Page 60 - Studio International - May 1973

Art information

Vision the distributors have taken their percentage the Graphics
film-makers are only getting about £m As if the
multilation of their films were not enough, the
Twenty Four Frames going into film-makers are not credited, although the Despite the fact that there are vast numbers of
video-tape distribution musicians and the film-distributors are. Most of prints being produced, it is still relatively
Peter Bloch, director of Twenty Four Frames, the material is provided by or via Philip difficult for many artists to find workshops and
issued his first catalogue of short, experimental Jenkinson's Film Finders company, following facilities where they can make prints and
films in March 1971. Since then, he has been hire from other distributors. As more of the experiment with the various processes. Most
building up a collection of movies, mostly with films are going through third (and fourth) workshops and studios are occupied with the
the intention of selling to television companies parties some are being screened through simple work of various publishers and rates are
throughout Europe, but also for distribution in accident where no express rights for TV frequently too high for the individual.
Britain. His collection is broadly biased towards presentation have been cleared with the film- Burleighfield Printing House has been in
`West-Coast' and single screen projection makers - rights which often would not be existence for the past two and a half years, but
`Expanded Cinema', and though enlightened granted since the films are usually cut out of all has recently been reorganized by the director,
(Bloch is deeply interested in the films and recognition. Clive Adams. Their goals are to provide
film-makers he deals with), it is not a The problems arise out of the organizers lack facilities and introductory courses in print-
co-operative but a straightforward commercial of respect and understanding for the visual making for individual artists. Facilities
distribution company. With films by Robert aspect of their programme. It is aggravating to available are quite comprehensive including
Nelson, Jordan Belson, Standish Lawder, John see films like Jeff Keen's being shown in that offset and direct lithography, etching, silk-
Ducane, Roland Lethem, Sandy Daley, etc., context and to realize that this is the only slot screen, and letterpress. Besides undertaking
it is one of the most important sources for new where they can be seen at all on TV. Why don't editioning they offer introductory classes for
cinema in Europe. they ever show a film straight, with its own artists with no or limited printmaking
In January this year, Peter Bloch set up an sound-track and credits ? They could at least experience. These are offered for either
impromptu show of recent American video- allow film-makers to adapt their own films to weekend (£6 plus materials) or week long (£I2
tapes, presented by Arthur Ginsberg (speeding the sound. Let them try running the records plus materials) periods. They also offer a
through London on the off-chance of finding with a blank screen and see if that passes the Old subscription scheme for £25 which provides an
people interested in his wares, there was no Grey Whistle Test. Isn't it time television had a artist with three or four days of experimentation
time then for a public screening, but by the programme devoted to experimental film and while working with one of the studio's printers
time this appears, he may have been back). video, instead of trying to graft it onto a pop followed by seven days of individual work.
Ginsberg was representing Video Free music show ? q Artists can also make use of the studio on a
America, a San Francisco based organization MALCOLM LE GRICE daily basis. Fees for this are £2 per day, (£1 for
(442 Shotwell Street), but the tapes which he students). The studio is 25 miles from London
brought were not confined to those made in SF. Books at Loudwater, Buckinghamshire, and
Mostly they were selected from a Berkeley Art accommodation and cooking facilities are
Museum show which they (VFA) set up last American Primitive Painting by Jean Lipman, available on the premises. Further information
August, titled 'Tapes from all Tribes'. In all he 158 pp. 1o1 illustrations, 8 in colour. Dover from the director.
showed nine tapes, some contained two or three Publications. £2.00. The second part of Lumley Cazalet Ltd's
loosely defined shorter sections, and except for We here like to think, whenever we are capable exhibition of American prints will continue
the community/political use of video, they gave of thought, that everything American is right until mid-May. It contains some excellent
a pretty broad cross-section of the kind of good, and that includes this here book. Hicks is prints by major contemporary American artists
directions which are being explored. well represented and may be seen as the source including Jasper Johns, Rauschenberg,
of many a Currier and Ives chromo. A strange Rosenquist, Dine, Oldenburg, and some of the
The Old Grey Whistle Test inclusion is 'The Gamut of Painting 1st `new-realists'. There are some especially
For some years, the only place for anything Lesson' done c. 185o by Lucy McFarland beautiful screenprints by Richard Estes.
approaching experimental film on British TV Sherman, who, with Huck Finn, is dead. Gerd Winner is showing many of his new
has been on 'Late Night Line Up', progressive Life with the Painters of La Ruche by Marevna, photo-screen prints at Marlborough Graphics
pop programmes and 'Disco 2' (now replaced by 212 pp. 36 illustrations. Constable. £3.50. this month. Most of his recent prints are
`The Old Grey Whistle Test', directed by This wonderfully, gloriously edited book has to `popkitsch' images of common London scenes.
Colin Strong). Though I find the current do with the Montparnasse bunch during the His prints of Old Street, Holborn, and
presenter and the music he presents a bit drab period 1912-1921. There are dozens of exciting Highbury and Islington tube stations are quite
I have always been sympathetic to the low-key glances at the lives of such demimondes as powerful in their use of colour and their
style of the programmes. But if the musicians Diego Rivera and Soutine, with both of whom symmetrical simplicity. His images of dockland
have been well treated, the film-makers have the author got excited. I think I shall re-read it. street scenes and buildings like Nile Street seem
not. The producers of the programme seem to Winslow Homer by John Wilmerding, 224 pp. more arbitrary in their use of colour and in the
assume that the role of the film is to keep the 95 illustrations, 5o in colour. Praeger. £13.00. original selection of the imagery. I wonder if
screen active whilst they play recorded music, This book amounts to a thorough pictorial Winner's treatment of the images he selects
sometimes with a montage of old silent footage, biography of one of America's greatest painters. isn't becoming too standardized. The same
but frequently with sequences of recent It describes Homer's early, largely self-taught `pop' colours, the same grainy photo-
abstract and experimental work. They obtain efforts, his career during the Civil War (an mechanical textures, might indicate a greater
copies of films, which they duplicate and re-cut unpleasant time), and his final marine period, fascination with the process than with the
to fit the music. Some film-makers are willing to for which he is most celebrated. The book is images themselves. I find myself wanting to see
accept this treatment through the inducement of beautifully made and full of the sad tides which the original, untampered-with photographs from
high rates, but although around £25 per an accurate glimpse of America must record. q which these prints derive. q
minute is paid for the broadcast material, after TIM CRAIG BUD SHARK
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