Ok, this is my third attempt at completing a post, the last two were lost in silly computer mistakes - oddly, when I have made this kind of mistake before, I could always restore my work from the automatically saved draft, not this time.
So, here goes:
Happy New Year to my Lj friends, readers and those few folks who anonymously read my posts (why would you, they are infrequent, lacking pictures and rarely that interesting)
It has been quite a while since my last post, and there is much I could and should write about, the drama that is my work life, the stress of the holidays this year and my cranky, antisocial, hermit-like behavior. I could write about the gifts I gave and those that I received. Instead I am going to write about a few movies I have watched over the last couple of months or so.
I have been watching a series of documentaries about art, artists and the business of art, thanks to Netflix. These are films that probably never played in our area, or had such a brief showing in one of the two or three art houses in the state that it would be easy to miss.
The first is Herb and Dorothy ,
a film about Herb and Dorothy Vogel, the eccentric but prodigious collectors of modern art. I was caught by their obvious love of art, their passion for collecting, and their complete lack of ego or hubris about their amazing collection. It reminded me that art is not for the rich or mighty, but for everyone. Herb works for the post office, Dorothy is a librarian and they live in a tiny, cramped apartment that is overflowing with 4000+ works of art. Not the most fast moving of films, but worth watching if you, like me, dream of being able to collect great art.
Chuck Close, Christos and Jeanne- Claude, Sol Lewitt and other artists appear in the film. The scenes of them walking through Central Park, viewing "The Gates" is one of my favorite moments.
The next film is a piece by PBS. Independent Lens: Between the Folds This piece is about origami. I know, it sounds dry, right? Wrong! This film captured my attention and imagination from the beginning. Paper folding has never interested me at all, so I have no idea why I starting watching this. The artwork is fantastical and when origami meets "Big Question" science and mathematical theory, my poor brain was blown. My husband - not usually interested in this kind of film at all sat mesmerized as well - We both talked for over an hour about the theories and where they might lead. It is a short work - 90 minutes, watch it, soon.
The third movie is "Exit through the Gift Shop" another documentary/biopic with a few strange twists and turns. Street art meets commercialism, and the unanswered questions of "Is it art, is it worth anything, what makes it good" float in the air. Surprisingly suspenseful, and filled with amazing footage of some of the most interesting, daring and prolific "street" artists, including Shepard Fairey, Banksy, and Space Invader. Even if you don't follow this kind of art, the images or the style in which many are made have become ubiquitous in pop culture and graphic commercial art.
The wonderful thing for those of us far enough from places that show these kinds of films, or with schedules that rarely let us run to an arthouse theater an hour away for one of 5 screenings of a obscure film is that all of these are available for streaming to your computer or blu-ray player through Netflix.
So, in my little country town, with nary a movie theater for miles and the nearest art house being an hour away I still got to see these films.
I may not have the embarrassment of cinema riches that
mudcub and
thornyc have, but I don't feel quite so isolated.