1. Respond to Chieko Shiomi's, Dissappearing Music For Face. How doe the minimalism and duration of the film affect your engagement with the image?
The length of the film and the minimalism on the screen really made me go off into another place almost a daydream. I scanned the entire screen and noticed that the image was a really slow motion extreme close up of a mouth going from smile to lips closed.As I stared at the image, it became blurred and the image took on a new sense of calm to me, that is when the dreamy surreal experience began to take over.
How does the film relate to the following issues:
a) Maciunas definfiton of art vs. his definition of fluxus art-amusement?
Maciunas started the fluxus movement and believed that art should be something that could be made by anyone. This film definitely falls into this category it's simplicity and quirkiness alone makes this film in line with fluxfilms.
b) art as object vs.art as performance and activity?
The fluxus filmmakers were against art as an object. they believed art should not be bought or sold, not something to be mass produced and make "gobs "of money off of and exploited like everything else good. They believed that the actual performance or making of the art was actually the whole reason and pleasure of art. Like when the point was raised that they should be filming Jack Smith while making his films, that was the real art.
2. Look up “Fluxus” and any of the Fluxus artists in the index of Visionary Film. Why are they not there? Are the Fluxfilms compatible with Sitney’s central argument about the American avant-garde?
I believe the reason that "Fluxus" and the artists associated with the movement aren't in the text because Sitney believes that Avant-Garde is a true and pure art form and that these films can be done by anyone implying they are not real artists.
Mary Jordan, Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
3. What are some of the reasons suggested for Smith’s obsession with Maria Montez? What are some of your responses to the clips from the Montez films (especially Cobra Woman)?
Some of the reasons suggested for Smith's obsession with Maria Montez is that she was a Dominican woman who came here to America by herself and made it big as Universals Studio's glamor girl. She was a goddess to Smith and he used to watch her as an unhappy child. When asked if he got restless in the hospital bed dying of AIDS , he said no "he just thinks about Maria Montez reclining, and that no one could recline like Maria Montez".In Cobra Woman, Montez's beauty and screen presence mixed with the gorgeous vivid colors make her the Hollywood Technicolor leading lady of the 1940's.
4. What were some attributes of the New York art community in the 1960s, and what was the relationship between the economics of the time and the materials that Smith incorporated in to his work and films? [How could Smith survive and make art if he was so poor in the city so big they named it twice?]
The art community in NY during the sixties was about being nonconformist, kind of an "anti" feeling. Smith was a poor man who didn't seem to care about money and the problems that come with it. He survived off of a block of cheese and crackers every day. He viewed art as something that shouldn't be collected or sold. He said, "people who partook in the buying and selling of art were missing the point of art entirely. Jack would use things he found in the garbage or on the side of the road in his art, he would see beauty in things that others may no have.
5. What is John Zorn’s argument about Normal Love? How does his argument relate to some of the changes in the New York art world in the 1960s that we discussed in class? What are some arguments made about the influence of Jack Smith on other filmmakers (including Warhol)?
Warhol really admired Jack's works and said, the only artist he would imitate is Jack Smith. John Waters said, Jack did it all first and in a small time frame with little money, and others basically stole his ideas and went on to be rich and famous, just as Waters did.
6. What is meant by the slogan, “no more masterpieces” and how did Smith resist commodification (or the production of art products)?
Smith believed that art should not be a commodity and that it should neither be collected or sold. He very adamantly thought that people who were doing so were actually missing the entire point of art.
Callie Angell, “Andy Warhol, Filmmaker”
[This can be found in the Kreul Articles folder from your flash drive]
7. How does Angell characterize the first major period of Warhol’s filmmaking career? What are some of the films from this period, and what formal qualities did they share? What are some significant differences between Sleep and Empire?
In the beginning of Warhol's career he was known for silent minimalist films that were very long static shots. One was a movie named Sleep, which was a 5 hour and 21 minute shot of a man sleeping. Another was called Empire, this film was an 8 hour shot of the Empire State Building. These films were rarely shown and and widely considered "unwatchable", nevertheless achieved instant fame for their extraordinary length and unprecedented lack of action.
8. What role did the Screen Tests play in the routines at the Factory and in Warhol’s filmmaking?
The Screen Tests were a sort of guest book for the Factory from 1964-1966 and "included artists, filmmakers, writers, and critics, gallery owners, actors, dancers, socialites, pop music stars, poets and , of course, Factory regulars and Superstars" These would be filmed with the subjects instructed to be as still as possible in order to create the illusion of a still photo in the moving medium of film. I think that's a pretty cool idea. Many of these went on to be included in films like, the 50 most beautiful women or the 50 most beautiful boys. Also, these screen tests would sometimes be later used to do his paintings.
9. How does Angell characterize the first period of sound films in Warhol’s filmmaking career? Who was Warhol’s key collaborator for the early sound films? What are some of the films from this period and what formal properties did they share?
The first period of sound based films in Warhol's filmmaking career were more performance based, more improvisational. He would do odd things like purposefully not let the actors learn their lines so that it would give the performance a less calculated feel. One of Warhol's key collaborators was Ronald Tavel who was an integral writer for his films during this period. Some of the films from this period were Vinyl, Kitchen, Drunk,Paul Swan, Camp and My Hustler. Most of these films were performance based films of everyday activities like in Drunk, where the film is two reels of filmmaker Emile de Antonio drinking a bottle of scotch and passing out.
Callie Angell, “Andy Warhol, Filmmaker”
[This can be found in the Kreul Articles folder from your flash drive]
7. How does Angell characterize the first major period of Warhol’s filmmaking career? What are some of the films from this period, and what formal qualities did they share? What are some significant differences between Sleep and Empire?
In the beginning of Warhol's career he was known for silent minimalist films that were very long static shots. One was a movie named Sleep, which was a 5 hour and 21 minute shot of a man sleeping. Another was called Empire, this film was an 8 hour shot of the Empire State Building. These films were rarely shown and and widely considered "unwatchable", nevertheless achieved instant fame for their extraordinary length and unprecedented lack of action.
8. What role did the Screen Tests play in the routines at the Factory and in Warhol’s filmmaking?
The Screen Tests were a sort of guest book for the Factory from 1964-1966 and "included artists, filmmakers, writers, and critics, gallery owners, actors, dancers, socialites, pop music stars, poets and , of course, Factory regulars and Superstars" These would be filmed with the subjects instructed to be as still as possible in order to create the illusion of a still photo in the moving medium of film. I think that's a pretty cool idea. Many of these went on to be included in films like, the 50 most beautiful women or the 50 most beautiful boys. Also, these screen tests would sometimes be later used to do his paintings.
9. How does Angell characterize the first period of sound films in Warhol’s filmmaking career? Who was Warhol’s key collaborator for the early sound films? What are some of the films from this period and what formal properties did they share?
The first period of sound based films in Warhol's filmmaking career were more performance based, more improvisational. He would do odd things like purposefully not let the actors learn their lines so that it would give the performance a less calculated feel. One of Warhol's key collaborators was Ronald Tavel who was an integral writer for his films during this period. Some of the films from this period were Vinyl, Kitchen, Drunk,Paul Swan, Camp and My Hustler. Most of these films were performance based films of everyday activities like in Drunk, where the film is two reels of filmmaker Emile de Antonio drinking a bottle of scotch and passing out.
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