20th CENTURY SURREALISM ON FILM

"Surrealism, such as I conceive of it, asserts our complete nonconformism clearly enough so that there can be no question of translating it, at the trial of the real world, as evidence for the defense."- Andre Breton, Manifesto Of Surrealism, 1924

SOUNDGARDEN - LIVE AT THE WHISKEY, LA, 1990

Originally released as a VHS entitled 'Louder Than Live', this live show captures Soundgarden at their best and is a reminder of how explosive Grunge felt in the early 90's. Note too the shooting style. Clearly influenced by Gus Van Sant and the New Queer cinema, it's hand held, Super 8 aesthetic is visibly designed to reject the late 80's pomp of MTV and break down barriers between performer and audience. 

PETER WHITEHEAD - THE FALL (1969)

THE FALL (Peter Whitehead, 1969) from Spectacle Theater on Vimeo.

PENELOPE SLINGER - 'HEAR WHAT I SAY'

The art and the life of Penelope Slinger (b.1947 London) are inextricably interwoven. Hear What I Say is the second of three exhibitions focussing on the artist's early output; photographic collages, objects and sculptural works from the 1970s. In these pieces, Slinger uses the tools provided by Surrealism to penetrate the female psyche, presenting herself as both subject and object in a group of collages and montages which sidestep the then current themes of 1960s and 70s art. Exhibited in London in 1977, the work's explicit depiction of 'feminine power' and its anarchic approach to life, challenged and provoked many of her peers as well as the critics. The artist left Britain in 1979, never to return; the Riflemaker exhibition being the first time the work will have been shown publicly in almost forty years.

EXHIBITION: RIFLEMAKER GALLERY, SOHO, LONDON.

RIP - ROBERT HUGHES (1938 - 2012)

The most inspiring and brilliant art critic of them all - Robert Hughes.

#NOWPLAYING AUGUST 2012

RIMBAUD IN NEW YORK

From 1978-79 the artist, poet and writer David Wojnarowicz produced a series of black-and-white photographs of a young man, wearing a mask which featured a reproduction of Etienne Carjat's 19th Century portrait of Arthur Rimbaud. The complete collection - which stretches to 500 prints - depicts Wojnarowicz’s "Rimbaud" in both intimate and public scenarios in 1970's New York. This period of the city's history has come to be seen as a Bohemian mecca, a post-war Paris for the disaffected, be they artists or hustlers, or frequently, both. Despite Modernist impulses driving much of the art of the era, Romanticism remained prevalent, with Rimbaud's personal mythology inspiring many Downtown artists, most notably Patti Smith,Tom Verlaine and Robert Mapplethorpe. 'Rimbaud In New York' makes this link explicit, whilst documenting the city's degradation and escalating criminality.Wojnarowicz would write thrillingly and beautifully about these experiences in 'The Waterfront Journals', and 'In The Shadow Of The American Dream', both highly recommended texts for their descriptions of 70's NYC, significantly written in the moment, unlike the celebrated memoirs of Patti Smith, Edmund White and James Wolcott. Yet, for sheer immediacy, it is Wojnarowicz's 'Rimbaud in New York' photo series that captures the Blank City like a shot in the arm.

Interview on David Wojnarowicz here. Further Details on 'Rimbaud in New York' here. 

#NOWPLAYING - MAY 2012