As part of the Pacific Standard Time exhibition, the L.A. gallery Roberts & Tilton will be featuring the work of Gusmano Casaretti. An Italian immigrant, Casaretti became captivated by the raw energy of the East LA scene in the 1970’s. On display through Feb. 17.
Lars Von Trier’s latest film, Melancholia, was released in November and I had the opportunity to see it recently. It’s a hauntingly beautiful film that questions what it means to face one’s imminent destruction. Melancholia, a newly discovered planet, is on a collision course with Earth, and this time Bruce Willis can’t save the day.
Von Trier has long been associated with the Dogme 95 movement, a purist film making manifesto that requires films to be shot on location, without soundtrack and no special effects. Manifesto brilliantly breaks out of this mold, showcasing the work of cinematographer Manuel Alberto Claro, with incredibly lush slow motion shots and beautifully composited shots of planets colliding.
This movement away from Dogme 95 also allowed Trier to use Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde as the soundtrack to the film, which imbues everything with a slow burn that matches the emotion of the story perfectly.
If you can see this in the theater, do it.
Some sick work from VFX powerhouse Nick Losq. Hella tight, Nick!
Our good friend Tony Benna, of Mekanism, directed these beautifully composed vignettes for the Samsung Sh-100 camera. They hopped in a camper, drove across America and handed the camera off to strangers that became friends along the way. Not a bad way to spend the summer. Great writing, editing and a voice that really rings true.
As the world may end with a whisper rather than a bang, so has this remarkable networked era seemingly appears as if it was always there. Beautifully shot short film from Ericsson.
Our good friend Jim Kenney has been getting a lot of attention lately with ‘Polack’, an independent film about Polish jokes and the insidious nature of racism, homophobia all the like. The film really draws you in, makes you question your assumptions and doesn’t let go.
“What a roller coaster! Entrancing from the start. I was completely caught up and off guard by this beautifully crafted, deeply personal journey into history. Just when you’re delighting in clever anima- tion interwoven with old TV episodes and extraordinary archival footage, you’re hit slam-dunk with Nazis and gay bashing. Unexpected, jarring, complex – like a cubist painting or climbing into an imaginative mind. Made me think twice about every joke I’ve ever been party to.”
– Nikki Silva, of NPR’s Peabody Award-Winning Kitchen Sisters
In a field that is often criticized (and rightly so) as being crass, arrogant and following trends, Wieden Kennedy has long been one of the few agencies that approaches the craft of advertising with maturity, courage and ingenuity. John Jay has been a huge part of their dominance in recent years and his wisdom on this business many of us are engaged in is very much recommended reading. ‘The greatest thing we can offer is to be great listeners’
Mobius is a stop motion piece by Australian environmental design group Eness that was commissioned by the city of Melbourne to take place over two weeks in Federation Square. The result is an optical illusion and a time-lapse of people interacting with the sculpture and moving through Melbourne’s landmark location throughout the day.
Denver’s own Luca Venter has a lush and intimate body of work that focuses on the burgeoning music scene in our fair city. We look forward to seeing more.
I’ve really been enjoying going back through the work of Japanese design giant Tadanori Yokoo and I’m more and more inspired by how much it holds up after 60 years. It’s full of weird, political and often disturbing imagery that reminds you that the world has always been such.
We recently came across the work of Japanese cell animator Mirai Mizue and have been pretty blown away by her body of work. Reminds us a lot of the psychedelic work of filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki.
“Crystalline”, the new video by Bjork and directed by Michel Gondry is out. There are some cool moments in the piece but I’d have liked to see the stop motion pushed a bit further as well as see Bjork more integrated into environment.
While in New York recently I had the good fortune to meet up with Ryan and Jonathan, founders and all around nice guys over at Lucky, one of the many up and coming digital agencies on the NY scene. In addition to kicking out some great viral and branded content, they’ve also been busy developing a pretty outstanding database of viral videos that may be found at The Viral Collection. Whether you’re looking for the Jawbone ‘Wednesday Was a Good Day’ video or the Hot Wheels Indy 500 stunt, TVC is a viral gold mine.
The answer to campus shooters? More shooters, of course. Leading the charge to remove institutions of higher learning from the list of gun-free zones is…wait for it… Texas! In the words of one university president, “Mixing youth, handguns and partying is, in my view, a mix for serious concerns about safety on campus.”
Jamie Hartley was burning up the interwebs with his video for Twin Shadow a few weeks ago, but I stumbled back into his portfolio last night and had to take a few runs through. I honestly don’t know what the hell’s going on in most of the films or where he gets the footage, but I’m really drawn to the dreamscape, indie hippy nonsense he’s got going on.
His music videos include Twin Shadow, How to Dress Well, His Clancyness and Memory Tapes.
Sam Durant has an upcoming exhibit, “Laissez Fair et Laissez Passer, Le Monde Vade Lui Meme” at Blum & Poe in Los Angeles. February 19 through March 26.
ShapeThings is the portfolio of art director, designer and all around maker of stuff Eli Carrico. For the past few years Eli was a mainstay at Brand New School and has since moved on to independent work.
Also a great collection of personal work over at Shape of Things.
Every once in a while I come back to Jill Greeberg’s work and am always pretty blown away by her mastery of digital light in a post film world. Her series “Glass Ceiling”, uses an underwater stage to capture a brood of water treading women in high heels.
