Video By Night

I began to plan "Video By Night" for CREON last spring.

I was looking for artists whose video work has evolved out of their artistic practice,

time-based imagery with a painterly feel.

The first artists I chose were Mark Wiener and Linda DiGusta.

Tragically, hardly a week before the event, Mark Wiener died of a heart attack.

Norm Hinsey, the director of CREON, Linda and I decided to dedicate the event to him.

Below is a video I made of the event, weaving in the artists' imagery with footage of the night...

...while the musicians Steve and Dave (Stephen C. Baldwin and David Intrator) 

spontaneously jam at the end of the evening.

You can also see the video on my website HERE.

Dr. John Tantillo  of Brand Talk Radio on the left and Beth Warshafsky on the right.

Mark Wiener, Untitled, 2009, ink on paper

Linda DiGusta, Study for Pear and Balanced, 2009, graphite on paper

Mark Wiener, 3 Studies for Music and Art (Chelsea Art Museum), 2009,

gouache on paper

Mark and Linda's collaborative video "DUET" below:

Jeanne Wilkinson, Something Something With Turtle and Fish, Still 1, 2012

Below is “Something-Something with Fish,” my animated abstraction derived from the artwork of Kaitlin Martin and footage of wildlife filmed in my favorite city, Duluth, in its fresh-water aquarium.

Jeanne Wilkinson, Wakefield Dream, Still 1, 2012, digital collage, inkjet print

Jeanne Wilkinson, Wakefield Dream, Still 3, 2012, digital collage, inkjet print

For Wakefield Dream I filmed Andrew, Jennifer and myself at Wakefield Pond, Rhode Island,

running in front of the projector at night in the woods while draped with translucent cloth.  

I also filmed Andrew playing guitar on the sun-drenched porch while Jennifer danced.

See "Wakefield Dream" by clicking here.

Beth Warshafsky, In the Country and Springs Again

Beth Warshafsky's "Haiku:  Springs Again" weaves together a dream written on a napkin, the artist dancing, with rich textures and haunting music by Gerry Hemingway. 

See it below:

Below is a still from "I am Calling You,"
another textured, compelling collaboration with Hemingway which you can see by

clicking HERE.
I saw Beth's work at the Pratt Faculty Development Grant Exhibition this past summer,
and saw a resonance with my own imagery.
She says she feels like she's "painting in time."

Norm Hinsey contributed two short videos made of images purloined from the internet,

one of old-time movie stars...

 ...one of girls in Rio night clubs...

Beth Warshafsky, Still from I am Calling You

Timothy Hutchings, Still from Mandala

Timothy Hutchings work is about "aestheticizing his non-art activities."

Like watching an old movie like "Red Dwarf" and then making his own "Mandala" creation out of it,

"creating quasi-psychedilia from pop culture."
Like taking something you feel a little guilty about doing because it's not "work"
and making "work" out of it!  Magic!

I saw Tim's work at I20 Gallery in Chelsea last year and was impressed by his
whimsical, offbeat yet serious take on art and theory.

Mark and Linda's piece, Duet,
 'was originally conceived as a mini- documentary under the working title "Duet in Black and White for Abstract and Figure." When beginning to edit, they decided that the simple, compelling imagery of work in progress best depicted the rhythm that exists between them as a couple and the art that each of them creates. With the score by Yukari, the message is that romance and art are inextricably linked. In Wiener’s “Silence Please,” one action informs the next. As a vocabulary is built, each layer of thought re- examines the previous thought and instructs the next. Simple marks repeat, skipping across the surface of the screen, alluding to figuration. The animation is conceived in moments of complete silence, with imagination skipping across consciousness.'
(from the press release)

 

Linda speaking with Jeff Wright at CREON.

 Robert G. Edelman introduces Mark and Linda's work and gives us a touching tribute to their individual work and their long time collaborative relationship and mutual love,

with the first line of Mark's piece, Silence Please, visible on the screen.

The evening began with the first guest watching Mark's imagery in CREON's

back yard "screening room."

Several people said that after Edelman's introduction,
during Mark's videos, the wind in the trees seemed to play in concert with the accompanying music
 - "Sky" by Yukari -
as if Mark's presence could be felt in the whispering leaves.

There's a wonderful "In Memoriam" written by Peter Frank in Huffington Post -
find it HERE.
And there is an exhibition called "Street Markings" of his artwork coming soon at the
Dorian Gray Gallery Nov. 3 - 25, opening reception on Wed. Nov. 7th,
437 East 9th Street at Avenue A.