devotchik

Salvador Dali - BBC Arena documentary

2012-01-28T00:33:00.001Z

Aldo Tambellini

2012-01-28T00:18:00.002Z

Black Trip (1965)

Black Trip 2 (1967)

http://www.aldotambellini.com/
http://evolvingcritic.com/2011/04/07/bcf2011-the-black-films-of-aldo-tambellini/

Ken Jacobs - Window (1964)

2012-01-22T13:34:00.001Z

Stan Brakhage - Black Ice (1994)

2012-01-22T13:23:00.002Z

Oskar Fischinger - from Fantasia (1940) Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

2012-01-19T13:25:00.001Z

Oskar Fischinger - Visual Development

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_Fischinger

James Whitney - Lapis (1966)

2012-01-19T12:58:00.000Z

James Whitney - Yantra (1957)

2012-01-19T12:50:00.000Z

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Whitney_(filmmaker)

Looking Glass Self: I'll Be Your Mirror 1.0

2012-01-11T23:14:00.002Z

Looking Glass Self: I'll Be Your Mirror 2.0

2012-01-11T23:09:00.002Z

Nostalgia 2.0

2012-01-08T21:59:00.004Z

"The Photograph does not necessarily say what is no longer, but only and for certain what has been."

"Every photograph is a certificate of presence."

- Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_Lucida_(book)

Nostalgia..

2012-01-01T03:38:00.004Z

In full working order too..

Just to get it out there..

2011-12-29T15:52:00.002Z

Demo by Devotchik

A fragment of a song I wrote eleven years ago at the end of a major relationship. Its taken me this long to get around to making some kind of a recording of it. Has a countryesque tinge to it. There were others on the C90 tape I recorded back then but with this one I'm working on the principle that if a melody or a song remains in your head after a long time then there has to be some kind of merit to it so I'm finally putting it out there. Not that I'd call myself a singer anyway so excuse the vocals but its just how the creative process can be fired up by personal events.

Start Your Own Religion - Timothy Leary

2011-12-27T17:39:00.003Z

Link here: StartYourOwnReligionPDF

Loose Ends - Chick Strand

2011-12-21T00:15:00.002Z

Nice little interview with Chick Strand by Shea Castleman (you can download a pdf of the interview on this link) http://alternativeprojections.com/articles/chick-strand-now-they-call-it-avant-garde/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_Strand

Cleo From 5 til 7 - Agnes Varda

2011-12-12T15:21:00.002Z

Cleo From 5 Til 7 is a portrait of a woman from the hours of 5pm til 7pm as she awaits the result of a biopsy. By Rive Gauche (Left Bank Cinema, an offshoot of the French New Wave cinema movement of the 1950s/60s) director Agnes Varda.

More about it here:
http://www.criterion.com/films/244-cleo-from-5-to-7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cléo_from_5_to_7

Extract (Working title: I'll Be Your Mirror)

2011-12-06T23:28:00.002Z

I'll Be Your Mirror. Reflect What You Are, In Case You Don't Know..

2011-12-03T14:55:00.002Z

Lyrics:

(Lou Reed)

I'll be your mirror
Reflect what you are, in case you don't know
I'll be the wind, the rain and the sunset
The light on your door to show that you're home

When you think the night has seen your mind
That inside you're twisted and unkind
Let me stand to show that you are blind
Please put down your hands
'Cause I see you

I find it hard to believe you don't know
The beauty you are
But if you don't let me be your eyes
A hand in your darkness, so you won't be afraid

When you think the night has seen your mind
That inside you're twisted and unkind
Let me stand to show that you are blind
Please put down your hands
'Cause I see you

I'll be your mirror
(reflect what you are)

Arthur Schnitzler - Traumnovelle (Dream Story) / Stanley Kubrick - Eyes Wide Shut

2011-11-19T21:39:00.002Z

The German novel by Arthur Schnitzler that inspired Stanley Kubrick's film Eyes Wide Shut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Story

Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

2011-11-19T21:38:00.001Z

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Dielman

Maya Deren - Ritual in Transfigured Time

2011-11-14T20:40:00.002Z

Senses of Cinema - "Maya Deren, Dance, and Gestural Encounters in Ritual in Transfigured Time" by Erin Brannigan: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2002/22/deren/

Cinema of the Reel (screenshots)

2011-11-13T14:42:00.003Z

'Cinema of the Reel' is a video piece made especially for the Phantasmagoria show (see previous post).

Cinema of the Reel is about the transitory but fragile nature of the film medium. Shot on video via the manipulation of 16mm celluloid by human hands the pulsing heartbeat dictates the perfection of its delicate fallibility. As the shift from film to video as a popular medium marks its death led by consumerist actions, the analogue age segues in to the digital age. Where once there was life breeds only death and decay now for the format. Film, once seen as a route to freedom is now trapped by its digital limitations.

Duration: 20 minutes
Medium: Video

PHANTASMAGORIA - show / exhibition

2011-11-07T22:36:00.003Z

Just posting some details of a show in which some of my filmwork will be featuring..

PHANTASMAGORIA is a platform for debate. It breaks the conventional exhibition space and by doing so becomes a forum for discussion on issues of consumerism and capitalism, and the impossibility of escape. Artists and Philosophers interact with the people attending in the new Cathedral of post-post-modern society: the shopping centre.

PHANTASMAGORIA is a living structure. It develops and changes daily. It will hold events ranging from the ‘Aesthetics of Terror’ to Jack the Ripper as a first situationist, and the Red Shoes.

LIST OF PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:

Marina Ard, Heloise Bergman, Ben Cain, Stefanie Carthy, Jemski Chan, Jack DeChambre, Daisy Delaney, Dani Doherty, Jean-Phillipe Dordolo, Christopher Duncan, Deej Fabyc, Orianna Fox, Mike Graham, Dean Higgins, John Hillson, Phillip Howe, David Howells, Soren James, Kitty Junkbrother, Goldsmith’s Glinch Karaoke, Kennedy & Mulhall, Andy Lawson, Naa Teki Lebar, Curating the Contemporary LondonMet Students, Jon Long, Alexia Masardo, Rosa Mignacca, Dennis Plaxton, Harley Price, Coalition of Resistance, Signs of Revolt, Anne Robinson, Paul Sakoilski, Ramon Salgado-Touzon, Nina Silvert, Emily Taylor, Jones Tensini, Eamonn Tighe, Leonardo Ulian, Leonara & Violet, Xavier White, Paulette Wilson, Salli Yule-Tsingas

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE: http://phantasmagoriart.tumblr.com/

Time :
11 November at 12:00 - 19 November at 23:00

Location:
At Meanwhile Space, O2 Centre, Top Floor
255 Finchley Road, Hampstead, NW3 6LU
London, United Kingdom

Looking Glass Self

2011-11-03T01:39:00.002Z

Three main components

There are three main components of the looking-glass self (Yeung, et al. 2003).

*We imagine how we must appear to others.
*We imagine the judgment of that appearance.
*We develop our self through the judgments of others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looking_glass_self

Mothers Lament

2011-11-02T21:54:00.002Z

With the aim of contextualising this particular acapella cover version of Mothers Lament by Cream (off their album Disraeli Gears) bearing in mind the recent riots in London with parents being asked to keep track of their 'missing' children with flashing notices on the news channel tickers at the bottom of the screen.. Single parents seem to be coming in for a lot of criticism these days..

Mothers Lament by Devotchik

Experiment in identity

2011-11-01T22:01:00.004Z

An experiment in identity. Inspired by Cindy Sherman's photographic series called 'Untitled Film Stills' in which Sherman attempts to create scenes from imaginary films with varying female stereotyped roles which Sherman herself poses for. In fact Sherman retains control of the whole project undertaking varying roles at every level of the production such as camera person, make up artist, scenic artist, etc behind the camera as well as appearing in front of it as the model.

More about 'Untitled Film Stills' here: http://www.webexhibits.org/colorart/sherman.html

Cindy Sherman tribute website: http://www.cindysherman.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Sherman

Something for Hallow'een - Vampyr

2011-10-29T21:13:00.001+01:00

Have a great Hallow'een!

Vampyr by Devotchik

Book: The Art of Self Invention: Image and Identity in Popular Visual Culture by Joanne Finklestein

2011-10-28T00:52:00.000+01:00

The Art of Self Invention: Image and Identity in Popular Visual Culture by Joanne Finklestein

Really interesting book on how we construct our personalities and public identities through the influences around us.. from the media, popular culture, manners, body language, fashion etc.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Self-Invention-Identity-Popular/dp/1845113969

New work in progress (screenshot & screentest) / Zen For Film - Nam June Paik

2011-10-27T23:46:00.005+01:00

Screenshot of work in progress.

Materials: 16mm clear leader film, adhesive tape.

Inspired by Zen For Film by Fluxus artist Nam June Paik

http://www.artnotart.com/fluxus/njpaik-zenforfilm.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nam_June_Paik

http://www.fluxus.org/

Two Sisters - The Kinks

2011-10-26T23:39:00.000+01:00

Lyrics:

Sybilla looked into her mirror
Priscilla looked into the washing machine
And the drudgery of being wed
She was so jealous of her sister
And her liberty, and her smart young friends
She was so jealous of her sister

Sybilla looked into the wardrobe
Priscilla looked into the frying pan
And the bacon and eggs
And the breakfast is served
She was so jealous of her sister
And her way of life, and her luxury flat
She was so jealous of her sister

She'd throw away her dirty dishes just to be free again
Her women's weekly magazines just to be free again
And put the children in the nursery just to be free again
Priscilla saw her little children
And then decided she was better off
Than the wayward lass that her sister had been
No longer jealous of her sister
So she ran 'round the house with her curlers on
No longer jealous of her sister

Harry Enfield 'spoofs'

2011-10-26T12:16:00.002+01:00

Cindy Sherman - Doll Clothes

2011-10-25T14:35:00.001+01:00

Anti-Clock by Jane Arden / Jack Bond (1979)

2011-10-19T09:24:00.001+01:00

More on the films of Jane Arden & Jack Bond: http://www.mondo-digital.com/janearden.html

Human Zoo - Yoji Kuri (1961/2)

2011-10-19T09:21:00.001+01:00

Synopsis here: http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/2348?view=synopsis

Love - Ai by Yoji Kuri (1962)

2011-10-19T09:18:00.002+01:00

Synopses here: http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/7671?view=synopsis

Darling, Do You Love Me? (1968)

2011-10-19T09:06:00.002+01:00

"In a hugely entertaining parody of her media persona, a pre-'Female Eunuch' Germaine Greer stars as a terrifyingly amorous woman who alternately cajoles, pursues and assaults a mild little man with cries of "Darling, do you love me?" until he succumbs to her strangling hands.

The directors were well known for their work in graphic design in the late Sixties: Sharp for his ferocious cartoons in the satirical magazine Oz, Whittaker for his photography on various Beatles album covers. But the main joy here is Greer - as barking as you could possibly hope for, and all the more endearing for it. (Robin Baker)"

More about it here: http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/497640/index.html

Work in Progress: (Working title) 'La Femme' [2]

2011-10-17T00:06:00.002+01:00

Work in Progress: (Working title) 'La Femme'

2011-10-12T01:14:00.012+01:00

Drawing influence from the Feminist Film Theory essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" by Laura Mulvey and the theory of the 'Male Gaze'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_gaze#The_Male_Gaze_and_feminist_theory

http://www.luxonline.org.uk/articles/visual_pleasure_and_narrative_cinema(1).html

Green/Amber/Red

2011-10-02T14:26:00.002+01:00

Some time to reflect..

2011-09-28T00:53:00.003+01:00

Databending & Glitch Art..

2011-09-26T13:23:00.001+01:00

Try it yourself.. Above image taken from a video I played about with using information provided in the link below..

http://blog.animalswithinanimals.com/2008/08/databending-and-glitch-art-primer-part.html

John Cage - Imaginary Landscape No.1

2011-09-25T15:53:00.002+01:00

Drawing55

2011-09-24T10:46:00.002+01:00

Drawing 54

2011-09-24T10:44:00.001+01:00

Drawing53

2011-09-24T10:42:00.002+01:00

Drawing52

2011-09-24T10:40:00.003+01:00

Le Révélateur - Phillippe Garrel (1968)

2011-09-20T23:44:00.002+01:00

The person who uploaded this chose to screen it with a soundtrack by Sunn O))), but if you prefer to watch it in it original state then you can turn the volume down as its a silent film.

Made by French director Phillippe Garrel.

More about Phillippe Garrel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Garrel

More about the film here:

One of the experimental works created from the cadre of radical, emerging artists financed under the rubric of Zanzibar films that captured the spirit of May 68 and the counter culture revolution, Philippe Garrel's silent film Le Révélateur is a fractured and elliptical, but instinctive, elemental, and haunting rumination on the process of awakening, maturation, psychological trauma, and transformation of childhood memory. As the film begins, the révélateur - the processor of the images - is embodied through the isolated, spotlighted shot of a young boy (Stanislas Robiolles) in the corner of the frame, looking on as his father (Laurent Terzieff), apparently unaware of his presence in the room, struggles to connect with his abstracted mother (Bernadette Lafont) in an act of implied intimacy through the (iconic) sharing of a cigarette before fading into the proverbial background through a doorway suffused in a halo of light. But despite the physical act of transitory connection, what is ultimately retained in the child's camera/eye is not the residual image of tenderness and affection, but rather, a pattern of codependency, manipulation, madness, isolation, and perhaps even violence - an estrangement that is prefigured in the Freudian, reverse pietà image of the child emerging from a long, dark passageway towards his kneeling mother held in (apparently) resigned captivity tied to a cross at the end of the tunnel - a sense of pervasive emotional alienation and moral bondage that is further reinforced by the austerity and desolation of a seemingly godless, post-apocalyptic landscape. Pursued by an unseen, anonymous, but ubiquitous enemy (perhaps an allusion to the faceless nature of the embedded, guerrilla warfare tactics of the Vietnam War), the young family is compelled to leave the comfort of their dysfunctional home life and embark on an interminable journey to nowhere. Reduced to a life of perpetual exile and transience, the child begins to rebel, a defiance of parental control that is manifested in an act of literal repellance through his directed, repeated triggering of an aerosol can (in an elegantly composed, superimposed traveling shot) that further underscores his willful, symbolic act of distanciation from his parents. Reinforced by the subsequent shot of his parents posed as seeming trophy heads displayed on the corners of his headboard, the macabre image serves, not only to illustrate their role as trophic figures that he is weaning away from, but also represent their figurative impotence in his inevitable process of autonomy and independence. Concluding with the child donning his makeshift armor as he heads towards the sea, the image evokes a more primal Antoine Doinel (the adolescent alterego of François Truffaut's The 400 Blows) facing an alien and inalterable horizon - a silent and quixotic defiance against the oppressive and implacable forces of a cruel and inhuman human nature.

Source: http://filmref.com/notes/archives/philippe_garrel/

And a great article outlining the background in which the films of Phillipe Garrel were made:
"Forty years on: Philippe Garrel, Counterculture and the Zanzibar Daisy Chain by Helen Donlon" http://www.londongrip.com/LondonGrip/Film%3A_Donlon_on_Garrel_.html

Drawing51

2011-09-20T01:35:00.002+01:00

Drawing50

2011-09-19T23:26:00.002+01:00

Drawing49

2011-09-18T02:09:00.003+01:00

Drawing48

2011-09-18T02:09:00.002+01:00

Drawing47

2011-09-18T02:07:00.000+01:00

San Francisco - Anthony Stern (1968)

2011-09-17T13:21:00.002+01:00

Soundtrack by Pink Floyd
Directed by Anthony Stern

More info here:

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/441673/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063539/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Stern

To be continued..

2011-09-16T11:39:00.002+01:00

Calligraphy and drawing inks on recycled paper.. by recycled I mean reused, its the back of a particular type of covered silk stock paper the sort used for in-store advertising in a particular girls accessory shop ;-)

Needs some finishing touches..

Drawing46

2011-09-12T02:47:00.002+01:00

Drawing45

2011-09-10T09:21:00.000+01:00

Drawing44

2011-09-10T09:20:00.002+01:00

Mimmo Rotella

2011-09-07T09:35:00.007+01:00

I first came across Mimmo Rotella whilst walking through the Nouveaux Réalisme and Fluxus section of the Museum Ludwig in Cologne about two summers ago: http://www.museenkoeln.de/museum-ludwig/default.asp?s=1838

Rotella's technique is called Decollage, which is basically the opposite of collage. Decollage removes sections or pieces of an original, whereas collage is comprised of sections taken from other places and put together to create a new piece. Its an interesting technique in that you must know from where you want something removed because removing too much of it means the piece will not work or be ruined. So a fair amount of self control is needed.

Nouveau Realisme, to which Rotella was a member (along with Yves Klein, and Jacques Villeglé, two other artists worth checking out if you haven't already..), was a French movement founded in 1960 that was seen as Paris' answer to the American Pop Art movement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouveau_Réalisme

"tragico '59" - 1961

"pepsicola" - 1960

"Marilyn" - 1963

"la tigre" - 1962

"homage au president" - 1963

More about Mimmo Rotella:

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimmo_Rotella

Gallery biography: http://www.arasgallery.com/profile.php?id=33

More works: http://rogallery.com/Rotella_Mimmo/rotellahm.htm

Drawing43

2011-09-04T10:40:00.002+01:00

Drawing42

2011-09-03T02:40:00.000+01:00

Drawing41

2011-09-03T02:39:00.000+01:00

Drawing40

2011-09-03T02:37:00.002+01:00

Drawing39

2011-09-02T11:31:00.002+01:00

Drawing38

2011-09-02T11:29:00.002+01:00

Solar Flares Burn For You (1973)

2011-08-29T01:36:00.003+01:00

Not really YOUTUBE as such, but it is streaming online.. its the seminal 70s psych film produced by Nick Mason from Pink Floyd that has a soundtrack by Robert Wyatt and is almost impossible to track down anywhere to see but I found something on it on the web and thought I'd share..

Solar Flares Burn For You..

More about it here on the BFI Screenonline website: http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/441654/

Bloody love these (hard to track down in some cases!) experimental psych films, they sort of border on the cusp of artist led film / expanded cinema exploration as many of the dudes back then making the visuals are now highly regarded as artist film makers in their own right and innovators (one of my heros, Mark Boyle from The Boyle Family, did the visuals for many of the UFO club lightshows of the sixties) and are very inspirational to some of the music video guys around nowadays, never mind independent music labels like Ghost Box Music (Belbury Poly, The Focus Group, The Advisory Circle to name but a few of the artists on their roster..). I think Robert Wyatt released an album of the soundtrack for this, but its just the film it was made for that was hard to track down..

Drawing37

2011-08-27T01:17:00.004+01:00

Drawing36

2011-08-26T12:51:00.001+01:00

Drawing35

2011-08-26T12:50:00.002+01:00

Eleanor Rigby

2011-08-25T00:20:00.001+01:00

Eleanor Rigby by Devotchik

Drawing34

2011-08-23T11:11:00.003+01:00

"Without people you're nothing."

2011-08-23T03:50:00.002+01:00

Joe Strummer would've been 59 on August 21st this year.

Major influence in my life, musically and politically. I come from the same part of town as Joe, saw him around the place growing up. He'd stop and talk to anyone and everyone..

Joe went to art school too, although he later dropped out. Lots of bands were formed at art school or had band members who went to art school. This upcoming year is my final year at art school, then I graduate.

I'd like to share a quote from Joe, its the final quote from 'The Future Is Unwritten' the documentary about Joe Strummer directed by Julien Temple.

"People can change anything they want to, and that means everything in the world.

People are running about following their little tracks. I am one of them. But we've all got to stop just following our own little mouse trail.

People can do anything. This is something that I'm beginning to learn. People are out there doing bad things to each other. It's because they're being dehumanized.

It's time to take the humanity back into the centre of the ring, and follow that for a time. Greed: it ain't going anywhere! They should have that in a big billboard across Time Square.

Without people you're nothing. That's my spiel."

- Joe Strummer

Summertime

2011-08-22T10:37:00.001+01:00

Summertime by Devotchik

Drawing33

2011-08-22T01:58:00.002+01:00

Drawing32

2011-08-22T01:09:00.003+01:00

Drawing31

2011-08-21T23:50:00.003+01:00

Drawing30

2011-08-20T22:45:00.001+01:00

Drawing29

2011-08-20T21:16:00.001+01:00

Drawing28

2011-08-19T12:25:00.001+01:00

Drawing27

2011-08-19T11:25:00.003+01:00

Drawing26

2011-08-17T19:42:00.002+01:00

Drawing25

2011-08-17T15:41:00.003+01:00

Drawing24

2011-08-17T15:39:00.003+01:00

The Inventory of Modern Action #1 - Ben Cain (performance)

2011-08-15T15:02:00.013+01:00

I had the unique opportunity and pleasure of participating in a one off performance of the artist Ben Cain's performance piece 'The Inventory of Modern Action #1' at the Gallery Vela in London on July 30th as part of the gallery's ten day long Festivela.

Links:

http://galleryvela.com/

http://ben-cain.blogspot.com/

Drawing23

2011-08-15T02:55:00.002+01:00

Drawing22

2011-08-15T02:47:00.003+01:00

Drawing21

2011-08-13T10:58:00.002+01:00

Drawing20

2011-08-12T03:43:00.004+01:00

Some People.. by Devotchik

Drawing19

2011-08-11T13:31:00.003+01:00

Drawing18

2011-08-11T10:44:00.002+01:00

My Short Attention Span (audio)

2011-08-08T12:07:00.002+01:00

Had a little muck about with my recorder playing some random notes until a tune stuck in my head, one which I hadn't played on recorder before so this is a document of how easy I found it to recall from memory but also how fast my attention span ran out and prevented me going further with it. Something I found commonly happened whilst practicing my violin at home as a child - loved the performance, hated the practice.

Music recalled from a favourite piece of mine: Trout Quintet by Franz Schubert.

See how long it takes before your attention span zones out whilst listening :-)

My Short Attention Span by Devotchik

Drawing17

2011-08-06T22:42:00.002+01:00

Drawing15

2011-08-06T15:52:00.006+01:00

Drawing16

2011-08-06T15:52:00.005+01:00

A Rose Without Thorns.. by Devotchik

Drawing14

2011-08-06T15:50:00.002+01:00

Drawing13

2011-08-05T15:20:00.001+01:00

Drawing11

2011-08-05T15:19:00.006+01:00

Drawing12

2011-08-05T15:19:00.005+01:00

Drawing10

2011-08-05T15:18:00.001+01:00

Drawing9

2011-08-05T15:17:00.001+01:00

Drawing8

2011-08-05T15:16:00.003+01:00

Drawing7

2011-08-03T02:50:00.001+01:00