Jesse Richards
Encyclopedia
Jesse Richards is a painter
, film
maker and photographer
from New Haven, Connecticut
and was affiliated with the international movement Stuckism
.
, New York
, which he left after a nervous breakdown. He directed plays including "Hamlet
" and "Look Back In Anger
" for the New Haven Theatre Company, and made short romance
and punk
films.
In 1999, Richards was arrested for reckless burning, destruction of property and disorderly conduct. After the charges were dropped, he began painting.
art movement in 2001 and founded a gallery as the first Stuckism center in the United States
in 2002, helping to organize shows. The center opened its doors with a show entitled "We Just Wanna Show Some Fucking Paintings."
In 2003, an anti-war "Clown Trial of President Bush" took place outside the New Haven Federal Courthouse, in order to "highlight the fact that the Iraq war does not have the support of the United Nations
, thus violating a binding contract with the UN". It was staged by local Stuckist artists dressed in clown costume, led by Richards with Nicholas Watson
and Tony Juliano
. One of the participants was a public defender for the state of Connecticut.
Simultaneously the Stuckism center opened a War on Bush show, including work from Brazil, Australia, Germany and the UK, while the London equivalent staged a War on Blair show. Richards said the original intention of a straightforward art show to an anti-war show had been changed after a phone discussion with Stuckism founder, Charles Thomson
. Richards told The Yale Herald
, "Duchamp
would go over to the Yale University Art Gallery
and he would say, 'This is crap,' and he would go paint a picture."
Also in 2003, Richards was an exhibitor in the UK show, Stuck in Wednesbury at Wednesbury
Museum & Art Gallery, the first Stuckist show in a public gallery, and in The Stuckists Summer Show at the Stuckism International Gallery
, London.
In 2004, Richards was one of eight artists in the "International Stuckists" section of The Stuckists Punk Victorian
show at the Walker Art Gallery
during the Liverpool Biennial
. He said of his exhibited work, Nightlife: "This came out of heavy drinking and loneliness. New Haven's social scene is entirely going to bars, so it was my only way to meet new people."
Richards reviewed the Biennial and the Stuckist show, where he found Joe Machine
's My Grandfather Will Fight You, "one of the best Stuckist paintings. Machine's work is the epitome of raw, real expressive painting." He said that Stuckist Photographer Andy Bullock's work was "silly installation photography" which was "trying to be trendy."
In 2005, 160 paintings from the Walker Art Gallery show, including one by Richards, were offered as a donation to the Tate
gallery, but rejected by Sir Nicholas Serota
, because "We do not feel that the work is of sufficient quality in terms of accomplishment, innovation or originality of thought to warrant preservation in perpetuity in the national collection".
In 2005, Richards was a co-ordinator of, and participated in, Addressing the Shadow and Making Friends with Wild Dogs: Remodernism
, the first Remodernism
exhibition in the US to include work from all of the Remodernist groups, including the Stuckists, the Defastenists
, Remodernist Film and Photography, and Stuckism Photography. The show took place at the CBGB
313 gallery.
In 2006, Richards was one of the artists in The Triumph of Stuckism, a show at Liverpool John Moores University
Hope Street Gallery, curated by Naive John
at the invitation of Professor Colin Fallows, Chair of Research at Liverpool School of Art and Design, and part of the Liverpool Biennial 2006.
Richards left the Stuckist movement in 2006.
Stuckist group shows organised or featuring work by Richards include:
In 2003, Richards co-produced Shooting at the Moon, a short film premiering at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. In 2008, the film made its London premiere at Horse Hospital
during its FLIXATION Underground Cinema Club event. Richards said that his films had previously often contained nudity, but this time he wanted to do the opposite and the two leads do not quite even kiss:
Kurt Walker, an editor and critic on The Auteurs
, described one of Richards' films, so tell me again, this way:
A book of pinhole photography called "Dark Chamber", featuring new work by Richards as well as work by Wolf Howard
, Billy Childish
and others was published by Urban Fox Press in May 2007.
Brian Sherwin
said of Richards that his work was "Street truth":
In February 2010, the Australian film magazine Filmink announced Richards' participation in a compilation feature film by the Remodernist film
movement. The film is scheduled to premiere in New York in December 2010.
Richards announced in July 2010 that he joined a "new international film collective" called Subvex, which was initiated by Tobias Morgan, co-director of The Auteurs
's Garage. "Subvex is currently based in Paris and New York and advocates the occupation of new spaces for the projection of films that would otherwise struggle to receive distribution in a mainstream market, and emphasises the development of ground-level cultures around new waves in contemporary filmmaking". In August 2010, Subvex announced its first project, an 8mm film version of Exquisite Corpse
, which will feature new work by Richards, Jonas Mekas
, Bill Morrison
, Nina Menkes
, Lav Diaz
, Ian Helliwell, Amos Poe
and others. The collaboration is not-for-profit and is being financed through crowdsourcing
.
In December 2010, Richards joined the Board of Directors of Cine Foundation International
.
Richards currently lives in Granby, Massachusetts
.
In 2004, Richards and fellow filmmaker Harris Smith
co-founded Remodernist Film
and Photography, a new Remodernist group attempting to introduce Remodernist/Stuckist values into film and photography.
In 2008, Richards published a Remodernist Film Manifesto, calling for a "new spirituality in cinema" and the use of intuition in filmmaking. He described Remodernist film as a "stripped down, minimal, lyrical, punk kind of filmmaking",. Point four of the manifesto is:
There were also criticisms of Stanley Kubrick
, digital video, and Dogme 95
.
In late August, 2009, an International Alliance of Remodernist Filmmakers was started by Richards in order to promote discussion and collaboration amongst those following the manifesto. The filmmakers include Jesse Richards, Harris Smith
, Christopher Michael Beer, Dmitri Trakovsky, Kate Shults, Peter Rinaldi and Khurrem Gold of America, Roy Rezaali of Holland, Rouzbeh Rashidi
of Iran
and Dean Kavanagh of Ireland.
In October, 2009, with the intention "to further develop and explain Remodernist film concepts", a series of articles by Richards, Peter Rinaldi and Roy Rezaali were published in the magazine MungBeing In Richards' two essays in the magazine, he explains the development of cinema in terms of modernism
, postmodernism
and remodernism
, and discusses remodernist film craft as involving filmmakers "teaching themselves to paint pictures, to try acting in their own movies and those of others (especially if they are shy), to be nude models for other artists, to meditate, worship if they are religious, to do things that affect their levels of consciousness, try things that make them nervous or uncomfortable, to go out and be involved in life, to find adventure, to jump in the ocean. I think that is the exploration of craft". He also relaxes the criticisms made in the manifesto about digital video, claiming that can "have a place in Remodernist cinema", but with a "new language" and not in the way it is used now, which he says is to "mimic film".
He describes his specific approach to Remodernist filmmaking as well:
The articles also broaden the aim of the movement, explaining the common bond among Remodernist filmmakers being a search for truth, knowledge, authenticity and spirituality in their work, but having different approaches on achieving that goal.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
maker and photographer
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
from New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
and was affiliated with the international movement Stuckism
Stuckism
Stuckism is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art...
.
Early life
Jesse Richards was born in New Haven. He had an ambition to be a forest ranger during his teens, which was also the time he started to make films. He studied film production at the School of Visual ArtsSchool of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, which he left after a nervous breakdown. He directed plays including "Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
" and "Look Back In Anger
Look Back in Anger
Look Back in Anger is a John Osborne play—made into films in 1959, 1980, and 1989 -- about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and her haughty best friend . Cliff, an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace...
" for the New Haven Theatre Company, and made short romance
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
and punk
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
films.
In 1999, Richards was arrested for reckless burning, destruction of property and disorderly conduct. After the charges were dropped, he began painting.
Stuckism
Richards affiliated with the StuckistStuckism
Stuckism is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art...
art movement in 2001 and founded a gallery as the first Stuckism center in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 2002, helping to organize shows. The center opened its doors with a show entitled "We Just Wanna Show Some Fucking Paintings."
In 2003, an anti-war "Clown Trial of President Bush" took place outside the New Haven Federal Courthouse, in order to "highlight the fact that the Iraq war does not have the support of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, thus violating a binding contract with the UN". It was staged by local Stuckist artists dressed in clown costume, led by Richards with Nicholas Watson
Nicholas Watson
Nicholas Watson is a writer and filmmaker. He co-founded the New Haven Stuckist art group.- Life and Art :Nicholas Watson has worked on films with Jesse Richards since 1997. In 2001, Watson co-founded the New Haven, Connecticut chapter of the Stuckism art movement with Richards. Stuckism was...
and Tony Juliano
Tony Juliano
Tony Juliano is a satirist painter in Orange, Connecticut and is affiliated with the international art movement Stuckism.-Life and work:Tony Juliano was born in 1975...
. One of the participants was a public defender for the state of Connecticut.
Simultaneously the Stuckism center opened a War on Bush show, including work from Brazil, Australia, Germany and the UK, while the London equivalent staged a War on Blair show. Richards said the original intention of a straightforward art show to an anti-war show had been changed after a phone discussion with Stuckism founder, Charles Thomson
Charles Thomson (artist)
Charles Thomson is an English artist, painter, poet and photographer. In the early 1980s he was a member of The Medway Poets. In 1999 he named and co-founded the Stuckists art movement with Billy Childish. He has curated Stuckist shows, organised demonstrations against the Turner Prize, run an art...
. Richards told The Yale Herald
The Yale Herald
The Yale Herald is a newspaper run by undergraduate students at Yale University since 1986. As a weekly, the paper aims to provide in-depth, investigative reporting, and includes comics, arts and entertainment coverage, sports and intramurals sections, and coverage of campus and local events...
, "Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
would go over to the Yale University Art Gallery
Yale University Art Gallery
The Yale University Art Gallery houses a significant and encyclopedic collection of art in several buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Although it embraces all cultures and periods, the Gallery possesses especially renowned collections of early Italian painting,...
and he would say, 'This is crap,' and he would go paint a picture."
Wednesbury
Wednesbury is a market town in England's Black Country, part of the Sandwell metropolitan borough in West Midlands, near the source of the River Tame. Similarly to the word Wednesday, it is pronounced .-Pre-Medieval and Medieval times:...
Museum & Art Gallery, the first Stuckist show in a public gallery, and in The Stuckists Summer Show at the Stuckism International Gallery
Stuckism International Gallery
The Stuckism International Gallery was the gallery of the Stuckist art movement. It was open 2002 to 2005 in Shoreditch, and run by Charles Thomson, the co-founder of Stuckism...
, London.
In 2004, Richards was one of eight artists in the "International Stuckists" section of The Stuckists Punk Victorian
The Stuckists Punk Victorian
The Stuckists Punk Victorian was the first national gallery exhibition of Stuckist art. It was held at the Walker Art Gallery and Lady Lever Art Gallery in Liverpool from 18 September 2004 to 20 February 2005, and was part of the 2004 Liverpool Biennial....
show at the Walker Art Gallery
Walker Art Gallery
The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England, outside of London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group, and is promoted as "the National Gallery of the North" because it is not a local or regional gallery but is part...
during the Liverpool Biennial
Liverpool Biennial
Liverpool Biennial is a British international festival of contemporary art held in Liverpool. The festival comprises the International Exhibition, the John Moores Painting Prize, the Bloomberg New Contemporaries Exhibition and the Independents Biennial....
. He said of his exhibited work, Nightlife: "This came out of heavy drinking and loneliness. New Haven's social scene is entirely going to bars, so it was my only way to meet new people."
Joe Machine
Joe Machine is an English artist, poet and writer. He is a founding member of the Stuckists art group. His work is "raw and autobiographical".-Life:...
's My Grandfather Will Fight You, "one of the best Stuckist paintings. Machine's work is the epitome of raw, real expressive painting." He said that Stuckist Photographer Andy Bullock's work was "silly installation photography" which was "trying to be trendy."
In 2005, 160 paintings from the Walker Art Gallery show, including one by Richards, were offered as a donation to the Tate
Tate
-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...
gallery, but rejected by Sir Nicholas Serota
Nicholas Serota
Sir Nicholas Andrew Serota is a British art curator. Serota was director of the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, before becoming director of the Tate, the United Kingdom's national gallery of modern and British art in 1988. He was awarded a knighthood in 1999. He...
, because "We do not feel that the work is of sufficient quality in terms of accomplishment, innovation or originality of thought to warrant preservation in perpetuity in the national collection".
In 2005, Richards was a co-ordinator of, and participated in, Addressing the Shadow and Making Friends with Wild Dogs: Remodernism
Addressing the Shadow and Making Friends with Wild Dogs: Remodernism
Addressing the Shadow and Making Friends with Wild Dogs: Remodernism, held in 2005 in New York, United States, was the first American exhibition that included work from all of the Remodernist groups, and was one of the last art shows at CB's 313, the gallery connected to CBGB...
, the first Remodernism
Remodernism
Remodernism revives aspects of modernism, particularly in its early form, and follows postmodernism, to which it contrasts. Adherents of remodernism advocate it as a forward and radical, not reactionary, impetus....
exhibition in the US to include work from all of the Remodernist groups, including the Stuckists, the Defastenists
Defastenism
Defastenism is a Remodernist art movement founded in Dublin in 2004. The Defastenists are also known as The Defastenist Party. Artists who have participated in it include Gary Farrelly, Padraic E...
, Remodernist Film and Photography, and Stuckism Photography. The show took place at the CBGB
CBGB
CBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...
313 gallery.
In 2006, Richards was one of the artists in The Triumph of Stuckism, a show at Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool John Moores University is a British 'modern' university located in the city of Liverpool, England. The university is named after John Moores and was previously called Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts and later Liverpool Polytechnic before gaining university status in 1992, thus...
Hope Street Gallery, curated by Naive John
Naive John
Naive John is a British artist and figurative painter. His work shows attention to detail with subjects that combine elements from popular culture alongside the mythic and mundane. He has also in the past been involved in the Stuckism art movement.-Art: Naive John is a self-taught artist...
at the invitation of Professor Colin Fallows, Chair of Research at Liverpool School of Art and Design, and part of the Liverpool Biennial 2006.
Richards left the Stuckist movement in 2006.
Shows
- 2002 We Just Wanna Show Some Fucking Paintings- New Haven
- 2003 War on Bush- New Haven
- 2003 Stuck in Wednesbury- WednesburyWednesburyWednesbury is a market town in England's Black Country, part of the Sandwell metropolitan borough in West Midlands, near the source of the River Tame. Similarly to the word Wednesday, it is pronounced .-Pre-Medieval and Medieval times:...
- 2003 The Stuckists Summer Show- LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
- 2004 The Stuckists Punk VictorianThe Stuckists Punk VictorianThe Stuckists Punk Victorian was the first national gallery exhibition of Stuckist art. It was held at the Walker Art Gallery and Lady Lever Art Gallery in Liverpool from 18 September 2004 to 20 February 2005, and was part of the 2004 Liverpool Biennial....
- Liverpool BiennialLiverpool BiennialLiverpool Biennial is a British international festival of contemporary art held in Liverpool. The festival comprises the International Exhibition, the John Moores Painting Prize, the Bloomberg New Contemporaries Exhibition and the Independents Biennial.... - 2004 The Stuckists Punk Victorian In the Toilet- New Haven
- 2005 Addressing the Shadow and Making Friends with Wild Dogs: RemodernismAddressing the Shadow and Making Friends with Wild Dogs: RemodernismAddressing the Shadow and Making Friends with Wild Dogs: Remodernism, held in 2005 in New York, United States, was the first American exhibition that included work from all of the Remodernist groups, and was one of the last art shows at CB's 313, the gallery connected to CBGB...
- New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and... - 2006 The Triumph of Stuckism- Liverpool BiennialLiverpool BiennialLiverpool Biennial is a British international festival of contemporary art held in Liverpool. The festival comprises the International Exhibition, the John Moores Painting Prize, the Bloomberg New Contemporaries Exhibition and the Independents Biennial....
Film and photography
Richards has worked on films with Nicholas Watson since 1996. Their film noir, Blackout, was premiered at the event Stuck Films at the New Haven Stuckism International Center in 2002.In 2003, Richards co-produced Shooting at the Moon, a short film premiering at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. In 2008, the film made its London premiere at Horse Hospital
Horse Hospital
The Horse Hospital is an arts venue in central London, England, which caters for literary and spoken word events, underground film and avantgarde media screenings, and visual art exhibitions...
during its FLIXATION Underground Cinema Club event. Richards said that his films had previously often contained nudity, but this time he wanted to do the opposite and the two leads do not quite even kiss:
- While making this film I guess the main thing we were thinking about accomplishing was to express this emotional experience, and have people really feel it, and not to get too complicated with story or anything that would distract from this feeling we wanted people to have while watching the film.
Kurt Walker, an editor and critic on The Auteurs
The Auteurs (film website)
MUBI is an online film website that integrates elements of social networking with video streaming. It has been described as an "online cinematheque." The site allows users to watch feature films, usually for a fee, and connect with others with similar tastes in movies.- Partnerships :MUBI is...
, described one of Richards' films, so tell me again, this way:
While TarkovskyAndrei TarkovskyAndrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director, widely regarded as one of the finest filmmakers of the 20th century....
's aesthetic is impossible to recreate, Richards shows a clear understanding of the dictation of time and capturing those evasive and important moments in life, with his short (or excerpt from an upcoming feature) So Tell Me Again. The first sequences of shots and sounds clearly conjure before they indicate. Nostalgia proliferated through the torrential over-exposure of 9mm film (sic), the moment between two lovers, one being the auteur himself, quickly translates from the personal to the universal. Whether or not the viewer has grasped the palpable beauty of the situation in their own lives, is irrelevant, as Richards Re-modernist cinema seems to assert (though not stated in the manifesto) that our memories of cinema become incongruently melded with the memories and our own lives. Cinema is only 3 senses away from reality, and Richards has taken it upon himself to imply the other senses in the name of a more absolute depiction of it. And yet, realism is not Richards’s concern, as the film hinges on a form far removed from the description of naturalism, and translates its power through a memory that is universal. One gets the sense that if My Bloody Valentine's Loveless were a film, it'd look something like this. Every shot feels as though it could implode under the rays of the sun, and yet the film gradually explodes with a portrait of love at its moment of perfection. The back-lot of this couples sadness is implied in our peripherals, and quickly disarmed by the lurid beauty of an ancient pop melody. Who says naiveté can't be transcendental.
A book of pinhole photography called "Dark Chamber", featuring new work by Richards as well as work by Wolf Howard
Wolf Howard
Wolf Howard is an English artist, poet and filmmaker living in Chatham, Kent and was a founder member of the Stuckists art group...
, Billy Childish
Billy Childish
Billy Childish is an English artist, painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist...
and others was published by Urban Fox Press in May 2007.
Brian Sherwin
Brian Sherwin
Brian Sherwin is an American art critic, writer, and blogger with a degree from Illinois College in 2003. Sherwin is the Senior Editor for the artist social networking site myartspace, where he has written an extensive interview series with emerging and established visual artists...
said of Richards that his work was "Street truth":
- His work may seem crude to some, but at least it is honest (sometimes brutally honest.) This honesty is captured by his ability to convey human behavior and struggles with each shot from his camera.
In February 2010, the Australian film magazine Filmink announced Richards' participation in a compilation feature film by the Remodernist film
Remodernist Film
Remodernist film developed in the United States and the United Kingdom in the early 21st century with ideas related to those of the international art movement Stuckism and its manifesto, Remodernism...
movement. The film is scheduled to premiere in New York in December 2010.
Richards announced in July 2010 that he joined a "new international film collective" called Subvex, which was initiated by Tobias Morgan, co-director of The Auteurs
The Auteurs (film website)
MUBI is an online film website that integrates elements of social networking with video streaming. It has been described as an "online cinematheque." The site allows users to watch feature films, usually for a fee, and connect with others with similar tastes in movies.- Partnerships :MUBI is...
's Garage. "Subvex is currently based in Paris and New York and advocates the occupation of new spaces for the projection of films that would otherwise struggle to receive distribution in a mainstream market, and emphasises the development of ground-level cultures around new waves in contemporary filmmaking". In August 2010, Subvex announced its first project, an 8mm film version of Exquisite Corpse
Exquisite Corpse
Exquisite corpse is a surrealist technique, but may also refer to:Literature* Exquisite Corpse , edited by Andrei Codrescu* Exquisite Corpse , a 1996 novel by Poppy Z...
, which will feature new work by Richards, Jonas Mekas
Jonas Mekas
Jonas Mekas is a Lithuanian-born American filmmaker, writer, and curator who has often been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema." His work has been exhibited in museums and festivals across Europe and America.-Biography:...
, Bill Morrison
Bill Morrison (director)
Bill Morrison is a New York-based filmmaker and artist, best known for his experimental collage film Decasia . He is a member of Ridge Theater and the founder of Hypnotic Pictures...
, Nina Menkes
Nina Menkes
Nina Menkes is a woman filmmaker who has completed six feature films in which she controlled all aspects of production, including directing, writing, shooting, as well as editing picture and sound on her own productions. She has worked in various media including Super-8, 16mm, 35mm and lately HD...
, Lav Diaz
Lav Diaz
Lav Diaz or Lavrente Indico Diaz is a Filipino independent filmmaker, born in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, Mindanao, Philippines, on December 30, 1958....
, Ian Helliwell, Amos Poe
Amos Poe
Amos Poe is a New York City director and screenwriter, described by The New York Times as a "pioneering indie filmmaker."-Career:Amos Poe is one of the first punk filmmakers and his film The Blank Generation —co-directed with Ivan Kral— is one of the earliest punk films...
and others. The collaboration is not-for-profit and is being financed through crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community through an open call....
.
In December 2010, Richards joined the Board of Directors of Cine Foundation International
Cine Foundation International
Cine Foundation International is London-based non-profit film company and human rights NGO "aiming to 'empower open consciousness through cinema'". The foundation was formed in December 2010 by American filmmaker Jesse Richards, founder of the Remodernist film movement, South Korean film critic...
.
Richards currently lives in Granby, Massachusetts
Granby, Massachusetts
Granby is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,420 at the 2010 census.It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.Part of the town is comprised in the census-designated place of Granby....
.
The Remodernist Film Movement
Harris Smith (filmmaker)
Harris Smith is a filmmaker, media critic and essayist from New York City. He is one of the founding members of the Remodernist film movement and was a participating member of the first comprehensive Remodernist exhibition in the United States, Addressing the Shadow and Making Friends with Wild...
co-founded Remodernist Film
Remodernist Film
Remodernist film developed in the United States and the United Kingdom in the early 21st century with ideas related to those of the international art movement Stuckism and its manifesto, Remodernism...
and Photography, a new Remodernist group attempting to introduce Remodernist/Stuckist values into film and photography.
In 2008, Richards published a Remodernist Film Manifesto, calling for a "new spirituality in cinema" and the use of intuition in filmmaking. He described Remodernist film as a "stripped down, minimal, lyrical, punk kind of filmmaking",. Point four of the manifesto is:
- The Japanese ideas of wabi-sabiWabi-sabirepresents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete"...
(the beauty of imperfection) and mono no awareMono no aware, literally "the pathos of things", also translated as "an empathy toward things", or "a sensitivity to ephemera", is a Japanese term used to describe the awareness of , or the transience of things, and a gentle sadness at their passing.-Origins:...
(the awareness of the transience of things and the bittersweet feelings that accompany their passing), have the ability to show the truth of existence, and should always be considered when making the remodernist film.
There were also criticisms of Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
, digital video, and Dogme 95
Dogme 95
Dogme 95 was an avant-garde filmmaking movement started in 1995 by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the "Dogme 95 Manifesto" and the "Vow of Chastity". These were rules to create filmmaking based on the traditional values of story, acting, and theme, and...
.
In late August, 2009, an International Alliance of Remodernist Filmmakers was started by Richards in order to promote discussion and collaboration amongst those following the manifesto. The filmmakers include Jesse Richards, Harris Smith
Harris Smith (filmmaker)
Harris Smith is a filmmaker, media critic and essayist from New York City. He is one of the founding members of the Remodernist film movement and was a participating member of the first comprehensive Remodernist exhibition in the United States, Addressing the Shadow and Making Friends with Wild...
, Christopher Michael Beer, Dmitri Trakovsky, Kate Shults, Peter Rinaldi and Khurrem Gold of America, Roy Rezaali of Holland, Rouzbeh Rashidi
Rouzbeh Rashidi
Rouzbeh Rashidi is an Iranian avant-garde filmmaker associated with the Remodernist film movement....
of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and Dean Kavanagh of Ireland.
In October, 2009, with the intention "to further develop and explain Remodernist film concepts", a series of articles by Richards, Peter Rinaldi and Roy Rezaali were published in the magazine MungBeing In Richards' two essays in the magazine, he explains the development of cinema in terms of modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
, postmodernism
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
and remodernism
Remodernism
Remodernism revives aspects of modernism, particularly in its early form, and follows postmodernism, to which it contrasts. Adherents of remodernism advocate it as a forward and radical, not reactionary, impetus....
, and discusses remodernist film craft as involving filmmakers "teaching themselves to paint pictures, to try acting in their own movies and those of others (especially if they are shy), to be nude models for other artists, to meditate, worship if they are religious, to do things that affect their levels of consciousness, try things that make them nervous or uncomfortable, to go out and be involved in life, to find adventure, to jump in the ocean. I think that is the exploration of craft". He also relaxes the criticisms made in the manifesto about digital video, claiming that can "have a place in Remodernist cinema", but with a "new language" and not in the way it is used now, which he says is to "mimic film".
He describes his specific approach to Remodernist filmmaking as well:
...my own interests are a little more specific. I'm interested in Japanese aesthetics, Tarkovsky's ideas on "sculpting in time", an emphasis on moments. But there's something else I've really been thinking about lately. I believe that the most effective way to really make subjective and authentic work involves an "addressing of the shadow" (as Billy Childish and Charles Thomson have described it). Now what does this mean exactly? It might mean that you are really obsessed with pubic hair, or maybe you are really embarrassed by a physical or mental disability that you try to hide, or like Billy Childish, you were abused as a child.
These things, these "shadows" that we are hiding within ourselves, need to be brought forth into the light of day - in our films, in our work, in our poetry. It's necessary for us to share these parts of ourselves so we and the people we share with can grow into complete, honest human beings. Now, this kind of brutal honesty about ourselves shown through imagery that isn't shy, has been explored to a degree in the work from the Cinema of Transgression, and is advocated by Antonin Artaud in his writings about the Theatre of Cruelty, and his later writings on cinema. But I don't think it's quite as simple as just that. As human beings, we are also full of beauty and love and poetry - we can see this in ourselves and in others and in the world around us. So this beauty must be explored as well, and in combination with the exploration of the shadow. The funny thing is that if we would just be honest as filmmakers, or painters, or as whatever we happen to work with, if we could be this honest, this approach would happen automatically. But we are told again and again- these things don't go together, don't tell people about that thing that you can't get out of your head- that image is inappropriate. We've become very afraid of just expressing ourselves honestly, of removing the desperate attempts to appear clever, we've been afraid of showing our true selves out of fear that others will think us fools. So this is where Artaud, the Cinema of Transgression, and even Andrei Tarkovsky have not gone quite the distance. The cinematic exploration of spirituality and transgression together - pubic hair, blood and shit and love and the green grass and the dying cherry blossoms, falling snow, passing trains - every single fucking beautiful piece of life - that is what my conception of Remodernist film is.
The articles also broaden the aim of the movement, explaining the common bond among Remodernist filmmakers being a search for truth, knowledge, authenticity and spirituality in their work, but having different approaches on achieving that goal.
Filmography
- Frank's Wild Years, 1994/1995
- I Wonder, 1996
- Sex and Lies, 1998 (destroyed except for trailer)
- Blackout, 2000
- Shooting at the Moon, 1998. Re-edit 2003
- Yugen, 2009
- wonder about patterns in your head, 2009
- so tell me again, 2009
- Nothing: December 2, 2009, 2009
- Orphans, 2009
See also
- Remodernist FilmRemodernist FilmRemodernist film developed in the United States and the United Kingdom in the early 21st century with ideas related to those of the international art movement Stuckism and its manifesto, Remodernism...
- Stuckism in AmericaStuckism in AmericaThe Stuckism art movement was started in London in 1999 to promote figurative painting and oppose conceptual art. This was mentioned in the United States media, but the first Stuckist presence in US was not until the following year, when former installation artist, Susan Constanse, founded a...
- Stuckist demonstrationsStuckist demonstrationsStuckist demonstrations since 2000 have been a key part of the Stuckist art group's activities and have succeeded in giving them a high profile both in Britain and abroad...
- Pinhole Photography