Portrait

Curt McDowell, the director, on his feet and weaving in and out of this televised tapestry with gracious grossness and Hoosier-based hospitality.

An up-close compilation of interviews and discussions with people living with HIV in the early 1990s. 

Henry Johnson was an elderly gas station attendant living in Goldsmith, Texas, a West Texas town of four hundred people. His collection consisted of enormous rattlesnake heads, gallon jars of rattlesnake rattles, eight-inch-long centipedes, specimens of Jerusalem crickets locally called “child of the earth,” (also known as the “devil’s baby”), and even a man’s finger, severed in an elevator accident. These specimens were preserved in rubbing alcohol and displayed in a rusty wire magazine stand.

A sculptor dabbles in the wetness of his craft while the skies threaten a soaking to the winterized wonderland of a western shoreline.

Words of wisdom issue from the mind of a maligned artist as his calendar of kitsch and comfort flap their pages amid a tempest of sea foam and pigeon wings.

Shrimp is gnawed upon in dwellings of nutritional notoriety while the hunger of more carnal need feeds the mind with fantasies best left as fodder for a more potent farter.

Paint drips and body fluids ooze in this "tell all" and "hide nothing" documentary about two San Francisco males.

LYNDALE is a story of shifting family dynamics, told through the relationship of two brothers. Shot on ten different video formats, this experimental documentary is both the story of a Chicago family, and a record of the digital revolution in the early 2000s. The piece takes place over a six-year period during which filmmakers Oli Rodriguez and Victoria Stob shared a house with Rodriguez’s brother, Jeff.

Atomic Ed & the Black Hole tells the story of a scientist-turned-atomic junk collector known as Atomic Ed. More than 30 years ago, Ed quit his job making “better” atomic bombs and he began collecting what he calls “nuclear waste,” non-radioactive high-tech discards from the Los Alamos National Laboratory. As the self-appointed curator of an unofficial museum of the nuclear age called “The Black Hole,” Atomic Ed reveals and preserves a history of government waste that was literally thrown in a trash heap.

Spanish subtitled version available.

Matt Wolf returns to Joe Brainard's iconic poem I Remember (1970) in this videowork. His archival montage combines audio recordings of Brainard reading from the poem, as well as an interview with his lifelong friend and collaborator, the poet Ron Padgett. The result is an inventive biography of Joe Brainard, and an elliptical dialog about friendship, nostalgia, and the strange wonders of memory.

This 12-minute video by Tom Palazzolo and Chicago writer Jack Helbig tells the story of the recently discovered Chicago street photographer Vivian Maier. Though she was unknown in her lifetime, her extensive body of work is rewriting the history of post-World War II American street photography. The video, told from the point of view of Maier herself, recounts her life and work, from her childhood in France to her move to NYC in 1951 and subsequent relocation to Chicago, where the majority of her work was done.

An independent film portrait of singer/songwriter Elliott Smith in Portland, Oregon in 1996, wherein he plays three songs. The songs were done live acoustic--in his old studio, a living room, and a bathroom (it was quiet in there). It's also a small portrait of Portland, Oregon.

The songs are "Between the Bars", "Angeles", and a cover of "Thirteen" by Big Star.

This is Elliott as I remember him, at his simple finest as musician. 

“What's junk to some people, is treasure to others,” an idea that motivated the work of humanitarian Dorothy Davis. Dorothy Davis: Make a Way is as much a joyous celebration of spirit as an intimate portrait of Dorothy. This video documents her glorious creations and philosophies on recycling and duty to others. With her husband, Oliver, a scrap merchant, they struggle to provide care for pregnant girls and needy neighbors victimized by an unresponsive welfare system, in spite of their own poverty.

A picture of the day-to-day life of Shomõtsi, an Ashaninka Indian living on the border of Brazil and Peru. Valdete, a teacher and one of the village video makers, highlights his hardheaded and witty uncle.

Directed by Valdete Pinhanta Ashaninka; edited by Mari Corrêa.

In Ashaninka with English subtitles.

The Only Ones Left (three-channel video installation*), featuring actor Jim Fletcher, weaves film noir and mafia genre references with CEO diatribes, while also exposing the conventions of the feature film climax. The three channels of video depict all plot points of the Hollywood film climax concurrently. The channels are arranged chronologically from left to right. This simultaneity draws attention to the familiarity of the subject matter and the inevitability of the violent consequences awaiting the characters.

LYNDALE is a story of shifting family dynamics, told through the relationship of two brothers. Shot on ten different video formats, this experimental documentary is both the story of a Chicago family, and a record of the digital revolution in the early 2000s. The piece takes place over a six-year period during which filmmakers Oli Rodriguez and Victoria Stob shared a house with Rodriguez’s brother, Jeff.

CB is an experimental bio-pic: its heroine, Charlotte Brontë. A collaboration between Doug Ischar and Tom Daws, CB was commissioned by the Laumeier Museum, St. Louis, for their inaugural Nightlight series.

A sound-essay set in the Tallahatchie County Second District Courtroom in Sumner, Mississippi, mythicPotentialities is an exploration of the event said to have galvanized the civil rights movement in America, the murder of Emmett Till, the trial that followed, and the way these event have been mediated through documentary text like Eyes on the Prize, The Murder of Emmet Till, and numerous other books, plays, poems and articles.

Vera is an assisted self-portrait of consumption. The subject is a woman whose passions and compulsions are of spending and loss, taste and subjectivity.

Nang has lived outside the box. Born in a Trinidadian village in 1934, she grew up poor, illegitimate, mixed-race and female, but she survived by defying convention. She left the first of five husbands when he cheated on her. With no formal training, she danced with choreographer Geoffrey Holder, who later won Tony Awards for The Wiz.

Take My Picture? is a comparison of two street characters filmed in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. One is completely oblivious to the camera and to his environment, muttering to himself and gesturing nervously, and the other boldly steps in front of the camera, offering commentary on the sanity of the man being taped and, in doing so, reveals his own peculiarities. 

A series of vignettes, anemic in color, as the absence of light threatens the vibrancy of those depicted: a Bostonian painter and her bloated model. A brunette guitarist and her assault weapon on the ear drums, and a lady from London in makeup and mourning. A canvas of black dahlias and white noise intent on smothering life, limb and vocal chords.

In Northern California, land of mystery, there stands an edifice of stone that probes the heavens above and the subterranean secrets below the threshold of credibility. Its occupant, Dr. Jacques Vallee, scientist and author, peers into the darkness of inner and outer space to document the elusive interactions of mortals and Magonians (folks and folklore) that inspire our dreams and evolution.

A portrait of a studio photographer, Her + Him VAN LEO also examines the photography of the 1940s and 50s from a critical perspective rather than a nostalgic one. This documentary utilizes traditional portrait photography and video in a dialogue between two media: crafted black and white print, and the electronically colored and manipulated screen. This dialog comments on the transformations in art practices and terminologies, and evokes some of the social/urban/political transformations that took place in Egypt over 50 years of its recent history.

CB is an experimental bio-pic: its heroine, Charlotte Brontë. A collaboration between Doug Ischar and Tom Daws, CB was commissioned by the Laumeier Museum, St. Louis, for their inaugural Nightlight series.

Adapted, quite loosely, from interviews with the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen in the late 60s and early 70s.

Note: This title is intended by the artist to be viewed in High Definition. While DVD format is available to enable accessibility, VDB recommends presentation on Blu-ray or HD digital file.

A series of portraits either stroked on canvas or snapped on photo emulsions becomes the theme of this travelette as the viewer relives the visions that confronted me during a hop and skip excursion over state lines and bodily curvatures.