MAKING LIGHT OF IT

(From La Vie Nouvelle by Philippe Grandrieux)

The following is a graphical chart by P. Adams Sitney from the first of his four lectures at the Museum of Modern Art in the spring of 1971, entitled The Idea of Morphology (which appeared in full in the No. 52-55 edition of Film Culture)...

In some respects I'm a bit late to the party on this one, though is such an expression applicable when the party has seemingly been so sparsely attended in the first place?  A few minutes with the video work of Kyle Canterbury and one is ready to curse such injustice, but rather than wallow in indignation I suppose its better to instead simply try and make a few more humble invitations...

So first a link to his Vimeo page

&

An appropriately enthusiastic introduction by way of Fred Camper

Like all invitations this is post is just an announcement, an announcement that will hopefully give way to a more substantial gathering once I'm able to collect thoughts that have been sent scurrying in all directions.  These videos have a pulse unlike any I've encountered, a pulse that reverberates on the surface of the eye in an entirely unfamiliar way.  So to spruce this invitation up, some images from the work itself and few more words to liven up the mood...

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(7 Videos: #7)

(19: Passage)

(A Video)

(Bird)

(Color Shifts)

(Fragments from a Room)

(Man)

(Origins)

(...seven parts...)

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Elusive Lucidity blog post

"For the past several years Kyle Canterbury has been quietly, in the shadows, creating a stunning body of work.His videos are among the richest expressions of cinema of the last several decades. His eye for color and texture, rhythm and composition, rival many of the masters of experimental film. But comparisons are facile - Canterbury is working different terrain. He is rooting to the primal essence of the video medium unlike anyone before." (White Light Cinema)

"But such pieces as Color Shifts, Building in Detroit #2, 7 New Videos #3, 7 New Videos #7, and LX evoke for me some of the graphic power of the very different Oskar Fischinger, which goes to show the diversity of Canterbury's work. And he does some things with rhythm and texture I haven't seen before in film or video." (Jonathan Rosenbaum)

"Canterbury continues to be the most astonishing (and still overlooked!) artist working today." (Patrick Friel)

More to come for certain...

Front and back covers to my copy of of Lenny Lipton's Independent Filmmaking.  Well worn and sturdily taped for good reason, as after countless time spent amongst its pages I can say unequivocally it is the most insightful, humorous, good natured, enthusiastic and accessible filmmaking book I've come across.  Even if you have no interest in the process whatsoever, it's still remains a must read.  Much more to come down the line...

As you may or may not have heard, today was Stan Brakhage's birthday.  I won't say much, as the unquantifiable importance his work has held in my own life since my first chance discovery has been elucidated here time and again.  It was a discovery that gave me my sense of wonder back, a wonder that has deepened every day since.  Instead I'll post the following brief but exquisite essay by Kristin Prevallet entitled Angels in the Apparatus...        

(screen captures from Orpheus by Jean Cocteau)

Just a few more scans from the recently released wonder Radical Light to supplement the lovely in-depth Moving Image Source review Zoom Out, Pan Around by Tom McCormack and hopefully convince any of those with one foot still on the fence to jump in wholeheartedly...