"Fire is motion / Work is repetition / This is my document / We are all all we've done / We are all all we've done / We are all all we've done / We are all all defenses."

- Cap'N Jazz, "Oh Messy Life," Analphabetapolothology

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

enjoying Spring into Summer

listening to some experimental sound poetry*
+ reading Dharma Bums by Kerouac (my favorite book from a past summer)

= it's already summer in my head.

sayonara,
stephan!e
---

*on Michael Snow's "Sinoms" [mp3 for download]:
"In the 50-minute Sinoms, Snow has multi-tracked some 20 voices, with as many different French and English accents, reading a complete list of the mayors of Quebec City, at some points making a simple juxtaposition of pronunciation and at others creating the effect of a choir." - U B U W E B

i was first familiar with Michael Snow and his work Wavelength, an experimental non-narrative film. but i learnt today that he was first and foremost a jazz musician, in addition to a photographer, a sculptor, an artist.

some of his photographic work, quite compelling and filmic:

Authorization (1969) - currently my laptop desktop

Venetian Blind (1970)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Snow is kindof the new Bateman here in Canada. Not that he is anything new... I just yelled over to my artist friend in another room - he did one of the most infamous scultures in Toronto of geese in flight up in the middle foyer of the old Eaton Centre. He was widely known critically for his work in holographics, if I am not mistaken.

I will always remember when I first came across his name in the early 90's. He did this exhibit of I think it was like two paintings (I was doing a slightly similar piece myself at the time, while self-studying scroll art under the tutelage of a master out of Hong Kong). They were these six-foot square canvasses on which he painted in super-realist style one on a blue human iris and on another a brown human iris. I guess in the gallery, the iris were on opposing walls when you walked in.

Anonymous said...

sorry if that did not make sense, I havent been doing the computer/human-interactive thing much anymore...

stephanie lee said...

yeah, the geese in flight sculpture is pretty famous. i don't know why really, since it's the least compelling of his pieces. oh, i think i just answered my own question.

it must be completely ridiculous to come from Canada and read this! you're like 'well, yeah, of course... tell me something i DIDN'T know.' ha, ha, sorry, i feel like such an ignorant american right now...

i'm gonna go read some French poetry now, thank you.

;-)
-s!L

p.s. who's Bateman?

Anonymous said...

Ah don be beatin yourself up there lass for not knowin some pitiful little culture like the Canuck. I would doubt if most in the nation-state know who Snow is either would be true. Wee bit of the more excentric type he is, what with holograms and strange(sic) photography.

But it is a good thing to beat yourself up at least for bein American and all. Not that I got anything against your fine people, but some of your country folk got their heads rammed so far up their... well, no use in preaching to the converted. It is good to look to other cultures once in a while, is it not?

Bateman, you ask. Yes, well that is quite the other kettle of fish. If I were to answer for the student of the Americana I might say he is the Canadiana equivalent to Norman Rockwell. He paints very identifiable super-realistic wildlife art.

Top of the mornin to ya.

stephanie lee said...

wow, so by saying "Snow is kinda the Bateman here in Canada" you were saying he's super-accessible. extraordinary! to most boring intellectuals in the US, he's considered an experimental trailblazer. interesting indeed...

no, i wouldn't feel bad about criticizing Americans. have you seen BORAT? i think he pretty much covered it.

Anonymous said...

Heh, yeah. I mean, no I have not seen that movie yet. I usually wait 'til the hype dies down.

Um, we really should chat sometime? (No stress or anything, just an observation... unless that is considered too forward these days?)

Happy San Paddy's Day from this irishman, eh!