http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=36119
February 7, 2010
LONDON.- Sprüth Magers London announced an exhibition of work by the
legendary filmmaker and artist Kenneth Anger, in his first solo show
in London in over five years. Making films continuously since the
late 1940s and considered a countercultural icon, Kenneth Anger is
widely acclaimed as a pioneering and influential force in avant-garde
cinema. His groundbreaking body of work has inspired cineastes,
filmmakers and artists alike. Many channels of contemporary visual
culture, from queer iconography to MTV, similarly owe a debt to his art.
The exhibition will feature his seminal 1969 film Invocation of My
Demon Brother. This work, a hypnotic montage of jarringly edited
images, shifting intense colours and symbols with a repetitive
synthesised soundtrack by Mick Jagger, is typical of Anger's sinister
and subversive aesthetic. The aim of Anger's subliminal techniques is
to get through to 'the great Collective Unconsious' and evoke the
idea of an alternative reality, which, in turn, adds to the viewers'
anxiety. The claustrophobic setting and jagged texture of Invocation
seems to parallel the uncertainty of the counterculture at the time.
Brief glimpses of the Rolling Stones performing in Hyde Park, in
memory of Brian Jones who died in the summer of 1969, darkly presage
their notorious concert at Altamont later that year, at which Hell's
Angels killed Meredith Hunter. Furthermore, many of the fragmented
scenes which make up the film feature Bobby Beausoleil, Anger's
erstwhile Lucifer, who was convicted of murdering the musician Gary
Hinman, alongside the infamous Charles Manson, in 1970. The film's
intense torrent of images also include a US military helicopter
unloading soldiers in Vietnam, the Magnus played by Anger himself
performing fevered rituals during a ceremony filmed at the autumn
equinox of 1967, flashes of the novel Moonchild (1917) written by the
influential occultist Aleister Crowley and brief shots of Marianne
Faithfull, Anton LaVey, Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg.
Kenneth Anger's work constitutes a radical critique of Hollywood,
often evoking and referencing an iconography of contemporary pop
culture within occult settings, and depicting youth counterculture in
the midst of 'magick' rituals, violence and eroticism. Using a
non-narrative style, Anger´s abstract films are highly symbolic and
cinematic manifestations of his occult practices, exploring themes of
ritualistic transformation. His films are imbued with a baroque
splendor stemming from the heightened sensuality of an opulent use of
colors and mystic imagery. Devoid of dialogue, the recurrent theme of
music is immediately apparent in Anger's visionary films which have
earned him widespread acknowledgement as the pioneer of MTV and the
music video.
Juxtaposed against the hypnotic atmosphere of Invocation, Anger's
playful neon sign Hollywood Babylon (1975/2009) is prominently
featured at the front of the Mayfair gallery, commanding the viewer's
immediate attention. Anger's neon is part of a site specific
installation exploring the artist's longstanding fascination with the
outrageous antics and sordid tales of old Hollywood detailed in his
classic book Hollywood Babylon (1959/1975). Additional exhibition
highlights include the photograph Lucifer (Leslie Huggins) taken from
Anger's epic film Lucifer Rising (19701981) featuring a further
collaboration with Bobby Beausoleil who is unique in being the only
musician to score a film while serving a life sentence.
Kenneth Anger was born in Santa Monica, California. His most iconic
works include the classic Fireworks (1947), Eaux D'Artifice (1953),
Rabbit´s Moon (1950-1973), Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome
(1954-66), Scorpio Rising (1964), Invocation of My Demon Brother
(1969) and Lucifer Rising (197081). His work has been featured at
the Whitney Biennial 2006, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Centre, New York in
2009 and the Athens Biennial 2009. He lives and works in Los Angeles.
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