Bruce Conner. The 70s

Katalog anlässlich der Ausstellungen in der Ursula Blickle Stiftung (12.9. - 17.10.2010) und der Kunsthalle Wien (8.10. - 30.1.2011)

(Englisch)

Few artists have contributed seminal works to as many genres as Bruce Conner (1933−2008). Bruce Conner’s experimental films are regarded as forerunners of the MTV video clip today. Yet the avant-gardist has not only shown new ways of filmmaking, but repeatedly reinvented himself as an artist in his works in various media. His films aestheticize reality in a uniquely lyrical manner. Resembling Rorschach tests and depicting mandalas or stars, his drawings and paintings symbolize the metaphysical and transcendental. ANGELS was the name he chose fort he photograms with his own body’sprojection. Whether he staged a political candidature, used his friend Dennis Hopper’s name as his pseudonym, or had himself declared dead in »Who Was Who« of 1973, Bruce Conner, who first became known for his assemblage works, eschewed artistic, personal, or marketable categorizations throughout his life. His many-faceted oeuvre combines a passion for music from Soul to Punkwith an abstract formal beauty based on contrasts of light and dark and a critical view of art, society and the American way of life. This survey with its special focus on the1970s examines the formal parallels between Conner’s works as an artist and filmmaker, and looks at drawings,oil and acrylic paintings, lithographs, prints, photograms and photographsalongside three of Conner’s best-known films: »Breakaway« (1966), »Crossroads«(1976), and »Marilyn Times Five«(1968−1973). Bruce Conner, born in McPherson,Kansas, in 1933, died in San Francisco in 2008.

(Quelle: Verlag)