Given his outsize influence on Conceptual art, it’s surprising that Piero Manzoni is just now getting his first official biography. By the time he died in 1963 at the early age of 29 from a heart attack, he had pioneered a genre of painting without color, canned his...
Russ Meyer: FISHIN’ and TITTIN’
People have been photographing sex since the invention of cameras. But the distribution of moving images that depict actual sex acts only became possible in the early 1970s. X-rated films shown in theaters were subject to prosecution into the 1980s. As content moved...
Testing Russ Meyer: FISHIN’ and TITTIN’ COPY
People have been photographing sex since the invention of cameras. But the distribution of moving images that depict actual sex acts only became possible in the early 1970s. X-rated films shown in theaters were subject to prosecution into the 1980s. As content moved...
Bunker Vision
Shortly after I installed the YouTube channel, I found my official “sport.” I went for weeks not knowing what this wonderful thing that I was watching was called. Even though I had seen Paris is Burning and watched a season of Pose, I didn’t immediately make the...
BUNKER VISION
“I am a wound and a sword, a victim and an executioner” are the first words that appear on the screen. A tender love scene follows, filmed in extreme close-up, that might have come from any black-and-white European art film of the 1960s. As the camera pulls back and...
Bunker Vision
In 2012 a YouTube user named Sabine started uploading a film in 10-minute segments. The story went that while on a visit to North Korea, a dissident had slipped Sabine a DVD of a propaganda movie that was showing on North Korean state television. The idea of such a...
BUNKER VISION
Ron Ormond is not the sort of filmmaker who usually gets prestigious restorations. His most famous work was a series of Lash LaRue films. He made forgettable low budget films and produced roller derby for television in the 1960s. When he grew tired of that, he started...
BUNKER VISION
If you have any awareness of the New York underground, you have probably encountered the name Penny Arcade. Her resume is so diverse, that until she finishes her autobiography, it will be hard to comprehend the breadth of her activities. Those activities include...
BUNKER VISION
There is an old saying about documentaries: If you are the subject of one, it probably isn’t for the reasons that you think. Perhaps, by the same token, if you are included in a documentary on another subject, it might be for the right reasons. A recent documentary...
BUNKER VISION
Chances are that if you show a civilian a 500-year-old painting, they won’t be able to name the painter, unless it’s Bosch. His name is even listed as an adjective (“Boschian”) in online slang dictionaries. For somebody who produced fewer than 30 paintings in his...
BUNKER VISION
Commerce imitates art. If you recently spent a small fortune to attend a cultural event in a desert locale, it probably contains DNA from a series of conceptual concerts that were staged in the Los Angeles area between 1983 and 1985. The organizer of these events was...
BUNKER VISION: DINNER ISN’T SERVED
If you happen to be searching for films that feature food, there are no shortages of places to look. Just about every pop culture magazine and blog has a listicle of food in film. These range from movies like Babette’s Feast (where a dinner is a labor of love), to...
BUNKER VISION
When they write the official history of artists who experimented with gender fluidity, Eva & Adele should rightfully get their own chapter. At an art fair or posh party over the last three decades, you may have encountered a pair of bald ladies attired in...
BUNKER VISION
The desire to make drawings move goes back centuries. A 5000-year-old bowl found in Iran contains a sequence of images of a goat jumping up to a tree that could appear to be an early animation if the bowl was spun quickly enough. A 3000-year-old lamp found in China...
BUNKER VISION
If you happen to be looking for a textbook example of film as collaborative art, a special feature on the DVD of The Lure might be one of the best. The movie itself is a sort of musical/horror hybrid. It involves a pair of mermaids (not the cute kind) who come ashore...
Meet Vaginal Davis: Film Scholar
Vaginal Davis is one of the better examples of somebody who mixes life with art. Her activities include performing, curating, composing, painting and writing. From the late 1970s to early aughts she manifested a series of bands, performances, publications, clubs and...
BUNKER VISION
With all of the recent hysteria about immigration, it seemed like a good time to explore the original American immigrants. There is quite a rich history of movies about settlers (a word that is still used in some parts of the world) doing battle with people who were...
BUNKER VISION
Life happens fast. Yesterday’s dystopian fiction is today’s reality. American history now includes a woman in the 21st century being arrested and found guilty by a jury for laughing at somebody. Most places that have an awareness of despots also have some pearls of...