127 MB, 3:40 min)

And First Class it is too -we’ve enthused about Morrisa Maltz here quite
recently & her first music vid (for Everybody Else) doesn’t disappoint.
It’s stylish without being glib, chock full of ideas but nicely unified by
a visual language those who’ve seen her work before will instantly recognise.
My only cavil (which I already expressed to her) is the degree of
objectification at work here in the portrayal of women,
(you know…the boys play & the girls kind of dance around
or pose, looking nice &c &c) which I find a tad depressing coming from
a clearly enormously talented & capable woman artist.
More than well made though & I look forward to whatever comes next.