Drawing Restraint 9

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benkamprath

New member
I am curious to learn if any other forum members have seen Matthew Barney's latest piece, Drawing Restraint 9. I had the chance to see this film at the end of last year here on our college campus theatre, and I enjoyed the experience very much. If anyone else has seen this, or Barney's other Cremaster films, I would love to discuss!

I'll leave you all with an image to whet the pallete:

drawingrestraint.jpg
 
I've seen the entire Cremaster cycle and I though the films were pretty interesting. Uneven, but definitely interesting and thought provoking. Not many artists doing experimental work with high production values. I'll assume they're sitting in vaseline--Barney's favorite substance. :)
 
You assume correctly! I entered college just a year or two too late to catch any of his Cremaster films and they've yet to make it back here. I'm a huge fan of his work, and I'll agree, it's great to see an artist making films with a good amount of funding behind the project. He also released a film last year as part of the Destricted collection, which currently is only available as a UK release. The film is called Hoist and is very, very experimental, although classic Barney. The white slick substance makes it way into all of his work, it seems...
 
haven't seen #9 yet, just a trailer but I love the Bjork song "Storm" from it. Looking forward to seeing it especially as i am currently living in Japan.
 
I think in this case the material is supposed to be Whale blubber. this piece uses whaling industry in japan as a backdrop for themes on commerce. I LOVE matthew Barney. i met him in NY. hes actually a really quiet guy. My friend Haley then precede to accidentaly elbow Bjork in the face. Our meeting didint last long.

I have not seen Drawing Restaint, but i did see the Cremaster cycle. i think hes a Genius. Onpar with Marcel Duchamp, Dali, Goddard etc... He creates such a textured world, and his allegories are beautiful, incobination with Real palces and sculptures, of which he builds himself by hand. he is an artist in the true sens of the word.

The main reason im learning the craft of Cinematography is so that i can apply visual beauty to my Video art projects.
 
TimurCivan said:
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The main reason im learning the craft of Cinematography is so that i can apply visual beauty to my Video art projects.
Click to expand...
Really? Because that's one of my beefs with a lot of video art--all concept and no craft. I know that's a cornerstone of conceptual art--the actual craft is unimportant, but I think that opens the door to a lot of pretenders that have a good rap and not much else. With all this accesible technology, I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop in video art, but I haven't seen a lot of evidence yet. I saw some Jesper Just pieces last month and was amazed to see some high production value art pieces. So maybe it's coming.

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Watching Jesper Just Films at the Hirshhorn Black Box
 
I've seen all of the Cremaster stuff and his "retrospective" (a little young for a real retrospective...) at the Guggenheim a few years ago. The guy makes gorgeous objects and I fell in love with his imagery in books for several years before seeing his films. The films were an enormous let-down. I'm a bit baffled by the cult of celebrity around Barney. He is easily the most heavily-funded of any artist of his generation (thanks to gallerist Barbara Gladstone), however, there is very little meaningful critical response to his work. It's like the art world is simply overwhelmed by the ambition and production values involved that they have little interest in actually exploring the content (which is as opaque as possible.)

In short, the guy makes makes beautiful objects and beautiful images. He seems like a nice human being in interviews I've seen. However, his work is as gratuitious and masturbatory as any I've ever seen. Every "scene" in his films lasts about 20 times longer than any normal human should have to bear. It is work like his that made me lose all interest in pursuing contemporary art (I have a master's degree in sculpture - slightly more valuable than a GED), and pursue documentary filmmaking (not the most lucrative career aspiration, either). I guess I can thank him for helping move me into a field I find infinitely more rewarding, though.
 
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