BEAUTY PLUS PITY

DUKE & BATTERSBY are filmmaking duo, working mainly within the gallery world. Their short video pieces are self-described as "episodic," and take the collaged form of short-form children's programming, or sketch comedy.

The work itself is essayist, and usually combines raw imagery with a sweet innocence, with a distinct humanist appraoch. In this video, entitled BEAUTY PLUS PITY, most of the artists' usual techniques are on display: documentary, cartoons, & emotive balladry.

William Eggleston's Movie

In 1974, photographer WILLIAM EGGLESTON started using a Sony Portapak video camera, modified with his own prime lens. The technology was very new, and it is suggested that the people being shot didn't really know what it was and because of that their characters are that much more vibrant.

Whether that is the case or not, the footage she shot that year was edited into the film STRANDED IN CANTON, and it stands as one of the most enchanting "movies" I've ever seen. Mostly portraits around his small town in Tennessee, HARMONY KORINE has cited it as an influence on his recent TRASH HUMPERS, shot in the same area.

People Doing Stuff

A perfectly guileless presentation, as advertised. The original post on YouTube describes it best: "It's oddly satisfying."

A 2007 film by KOKI TANAKA entitled EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING.

Counter

The compilation of patterns or recurring tropes in video art has become something of a benchmark, not to say a cliche, and comes from the accessibility and mashability of past film and television clips. The current tendency of this type of work is usually pleasurable in two ways: the style and execution of a distinct concept, and then also in recognition by the viewer of the original sources. I would say, while the first is important, it is the second tendency which usually makes or breaks the effectiveness of the work.

This 2004 video, COUNTER by German artist VOLKER SCHREINER, is a good example of both tendencies.

The Lost Tribes of New York City

Directed by CAROLYN and ANDY LONDON

Alex Bag, first tape

Video artist ALEX BAG got her start producing videos for public access television. After getting kicked off the airwaves (twice), she found her distribution home among the art galleries, where she's been making her living lampooning the very world that accepts her.

Her first tape, and only one available for viewing, is from 1995, and includes BAG's signature one-woman performances, incuding the evolution of an SVA student. It's worth watching all the way through. I especially love the "Seudehead" segment.

Concerning distribution and exhibition, it's my belief that BAG's anarchist art world vision is being subsumed by the art world itself. ALEX: Break free and distribute your own work, either online or by DVD. You have an audience waiting for you when you do.

Take Time

One of the prevailing features in the music of avant-garde pop-collagists THE BOOKS is laughter. The sense of wonder and play might be one of the reasons they're not taken seriously, in a form that applauds grim seriousness and esoterica.

The proof to the importance to THE BOOKS, I believe, lies in their self-produced music videos. Since the band had always used audio samples in their music from found video clips, it made sense to source a lot of that audio back to its original video for visual accompaniment when playing live. When I saw the band play live along with this clip, I was completely floored. THE BOOKS manage to take on all of experimental video, found footage, and collage art, and come out on top with one of the most strange, uplifting, and joyful pieces of cinema I've ever seen.

TAKE TIME is certainly one of my favorite little movies ever. This, and more by THE BOOKS are collected on the PLAY ALL DVD.

Migrating Forms 2009

The new incarnation of what was once the NEW YORK UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL is now known as MIGRATING FORMS. The weekend festival takes place this weekend, and in the tradition of the NYUFF, there is a commissioned trailer for the event by one of the artists.

MICHAEL ROBINSON is one of the most heralded young video artists working today, and this clip is one of the rare views of his work available on the web.

Zen for video

Artist CORY ARCANGEL came to prominence with his piece SUPER MARIO CLOUDS, which hacked the original NINTENDO game to remove all game elements save the randomized clouds moving against a plain sky-blue background.

I think I might prefer its companion piece F1 RACER, which removed the cars and the twists and turns from the orignal car race game. (This is apparently the sequel, F2.)

A recent, similarly minded piece, simply called BLUE TUBE, works only when embedded off-site. Behold:

Stay the Same Never Change

Video artist LAUREL NAKADATE developed this feature-length project from short video pieces she was writing. At the New York premier, as part of the NEW DIRECTORS NEW FILMS series, she described that the film really came together after she began collaborating with OWEN ASHWORTH, of the one-man band CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE, who provides the soundtrack.

Both artists concern themselves with teen drama of the realist kind, but Ms. NAKADATE's work has been considerably more transgressive. See more about her artwork below:

Takeshi Murata

The video work of TAKESHI MURATA is striking in its totality of vision. Starting with a wave of early animation-inspired cartoon loops, his work has lately begun focusing on a certain kind of digital abstraction that DVD-encoding affords.

The above bootleg clip is unfortunately low quality, but gives a good example of MURATA's fluid, pyschedelic output. Come see the real thing next Tuesday night, Feb. 17, at Electronic Arts Intermix, where MURATA will also be present to discuss his work. Admission is free.