![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
THE RECLUSE does intimate character revealing videos of the inhabitants
of the mobile park / motel. His videos are complex moments of intimate
interaction. He does these videos clandestinely, for example of the
actress as a voyeur, the motel owner's wife bathing in the nude (or
suit) by the pool while the pool boys are cleaning, or Stevie with
Lance through a trailer window. He LOVES all his subjects SOOOO much,
but needs to objectify them by creating his videos - that way he's safe
& there is never ever any pain! Extremely shy, hardly ever talks.
Wears raincoats, except when with THE MUSE.
He
sits in front of his TV alone at night, watching the video he made of
the actress and at the same time listening to the Lonely Hearts Radio
Show, while the actress & other subjects are speaking. Whenever he
meets new muses, he films them, but is too shy to speak to his subjects.
His
video subjects: he completely understands and loves them like no-one
has ever loved them (he's obsessed with them), but in real life...
that's another story. characters other scenes taking place in the story
/ film as well...
Some of his little videos: Sorya, Stevie, the
muse, parakeets (erotic), even Lance, could be nice documentary
transitions (distorted through his TV playback) into the characters'
other scenes taking place in the story / film as well...
He has
a philosophy (you see... he is really deeply, deeply crazy) about his
video clips - it's haiku video: IDEALLY his clips are done in one
continuous take, so that all is "in the moment": no editing, no adding
of music, no disco, etc. This forces him & to commit completely to
the moment. But he can also re-film the haiku videos (off his TV while
we hear VO: radio, music, voices in his head, etc.), recreating them in
a new way, which is okay, 'cause this, too, is being done in the moment
as per his philosophy. Layers...
He's a schizophrenic: always
looking over his shoulder, always in the shadows, scurrying about,
holding his little camera. Yet, he LOVES the trailer park / motel &
its inhabitants, for there he feels SAFE (everyone there is SO into
their own lives), because no-one will find him in there, hidden amongst
all the non de-script trailers, and yet he can still create his little
video world.
He's CRAZY HAPPY.
xx
x
Someone Said
An installation of Moving and Still Images by Robert Mack
¿Es bello porque nos agrada, o es que nos agrada porque es bello?
(Is it beautiful because it pleases us, or does it please us because it is beautiful?)
--josÉ maría sánchez de Muniain
The most immediate tension of Someone Said is that of appearance and gender, that of an idealized beauty of a female figure, and that of a male figure distorted by a physical deformity. By opening on the male figure in repose, before the frame widens to encompass the female figure, the camera imposes the subtle probability that we share, at first, the point of view of the male figure in a dream state at odds with his distorted appearance, since the dream state evokes a departure from reality that the distortion establishes in the plane of reality of the dreamer itself.
Thus we have the implicit point of view of a man whose deformity which, conventionally we would associate not with reality but with the distortions of a dream state; but who nevertheless is established by the camera as real and the dreamer of a woman in radical tension with his distortion, by virtue of her idealized beauty, here presented most potentially as the illusory embodiment of his dream.
But gradually, the slight movement of the camera toward the woman poses a narrative shift that allows us to imagine that the dreamer is really the woman, who aspires to the disillusioned vision of the man. As the camera returns to encompass both figures, there remains an oscillating movement of possibility as to which figure is the dreamer and which figure is dreamed. And the transparent gauze that shrouds each figure further evokes a dream state by interposing a layer, as it were, between the figures and their naked reality, and further by distorting light and shadow.
Mediated by the layers of transparent fabric and light as if to impose doubt as to whether one or more of the figures is real, dreamed, or imagined and if so, by whom; the kiss evokes a poignant tension between unity and separation that it is not primarily literal. Instead, the sort of potential unity and separation the image evokes is virtual. It can only be so because of the inevitable question of whether the figures occupy any mutual reality that transcends dream. The unitive aspiration of the kiss therefore, is obstructed by the mediation of the fabric and its shadows.
"Freed" by his deformity from the overt trappings of beauty, the male figure can only aspire to the transcendent beauty of contemplation. And the female figure is the symbol this transcendent beauty if she is an illusion dreamed. To the degree that female figure has an independent reality as dreamer, ironically, she would aspire to the transcendence that such deformity can foreshadow.
--Drew Hammond
haiku video
The discipline and practice of the haiku art over a lifetime works fundamental changes in the spirit, and perceptual sensibilities of the poet. Mr. Gurga says simply, "the very intention to write haiku can create a special kind of awareness."3 Over time, this "awareness" that comes from practicing the haiku art begins to change our orientation to life as the haiku poet becomes more fully conscious of the sacrament of each moment, and the vital necessity of maintaining one's connection to the natural world from which we all sprung and to which we must all ultimately return.
These moments they're so beautiful, so real, I can barely stand to
watch them. And the best part is I don't have to talk to the person, or
listen, or say anything. It's painless.
I like to play the
videos over and over again. I find secrets hidden in the moments,
secrets about the person, secrets they don't know even exist I want to
tell them, but that would mean disaster.
That girl in the box at
the drive-in... she's great. And the box around her is like a frame and
a frame puts everything into context. I can imagine her thoughts, her
desires, her sadness, her loves, her loss, even my reflection in her
eyes.
I'd like to be able to say at least one word to her. But I
freeze every time she looks at me. I'm such a loser. Courage for words
never was my forte. But images Yes, maybe if I film her and show her
and tell her things, maybe then she will speak to me.
But what will I do if she answers?!