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“A portrait of Beat artist Ray Johnson
(1927–1995), whose life and death—and all the art that came
in between—made him ‘New York’s most famous unknown
artist” —NEW YORK TIMES. An enigmatic, whimsical latter-day
Dadaist, collagist extraordinaire, and the father of mail art, Johnson
amused and astounded his who’s-who-in-the-art-world list of friends.
HOW TO DRAW A BUNNY fashions a biographical mystery from fascinating,
often hilarious stories told by Johnson’s contemporaries, including
Christo, Chuck Close, Roy Lichtenstein, Judith Malina, Richard Feigen,
James Rosenquist, and the Sag Harbor detective who investigated his mysterious
1995 death. With original music written and performed by Max Roach.”—Film
Forum. (90 mins.)
Agnes Martin’s abstract paintings, like
Howard Hodgkin’s (below) are known for their precise use of color
and composition. Lance’s intimate film explores the methods and
influences of the Taos, New Mexico-based Martin, who says "When I
think of art I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not
in the eye, it is in the mind. In our minds there is an awareness of perfection.
At 91, she is still creating canvases with rigid grids and a soft palette.
(57 mins.)
Susan Sontag has written of Hodgkin (b. 1932)
and his lush paintings, “There is a heroism in the vehemence and
lack of irony in Hodgkin's paintings. Their distinct shapes read like
a vocabulary of signals for the circulation, collision and rerouting of
desire. “ In 1992, the artist was knighted in Britain for his contribution
to art. (26 mins.)
Portland Art Museum Curator of Modern
& Contemporary Art, Bruce Guenther will join Horodner onstage to discuss
the films.
Victor Erice (SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE) provides
one of the most intense, detailed looks at the artistic process ever captured
on film. Winner of the International Critic's Prize at the Cannes Film
Fetsival and recently voted the number-one film of the 1990s in an international
critics poll, DREAM OF LIGHT is an exquisite, lingering portrait. Spanish
realist painter Antonio Lopez Garcia (b.1936) meticulously paints a single
work: a still life of the quince tree in his courtyard. “Erice...
achieves a mesmerizing intensity...a thoughtful, delicate inquiry into
the essence of the artistic process, and a tribute to the beauty and mutability
of nature. . . One of as kind.”Janet Maslin, NEW YORK TIMES. (128
mins.)
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