Michael Knigin

Artist: Michael Knigin
Title: Company Accepted
Medium: Limited Edition Print
Edition: 90
Size: 22" x 30"

Michael Knigin (1942 - )

Michael Knigin was born in Brooklyn, New York. He did his undergraduate study at the noted Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Pa. Knigin later became director of Chiron Press, N.Y., a tine art silk-screen and lithography workshop. The shop remained in existance for seven years, printing and publishing editions for the most renowned contemporary artists, including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Paul Jenkins. After selling Chiron press in 1974, Knigin was invited by the Israel Museum by the Jerusalem Foundation to establish the first professional silkscreen and lithographic workshop in Israel, and to train a group of young Israei artists. While in Israel, he collaborated with the Ministry of Labor and Education, along with nationally and internationally known artists from Israel, the United States and Europe. After his tenure at the graphic center he returned to New York and proceeded to create his own prints and paintings. At that time, Knigin was appointed a Professor at Pratt Institute, where he still teaches.

In 1988 he was appointeed to the NASA Art Team and was sent to the Kennedy Space Center to visually interpret the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery, celebrating NASA's return to space after the Challenger's disaster in 1986.

In 1991 he was recalled to interpret the touchdown of the space shuttle Atlantis at Edwards Air Force Base. Along with these honors, he has received many awards including Cleo Award for art direction, a fellowship of the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, and Art Technology Grant, two certificates of Merit from the National Society of Illustrators. He has judged seven national and international art shows. From 1978 to the present he has had 17 one-person shows, and has been included in approximately a hundred and twenty group shows here and abroad.

His work has been written about in approximately 40 articles, featured in publications such as The New York Times, Art in America, and Art News. Last but not least he has been commissioned to create art by over 40 corporations and institutions. His accomplishments in the art field are significant. His contributions to Israel and The United States are well respected by artists, educators, and collectors alike.

Mr. Knigin's images are acclaimed internationally. Knigin intermingles a variety of images, including photo, with the purpose of making specific statements. Most often, he juxtaposes natural images with man-made works, often photographically rendering parts of the imagery for effect.

The subjective content of Knigin's work illustrates his concern with specific themes: the dehumanization of mankind, the schism between modern man and nature, the appar- ent lack of concern with the "beautiful" and the "elegant" in the Mainstream of contem- porary culture.
With startling contrast, Knigin portrays the distances that have appeared in our lives between elements of nature and modern industrialized society. Always present is a profound sense of the whimsical, a touch of magic.

Knigin's imagery takes us closer to our modern realities in a meld of the classical and the current, both technically and con- ceptually. The images, sometimes lyrical, other times piercing, transform the experience of "reality" for the viewer. We're no longer in the presence of objects as we know them, but transported into a multi-layered repre- sentation of a potentially new reality. The unexpected play of objects is reinforced by exquisitely manipulated colors and a range of complementary surfaces and textures. With this, Knigin creates an original pictoral "language" that pleases as it perplexes. This "language" is not a new one.. .the vocabulary consists of objects and environ- mental elements familiar to us.

Through the various means (color, texture, fragmentation) plus the use of the viewer's imagination, Knigin presents a "new translation" of the language we know. The viewer is free to per- sonalize the symbols, thus completing Knigin's image-statements.

Kiki Kogelnik

Artist: Kiki Kogelnik
Title: Triangle
Year: 1980
Medium: Serigraph, signed and numbered in pencil
Edition: 200
Paper Size: 34 x 26 inches

Kiki Kogelnik, Austrian (1935 - 1997)

Kiki Kogelnik an Austrian by birth and training lived in the United States for many years. She is exhibited widely in Europe and the U.S.

Her early work was primarily abstract, but soon evolved into cut out figure forms in space age settings and clothing. These early interests continue to appear in the present figure paintings of women. "Fashion imagery relates directly to our fantasy expectations of the world... expectations which are never met in real life where people are not perfectly attired, posed, cool, aloof and elegant," says Ms. Kogelnik.

Moving to Paris in 1959 and to New York in 1961, she worked in a mode that combined aspects of European figuration and American Pop Art with an increasing feminist consciousness. Sometimes her style mimicked fashion illustration to comment on society's depiction of women.

In 1966, Ms. Kogelnik married George Schwarz, a radiation oncologist at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan. He eventually owned several New York restaurants, which she helped design. Among them were today's Elephant and Castle in Greenwich Village, the NoHo Star and the Temple Bar on Lafayette Street, and Keen's Chop House on West 36th Street.

In 1967, Kiki declared that contemporary art comes from the artificial. The human condition has undergone fundamental changes in this century. Traditional values and assumptions have been attacked and upset and not been replaced. Our congenial view of life and security in nature has shattered. The ever-increasing domination of technology and mechanical processes in our civilization have reduced our humanity and alienated us from our natural environment. Hence, the appropriateness of Kiki's feeling that contemporary art cornes from the artificial.

As she once portrayed herself with a gigantic scissor, Kogelnik tailors a life to size for us. The idols of society drop their masks, displaying anemic faces, their bloodless beauty and disassociation with the real world. Behind all this stands the artist with a knowing and sorttewhat melancholic smile, fully engaged, holding up a mirror to the face of our time.

Robert Indiana

Artist: Robert Indiana, American (1928 - )
Title: Heliotherapy Love
Year: 1995
Medium: Serigraph, signed, numbered and dated in pencil
Edition: 300
Paper Size: 40 x 40 inches

"There have been many American SIGN painters, but there never were any American sign PAINTERS." This exercise in emphasis sums up Robert Indiana's position in the world of contemporary art. He has taken the everyday symbols of roadside America and made them into brilliantly colored geometric pop art. In his work he has been an ironic commentator on the American scene. Both his graphics and his paintings have made cultural statements on life and, during the rebellious 1960s, pointed political statements as well.

Born Robert Clark in New Castle, Indiana, in 1928, he adopted the name of his native state as a pseudonymous surname early in his career. During his typically Midwestern boyhood, highway signs had a symbolic importance for him. His father worked for Phillips 66 gas and, when he left his wife and son, he did so down Route #66. And the diner which his mother subsequently operated had the familiar "EAT" sign looming overhead.

Indiana studied first at the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis and then at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute in Utica, New York. From there he went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he received a degree in 1953 and won a traveling fellowship to Europe. In 1954, he attended Edinburgh University and Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland.

Back in America, Indiana settled in the historic Coentes Slip area on the New York waterfront in 1956 and showed his first hard-edged paintings the following year. From the start he worked with bold, contrasting, sometimes clashing, colors that mirror familiar signs along the highways.

A moralist at heart and an admirer of Longfellow, Whitman and Melville, Indiana often wryly prods his viewers. In a billboard4ike triptych dedicated to Melville, for example, he reminds them of Manhattan's past and suggests they walk around the island-city. He also feels a strong kinship with such earlier precisionist painters as Charles Demuth and showed his admiration in The Demuth American Dream No.5 (1963, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto). Although painted in Indiana's own idiom, it was clearly inspired by Demuth's well-known I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold (1928, Metropolitan Museum of Art).

The American dream has been a recurring theme in Indiana's work, and he has used it to both celebrate and criticize the national way of life. In the midst of all the gaudy, star-spangled color of The American Dream #J (1961, Museum of Modern Art), for instance, he highlights the words "Take All" and "Tilt" as reminders both of Americans' materialism and of the tendency of some to cheat, as they do on pinball machines.

In his paintings and constructions he has given new meaning to such basic words as "Eat", "Die" and "Love" . Using them in bold block letters in vivid colors, he has enticed his viewers to look at the commonplace from a new perspective. One indication of his success was the appearance of his immensely popular multi-colored "Love" on a United States postage stamp in 1973.

Robert Indiana Gallery
Robert Indiana

Will Barnet

Artist: Will Barnet
Title: Aurora - Red
Year: 1977
Medium: Serigraph, signed in pencil
Edition: 48; AP
Paper Size: 16.5 x 40 inches
Framed Size: 24.5 x 47 inches

Will Barnet was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, and studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School and then at the Art Students League in New York. He cites Daumier as his first great inspiration at the age of 14, both for "his profound vision of life and his unequalled draftsmanship." From the earliest years Barnet valued concept equally with technique. Printmaking gave him a wider, freer means of expression although painting has remained another important medium throughout his career.

His work of the 1930s and 1940s deals with the social themes in the forefront of the depression era, but also the more personal theme of the mother and child. He later taught art at such leading American schools as Yale University, Cornell University, and the Art Students League. Among his students at the Art Students league (1936-1981) nd at Cooper Union (1948 - 1978) and as a visiting professor at many colleges. Among his students at Copper Union wer Mark Rothko and Cy Twombly. Christopher B. Crosman, director of the Farnworth Museum, states the mark of a great tacher is "to insist on individual integrity and the value of finding one's own vision and artistic voice." Crosman calss Barnet "one of the art world's great humanitarians-mentor, exemplar, helping hand, and wise friend (Will Barnet: The nineties).

A prolific graphic artist, Barnet changed his style significantly at different points in his career. His earliest works were influenced by expressionism; they were followed by abstract works in the 1950s and 1960s, and finally evolved into more figurative works of silhouetted forms set against geometrically designed backgrounds. Barnet has worked in most print media and is recognized for his command of all techniques. His work has been exhibited in prominent museums and galleries in the United States and Canada and is included in many prestigious collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

Barnet's impressive exhibition record extends from 1934 to 2002. His work is in the collections of American's major museums, including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery; Art Institute of Chicago,; Corcoran Gallery of Art; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Fine Art, Boston; National Gallery of Art; Phillips Collection; Seattle Art Museum; and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Tomar sums up Barnet's long and distinguished career concluding, " His oeuvre provides a microcosm of modern movements in the history of American art and of the development of printmaking as a fine art form from 1930 through the 20th centrury."

Will Barnet Gallery

Andy Warhol

Artist: Andy Warhol (after)
Title: Mao
Year of Original: circa 1970
Medium: Serigraph, Sunday B. Morning Stamp Verso
Size: 33.25 x 29.75 inches [84.5 x 75.6 cm]

Andy Warhol Gallery

Francesco DIsa

Francesco DIsa MySpace

Alphonse Mucha

Alphonse Mucha was born in Czechoslovakia and emigrated to Paris when he was twenty-nine years old. It was there that he achieved great fame as one of the most important exponents of the art nouveau movement. He created prints, posters (many featuring the legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt), illustrations for books and magazines, and jewelry. Almost all of his designs were centered on romanticized female figures, highlighted by great flourishes. It has been said that his popularity came too quickly and he saturated his market with too many products, thereby causing a decline in quality and, eventually, demand. His early prints, in mint condition, are considered valuable today because they are some of the best representational art of his era and because Mucha earned an important place in European art history.

Alphonse Mucha Gallery

Robert Rauschenberg

Artist: Robert Rauschenberg, American (1925 - 2008)
Title: Poster for Peace
Year: 1970
Medium: Offset Lithograph, Signed and Numbered in Pencil
Edition: 250
Size: 28.5 x 21.5 inches

Process, object, environment and artist intertwine in Robert Rauschenberg's work. He embodies most of the ideas of this century's modern art, yet his powerful, idiosyncratic works are like those of no other artist.

Born Milton Rauschenberg in Texas in 1925, he received a sound art education. He attended Kansas City Art Institute in 1947, and then the renowned Academie Julien in Paris in 1948.

He returned to the United States to attend Black Mountain College in North Carolina in 1949. There he studied under abstract painter Josef Albers, one of the emigres who, seeking refuge in the United States from Europe's devastation, had galvanized American art. There, too, he formed professional relationships with avant-garde composer John Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham.

Rauschenberg continued on to New York City, where he studied at the Art Students League until 1952. From then until 1953, he traveled in Northern Africa and Italy.

His first works included collage, and he was involved in the production of perhaps the first impromptu theatrical "happening," a performance of John Cage's Theater Piece #1 (1952). His "combine paintings" of the 1950s combined, at first, paint and objects from his own past, but later included more "found" materials like photographs that had no personal connection with the artist. He turned to planning and costuming stage performances, particula4y dance, in the 1960s, and in the 1970s he produced constructions of fragile and ephemeral materials.

From the beginning, Rauschenberg's work contained nontraditional materials, was exhibited in a nontraditional setting, and refused categorization. Although he rejected the serious, self-important, personal emotionality of the abstract expressionist painters, his brushwork is expressive and emotive. His incorporation of mundane objects-such as bed linens, license plates, or tires-into his assemblages heavily influenced the growth of pop art and neo-dadaism in the 1960s, but the effect is neither banal and cynical like pop, nor deliberately chaotic and negative like dada.

Unlike his contemporaries Larry Rivers and Jasper Johns, Rauschenberg's restless inventiveness makes his works difficult to categorize. He has always been willing to explore new possibilities, including combining paintings with music or performance, and using blue-prints, electronics, silkscreen and-most recently-ephemeral materials such as cardboard in his paintings.

Rauschenberg 's work is contradictory. He sees the artist as a participant or reporter rather than a creator, but the stamp of his style and personality is evident in each of his paintings. Though his is an art of the concept, the idea, there is evident enjoyment in his engagement with the medium of expression and the material world. Whatever the judgment of later generations, Robert Rauschenberg is regarded as a tremendously influential force in twentieth-century art.

Robert Rauschenberg Gallery

Ed Ruscha

Artist: Edward Ruscha
Title: The End
Year: 1991
Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil
Edition: 50
Size: 26 x 36.5 inches

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Ed Ruscha became one of America's most productive figures in the fine arts in the late 20th century. Working from a studio in Hollywood, California, he is a painter, graphic artist, photographer, author and film maker and is especially known for his witty paintings with calligraphic and numeric messages that reflect urban imagery of life in Southern California.

He studied art at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles between 1956 and 1960 and then served in the United States Navy, traveled in Europe, and taught as artist-in-residence at numerous universities and art schools.

Some of his earliest letter painting were painted in his Paris hotel room from sketches he made of subway signs, recognizable pop-culture images. Many of his backgrounds were painterly, heavy with impasto.

In the 1980s a more subtle motif began to appear, again in a series of drawings, some incorporating dried vegetable pigments: a mysterious patch of light cast by an unseen window that serves as background for phrases such as WONDER SICKNESS and 99% DEVIL, 1% ANGEL. By the 1990s, Ruscha was creating larger paintings of light projected into empty rooms, some with ironical titles such as An Exhibition of Gasoline Powered Engines (1993).

A special traveling exhibition of his work: "Edward Ruscha" was held June-September 1 at The Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC and from November 20 to June 3, 2001 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Born and raised Catholic, Ruscha readily admits to the influence of religion in his work. He is also aware of the centuries-old tradition of religious imagery in which light beams have been used to represent divine presence. But his work makes no claims for a particular moral position or spiritual attitude.

Ruscha's work has been exhibited internationally for three decades and is represented in major museum collections. Among his other public commissions are a mural commissioned for the Miami-Dade Public Library, Miami, Florida (1985 and 1989); and for the Great Hall of the Denver Central Library, Colorado (1994-95). Ruscha is represented in Los Angeles by Gagosian Gallery and in New York by Leo Castelli Gallery.

Ed Ruscha Gallery

Lucien Clergue

Artist: Lucien Clergue, French (1934 - )
Title: Nude #4
Medium: Gelatin Silver Print Photograph, signed and numbered in marker
Edition: 50
Paper Size: 23 x 8.25 inches

A native of Arles, France, Lucien Clergue is a fine-art photographer, author, educator and filmmaker. His work has been associated with some of France's most significant artists, intellectuals, and musicians including Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Roland Barthes, and the Gypsy Kings. Clergue's work has been published in numerous books and exhibitions.

Lucien Clergue first discovered the power of the camera in his difficult adolescence. He witnessed the destruction of his family's house by WWII bombs, and suffered the prolonged illness and death of his mother. He has spent much of his career taking photos that express loss, death and decay. He is known for his female nude torsos from the mid '50s - '70s and bullfight images from the Arles arena, where he met Pablo Picasso, a strong supporter of his early work. His later work turned to organic abstractions of sand, lace, etc. His work has been influenced by mythology, adventure and what he calls "the mentality of the Mediterranean man." In 1969 he established the Recontres Internationales de la Photographie at Arles.This event has continued to grow and is considered on of the most important art festivals in the world. His wife established the Vincent Van Gogh Foundation, a museum of contemporary art in homage to Van Gogh, in Arles.

Clergue is the founder of the Recontres Internationales de la Photographie, Europe's major photography conference and showcase, in his native Arles, France. While Clergue's work has been exhibited worldwide and included in the collections of many major museums, UCR/California Museum of Photography's exhibition Signs of Gods and Goddesses will be his premiere West Coast retrospective exhibition.

Over the decades Clergue has enjoyed world-wide success with exhibitions across Europe and North America. Clergue received his doctorate at the University of Provence, Marseilles under the direction of Roland Barthes in 1979. He has taught at such institutions as the New School of Social Research; conducted countless workshops on photographic technique, particularly dealing with the nude; published a number of art volumes and been the subject of many museum catalogs.

Lucien Clerge Gallery

Puce Moment

A film by Kenneth Anger.

Lucifer Rising

A film by Kenneth Anger. Music by Bobby Beausoleil. Appearances by Marianne Faithfull, Donald Cammell, and Chris Jagger.

The Cool Hot Rod - 1953

Educational hot rod film from the 1950's. Part 1 of 3.

The Choppers (1961)

If you cool cats like classic hotrod cars, bad boys from the other side of the tracks, sexy blondes in tight shirts, insipidly catchy songs, goofy teen idol good looks, and the world's biggest cell phone... this one is for you!

Hot rods, hot rock, and hot hair are the jewels in the juvenile delinquency crown of THE CHOPPERS. This classic drive-in exploitation flick features the debut of sixteen year-old Arch Hall Jr. as Cruiser, the spoiled rich kid with a taste for crime and his band of troubled teens who call themselves cool names like Torch, Flip and Snoop, and specialize in stripping cars in record time. This is the movie that made you mom weak in the knees and your daddy worried about the crowd you run with.

Featuring the some exceptional less-than-hit songs from the awesome Arch Hall Jr, including non-classics like "Konga Joe" and "Monkey In A Hatband".

Live Fast Die Young!

WARNING: Contains very strong scenes of horror.

"I wanted something savage to happen..."
John Carpenter

THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE

A fascinating documentary, released in 2000, which examines the nature of 60s and 70s American horror films and how they reflected contemporary American society. Includes interviews with John Carpenter, John Landis, Wes Craven, George Romero, Tobe Hooper, David Cronenberg and Tom Savini (who talks about his experiences in Vietnam).

Includes references to...

Dracula (1931)
Frankenstein (1931)
White Zombie (1932)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Son of Frankenstein (1939)
The Wolf Man (1941)
It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
The Last House on the Left (1972)
The Crazies (1973)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Shivers (1975)
Rabid (1977)
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Halloween (1978)
The Brood (1979)
Maniac (1980)
Scanners (1981)
Videodrome (1983)

...among others. Enjoy!

White Zombie (1932)

White Zombie stars a satanic-looking Bella Lugosi and was released in 1932. It is often described as being the first ever zombie film. Plantation owner, Charles Beaumont, convinces the soon to be married Neil and Madeleine to have their ceremony on his property. Beaumont's offer, though, has an ulterior motive: he wants madeleine for himself. It would seem that, in the devious plantation owners mind, all is fair in love and war, even if it means killing the one that you love and turning her into a zombie (there must be easier ways to get a date). Beaumont seeks the help of an evil Voodoo master called Murder Legrande (Bella Lugosi) and Legrande agrees to help, but a double cross is in the air.

The Seventh Seal

The Seventh Seal [Subtitulada al Español]

The Virgin Spring (1960)

The Virgin Spring (1960)
(Jungfrukallan)

Swedish, B/W, English Subtitles

Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1960

Written for the screen by Swedish novelist Ulla Isaakson, who had previously worked with Bergman on Brink of Life (1958), The Virgin Spring stars the great Max Von Sydow as Herr Tore, a wealthy farmer in Medieval-era Sweden. Although both Tore and his wife, Mareta (Birgitta Valberg), adhere to a strict, ascetic form of Christianity, they indulge their only child, 15-year-old Karin (Birgitta Pettersson). Sweet but spoiled rotten, Karin coaxes her mother into letting her wear her best finery to deliver candles to the family's church, a day's ride on horseback. En route, she's raped and murdered by three herdsmen, who later seek shelter from the cold at Herr Tore's farm. Once he learns of Karin's death at the hands of the herdsmen, Tore exacts bloody revenge on his guests. Vengeance, however, brings no solace to the grieving father, whose faith in a just and loving God has been shaken, perhaps irrevocably, by Karin's brutal murder and his own actions—until he's witness to a miracle.

DIRECTOR: Ingmar Bergman
SCRIPT: Ulla Isaksson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Sven Nykvist

CAST: Max von Sydow, Brigitta Valberg, Gunnell Lindblom, Brigitta Pettersson, Axel Duberg, Tor Isedal, Allan Edwall

Herdsmen of the Sun

A short film by Werner Herzog.

Fullmetal Alchemist

Full Metal Alchemist 01
Uploaded by moonlight64

Fullmetal Alchemist, known in Japan as Hagane no Renkinjutsushi (鋼の錬金術師, lit. "Alchemist of Steel"), is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. The world of Fullmetal Alchemist is styled after European Industrial Revolution. Set in a fictional universe in which alchemy is one of the most advanced scientific techniques known to man, the story follows the brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric, who want to restore their bodies after a disastrous failed attempt to bring their mother back to life through alchemy.

The Conqueror

The infamous and "lost" classic film, produced by Howard Hughes, directed by Dick Powell, and starring John Wayne as Genghis Khan.

Smash Palace

A searingly emotional and rare 1981 Australian classic, about a race-car obsessive father (Bruno Lawrence) who kidnaps his daughter during a custody battle. Directed by Roger Donaldson.

Getting Straight

This 1970 counterculture film stars Elliot Gould as Harry Bailey, a young radical seeking to get his teaching degree amidst a system that he despises and doesnt respect. Gould gives a powerhouse performance that is not only his alltime most overlooked and underrated, but it could very well be his alltime best. Either way, Getting Straight is not to be missed!

FILMMAKERS @ SUBTERRRANEAN CINEMA

FILMMAKERS

RUSS MEYER
LUIS BUNUEL
KEN RUSSELL
ANDY WARHOL
PETER WATKINS
STAN BRAKHAGE
KENNETH ANGER
ROBERT ALTMAN
JOHN CASSAVETES
JEAN-LUC GODARD
LINA WERTMULLER
ROBERT DOWNEY SR.
FREDERICK WISEMAN
PIER PAOLO PASOLINI
MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI
RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER

THE CONFESSIONS OF ROBERT CRUMB

The Confessions of Robert Crumb (1987)
Although similar in some ways to Terry Zwigoff's harrowing documentary CRUMB, this BBC documentary about the famous American underground cartoonist is a lot easier to take, finding Crumb in a reflective, self-deprecating mood as he potters around his farmhouse discussing his obsessions, his likes and dislikes, his life and his art. A thoroughly fascinating look at a unique personality, from the days when the BBC cared to make great documentaries.

CRUMB: THE MOVIE

Crumb is a 1994 documentary film about the noted underground comic artist Robert Crumb (R. Crumb) and his family. Directed by Terry Zwigoff and produced by Lynn O'Donnell, it won widespread acclaim, including the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The late critic Gene Siskel hailed Crumb as the best film of the year, as did critic Jeffrey M. Anderson, who writes for the San Francisco Examiner. It was released in the USA on April 28, 1995.

Crumb is considered a moving film about the experiences and characters of the Crumb family, particularly Robert Crumb's brothers, Maxon and Charles, his wife and children (his sisters declined to be interviewed).

Robert Crumb initially did not want to make the film, but eventually agreed. There was an urban legend, accidentally created by Roger Ebert, that Terry Zwigoff made Crumb cooperate by threatening to shoot himself. Ebert has clarified this in the commentary of the film's recent re-release.

In 2008, Entertainment Weekly named Crumb the 14th best film of the last 25 years.

Swept Away - Lina Wertmuller

The rare English language print of Lina Wertmuller's SWEPT AWAY, starring Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato. One of the funniest films of all time, and much better than the terrible Madonna "remake"

Seven Beauties by Lina Wertmuller

This is the very rare English dubbed print of the 1976 classic by Lina Wertmuller, SEVEN BEAUTIES (aka PASQUALINO SETTEBELLEZZE). It is a motion picture that makes a great defense when people make a general claim that all international films dubbed into English are bad, and always vastly inferior to the original language with English subtitling. The vocal actor in this film was brilliant, he was able to convey the necessary emotions along with Giancarlo Giannini to perfection, from anger to boastfulness to playfulness to insanity to passion, and it helped to make Pasqualino Frafuso into one of cinema's most memorable (and even endearing) creations. He did the same thing with SWEPT AWAY (many of its English dubbed scenes are falling-down hilarious), and he also did a third film for Giannini (costarring with Goldie Hawn) called LOVERS AND LIARS. The guy who dubbed Giannini's voice in these films is as much fun to listen to as Giannini is to watch, and it gives the films a much needed lightening up that they dont get in the gruffer and very dark Italian versions. I think that Giannini and Wertmuller owe a certain amount of credit for their Oscar nominations to this unknown vocal dubber, as this was the version that played in many theatres in the US (and later on late night PBS) and made Giannini's character and the entire film seem more humane. After watching this, youll never look at Roberto Benigni's moronically lightweight and vastly overrated LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL travesty the same way again.

"THE DOORS" BEAT CLUB RADIO BREMEN MAY 3RD, 1972

A very rare performance by the three surviving Doors, one year after the death of Jim Morrison.
THE DOORS - BEAT CLUB 1972

HWY - An American Pastoral - By Jim Morrison

THE INFAMOUS "LOST" EXPERIMENTAL FILM OF
JIM MORRISON

Not only is it the Holy Grail for serious Doors collectors,
it is also a film with appeal to fans/students of 60s experimental
and counterculture films (in fact, it is one that will have more
meaning to them that it will the average Doors fan).

A piece of cinematic history that DESERVES to be seen!!

As far as a plotline, there isnt much of one,
but some of the images are fantastic, and
the soundtrack is also impressive in its use
of (non-Doors) music and various natural sounds.
I thought I could detect elements of Antonioni (long
unbroken takes in a surreal desert setting), Warhol
(long unbroken takes in which nothing appears to be
happening), and even Kenneth Anger (black leather).

WATCH IT HERE FOR FREE!

HWY: AN AMERICAN PASTORAL

BEGOTTEN a film by EDMUND ELIAS MERHIGE

Begotten is a 1991 Experimental/horror film, directed and written by E. Elias Merhige.

The film heavily deals with religion and the biblical story of earth creation. But as Merhige revealed during Q&A sessions, its primary inspiration was a near death experience he had when he was 19, after a car crash. The film features no dialogue, but rather uses harsh and uncompromising images of human pain and suffering to tell its tale.

The film was shot on black and white reversal film, and then every frame was painstakingly rephotographed for the look that is seen. The only colors are black and white. There are no half-tones. This is intended to add to the eerie atmosphere of the movie, as sometimes the viewer cannot always exactly make out what it is being shown, but can still infer a sense of suffering. The look of the film has been described as "a Rorschach test for the eye". Merhige said that for each minute of original film, it took up to 10 hours to rephotograph it for the look desired.

Mehrige also revealed in Q&A sessions that he would like this film to be the first of a trilogy. He is experiencing difficulties getting proper funding, and it is unknown if/when the two other films will be made.

Pink Floyd - Live at Pompei

La Vallee - Barbet Schroeder

The extremely rare 1973 Barbet Schroeder followup to MORE, with another classic soundtrack by Pink Floyd (aka "Obscured By Clouds"). Starring Bulle Ogier as a woman who goes to Papau New Guinea to find an allegedly hidden valley. For mature audiences due to adult themes and some native violence. In French with English subtitles. Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

Stereo - David Cronenberg

Stereo is a 1969 Canadian film written, shot, edited and directed by David Cronenberg. It stars Ronald Mlodzik, who also appears in Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future, Shivers and Rabid. It was Cronenberg's first major effort after his two short films, Transfer and From the Drain. It runs approximately one hour long – longer than a short film, but not quite a full-length feature. This film is set in 1996.

Crimes of the Future - David Cronenberg

Crimes of the Future is a 1970 Canadian film written, shot, edited and directed by David Cronenberg. Like his earlier Stereo it lasts about an hour and stars Ronald Mlodzik. Also like Stereo it was shot silent with a commentary added afterwards. The commentary is spoken by the character Adrian Tripod. This film is set in 1997.

Fata Morgana

Fata Morgana - 1:13:18

A film by Werner Herzog. Desert mirages and hallucinations

Fata Morgana is a film by Werner Herzog, shot in 1969, which captures mirages in the desert. Herzog describes the film as "a documentary shot by extraterrestrials from the Andromeda Nebula, and left behind." The only narration consists of a recitation of the Mayan creation myth (the Popol Vuh) by Lotte Eisner, and text written by Herzog himself.

God's Angry Man (1980)

God's Angry Man is a 1980 documentary film about Gene Scott, directed by Werner Herzog. The film was produced for television.

The film consists of footage of Scott on the set of his television program Festival of Faith and interviews with Scott and Scott's parents conducted by Herzog. The footage from Scott's television program focuses almost exclusively on his fundraising efforts and an elaborate rant against the FCC. Scott at one point refuses to speak until his viewers pledge an additional $600. After a minute's silence, he yells angrily at the camera until a production assistant informs him that they had already received $700. Scott represents the FCC on his show by a cymbal-banging monkey toy.

A CROCKWORK LEMON

Us moral people all hate violence, right?
Let's hear it for "Anti-Violence"! Yayyy!
Let's hear it for Stanley Kubrick! Yayyy!
And let's hear it for his new movie, which
shows how horrible violence is! Yay -- Uh --
Hey, wait a minute! If Mr Kubrick's new
movie is so "Anti-Violence", how come it's
jam-packed with the worst, sickening, most
disgusting violence imaginable? Let's face it,
Stanley, baby! Your movie is really ...
A CROCKWORK LEMON

---

FROM
MAD MAGAZINE
June 1973

Artist: George Woodbridge
Writer: Stan Hart

Scanned and Edited by
SUBTERRANEAN CINEMA

A CROCKWORK LEMON

EL TOPO - A BOOK OF THE FILM - ONLINE

A BOOK OF THE FILM
by
ALEXANDRO JODOROWSKY

When a man buries a pole in the sand,
he automatically creates a sundial and begins to mark time.
To begin marking time is to begin creating a culture.

EL TOPO: A BOOK OF THE FILM

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE SCORE FOR FREE!
THE SOUNDS OF "EL TOPO"

Wormhole

The Martian Canals: A Saga of Martians and Mistakes

EXPLORING MARS

Optical Illusions 1

The Martian Canals: A Saga of Martians and Mistakes

By the mid-nineteenth century, telescopes were good enough and big enough to see detail on Mars. Astronomers were eager to study the Red Planet, as it was a common belief that people must live on other worlds, much as they did on Earth. True they might look a little different, but they must certainly be there. Or so many Victorians thought.

Mars was seen to be orange-brown but there were variations in colour and most interestingly, there were icecaps. The fuzzy patches of dark and light brown-orange changed with the Martian seasons. The conclusion was that this must be due to changes in vegetation growth.

In 1877 an Italian astronomer named Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli announced to the world that he could clearly see "Canali" or channels in the surface of the planet. He produced a map. He hadn't been the first to see the phenomenon, but he was the first to publicise it. Canali literally means channel in the Schiaparelli translation, but the English-speaking press interpreted this as "canal". Of course canals are man-made, and this could only mean that Martians had built them! Schiaparelli even reported in 1879 that some of the canals had become double, since his initial sightings. He too, seems to have become caught up in his own myth.

Schiaparelli's Map of 1877

The myth grew: the lines were straight, so must be artificial. Mars was dry-looking, so there must be a water shortage. The people of Mars had built irrigation channels to take water from the poles to the arid equator. These canals, it was estimated, were of massive proportions. The Martians were supermen, with far superior technology to that of Earth! Books were written describing in great detail, what the Martians looked like, how they behaved and how their civilisation worked.

Seven years later, two French astronomers, Perrotin and Thollon confirmed Schiaparelli's observations. After this dozens of observers reported seeing canals. The strange thing was however, that others using equally powerful telescopes, failed to see anything that looked vaguely like canals or even lines. This should have been a clue to the reality, and a warning to the over-imaginative.

The debate however seemed ended when Percival Lowell entered the scene. Lowell was a rich businessman, more or less retired and with a passion for astronomy. He built his own observatory on a clear mountain summit near Flagstaff Arizona, primarily for Mars-watching. He constructed one of the largest telescopes ever made, until that time, and concentrated on producing detailed maps of his Red Planet. He reinforced the debate in favour of the existence of the canals, by showing how the intricate canal system functioned. Lowell was a powerful publicist and an advocate for astronomy. We are heavily indebted to him for bringing the subject to public attention and creating interest in space, in general. We also have his invaluable legacy in Arizona: the Lowell Observatory is now one of the world's leading astronomical institutions.

But Percival Lowell was a poor observer...

The truth about the canals lay not on Mars but in the ocular aberration of the eye and in the telescopes of the time. By the early part of the twentieth century, the canals were no longer visible to the leading astronomers who were using the best telescopes. But Lowell's legacy was a powerful force, supported by wish-fulfilment and science- fiction. It wasn't really until the Mariner spacecraft gave conclusive proof of the true nature of Mars, that the Martian myth was expelled. But even then it didn't lie still for long... but that is a different story.

The great irony is that Mars is indeed covered in dry water channels, but these were too small to show up in the telescopes of the Victorian astronomers - indeed, even the mighty Hubble Space Telescope can only just make out the largest canyons, such as the Valles Marineris. In a way the pioneers were right, but for the wrong reasons, based on complete misinformation - a result of the shortcomings of the human eye.

Optical Illusions 2

Facing the Facts

Many of the Viking images were put straight into storage and not looked at when they were received - there were just too many to examine and only a few experts to do the work. In July 1976 Tobias Owen was looking through the pictures and found this one Number 35A72(above). It is the original raw image, complete with "noise" - the black specs.

A face. What did it mean? It was soon found to be a couple of kilometres in length and located in the region of Cydonia, in the northern lowlands.

It caused much excitement and press speculation at the time. Who made it? Didn't it look like an Egyptian? Was it a message to us? Had it been built by aliens? Had mankind already been to Mars sometime in the pre-history?

All this was fuelled even further, when detailed examination of other images of the locality revealed five-sided pyramids, rectangular piazzas and enormous buildings and fortifications laid out in logical or geometric patterns. Or so it was claimed by some people who examined the images.

Theories abounded, books were written, fortunes were made. Entire new civilisations were created, both alien and Earthly. These were described in great detail. In some cases even accounts of the history and science of the people were included. Of course, all this had been built on the back of a few not-very-detailed photographs, and some active imaginations. The hype and misinformed public acceptance of Lowell's Mars was repeated, but this time it was in the age of high-science, instant media and after a century-worth of mass education - a time when we should have known better. Apparently no lessons had been learnt from the Martian canals fiasco!

Most astronomers, planetary scientists and the world's space agencies dismissed these wild ideas completely, of course, saying at best the notions were highly speculative or extremely unlikely. Some refused even to comment. Meanwhile the new Martian myth grew, in anticipation of the Truth being revealed... And it was, in no uncertain terms.

In March and April 1998 the Mars Global Surveyor re-photographed Cydonia in great detail and returned the images below.

The Face, rotate it and what does become? Just another hill.

The so-called city square - No city and it isn't even square.

One of the five-sided pyramids - perhaps just a volcanic structure modified by the wind, but perfectly natural. A similar but bigger structure can be seen just east (right) of the Ceraunius Tholus volcano, which is the large cone in the centre of this Viking image below.

Discovering Mars

Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli (1835-1910)

Prolific Italian astronomer whose research ranged widely but whose name is forever associated with Mars, and the controversy over the Martian "canals" which, unwittingly, he helped to unleash. Born in Savigliano, Piedmont, Schiaparelli graduated from the University of Turin and studied at the Royal Observatory in Berlin under Johann Encke, discoverer of a short-period comet that now bears his name. After a brief spell at Pulkova Observatory in Russia, under Otto Wilhelm Struve (1819-1905) (Otto Struve's grandfather), he joined the staff of Milan's Brera Observatory in 1860 and became its director two years later. The small instruments at Brera led Schiaparelli to focus his research initially on meteors and comets. Indeed, probably his most important contribution to astronomy was his discovery that swarms of meteors, which give rise to annual showers on Earth, and comets follow similar paths through space. His reward for this breakthrough was the installation of a more powerful (8.6-in.) refractor at Brera which allowed him to engage in serious planetary work. He first wanted to test the powers of the new instrument, to see if it "possessed the necessary optical qualities to allow for the study of the surfaces of the planets." 1877 brought the ideal opportunity in the form a particularly favorable opposition of Mars. Schiaparelli prepared for it almost like a prize fighter, avoiding "everything which could affect the nervous system, from narcotics to alcohol, and especially ... coffee, which I found to be exceedingly prejudicial to the accuracy of observation."

---

Google on Friday updated Google Mars with the ability to look back in time at historical maps of the Red Planet.

The new updates will be streamed as part of Google Earth 5.0, the search giant said.

Users will need to select "Mars" from the drop-down menu, then select the historical maps layer. From there, maps made by Giovanni Schiaparelli, Percival Lowell, and others can be viewed.

"Then, users can fast-forward to the present day with the new 'Live from Mars' layer, featuring a continuous stream of the latest imagery from today's Mars spacecraft," Google added in a statement. "'Live from Mars' includes imagery from NASA's THEMIS camera on board the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, and lets users fly along with Odyssey as well as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to see what they have been observing lately and where they are headed next."

Two new guided tours of the Martian landscape are led by Ira Flatow of Public Radio's Science Friday and Bill Nye the Science Guy. The update also includes new NASA imagery, and geolocated articles from Hartmann's A Traveler's Guide to Mars including Olympus Mons, the "Face on Mars," and other sites.

Top Hat

Buel's Gallery (Pittsfield)
American (active 1860s)

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE: Top Hat
ca. 1870
albumen print carte-de-visite
9.3 x 5.5 cm.
Museum Purchase
GEH NEG: 13657
69:0183:0156

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCE: Mulligan, Therese & Wooters, David. --Photography from 1839 to today: George Eastman House, Rochester, NY.-- Cologne: Taschen, 1999. p. 328.//

INSCRIPTION: mount verso-(printed logo) "Buel's Gallery 69 North St. Pittsfield" "Additional copies from the plate from which this picture is taken can be had if desired."

NOTES: Catalogued 7/94, DZ.

SUBJECT: study, hat

Portrait de Mademoiselle X

Cahun, Claude
French (1894-1954)

TITLE ON OBJECT: Portrait de Mademoiselle X
BOOK TITLE: Aveux Non Avenus

1930
photogravure print
Museum Collection
85:1406:0006

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCE: Mulligan, Therese & Wooters, David. --Photography from 1839 to today: George Eastman House, Rochester, NY.-- Cologne: Taschen, 1999. p. 537.//

SUBJECT: portrait

Zoroaster’s Cave

Zoroaster’s Cave

Or The Philosophical Intellectual Echo to One Another from their Cells

Vivien and Merlin

Cameron, Julia Margaret
English (b. India, 1815-1879)

TITLE ON OBJECT: Vivien and Merlin
BOOK TITLE: --Julia Margaret Cameron's Illustrations to Tennyson's "Idylls of the King" and Other Poems.-- London: 1875.

(1874)
PUBLISHER: Henry S. King & Company
albumen print
33.0 x 26.6 cm.
Museum purchase
GEH NEG: 19747
74:0087:0005

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES:
Millard, Charles W. "Julia Margaret Cameron and Tennyson's "Idylls of the King".", --Harvard Library Bulletin--, Vol. 21, no. 2, 1973 April. p. 187-201.//
Gernsheim, Helmut. --Julia Margaret Cameron: Her Life and Photographic Work.-- Millerton, NY: Aperture, 1975. p. 43.//
Mulligan, Therese & Wooters, David. --Photography from 1839 to today: George Eastman House, Rochester, NY.-- Cologne: Taschen, 1999. p. 369.//

INSCRIPTION: mat recto-(signature and handwritten notations in ink) title, "From Life Registered Photograph Copy right Julia Margaret Cameron"

FRAME: cream mount, gold margin

NOTES: Auction: Sotheby's Belgravia, December 4, 1973, lot #68. Cameron citation of registration and copyright. Copyright registration December,8, 1874, "A Photograph second illustration of Merlin and Vivien the study of Vivien from Miss Agnes- and Merlin standing in hollow of tree C.H. Cameron Esq." Catalogued by JL/PB, 11/84.


Cameron, Julia Margaret
English (b. India, 1815-1879)

TITLE ON OBJECT: Vivien and Merlin
BOOK TITLE: --Julia Margaret Cameron's Illustrations to Tennyson's "Idylls of the King" and Other Poems.-- London: 1875.

(1874)
PUBLISHER: Henry S. King & Company
albumen print
31.4 x 27.8 cm.
Museum purchase
GEH NEG: 19746
74:0087:0004

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCE: Millard, Charles W. "Julia Margaret Cameron and Tennyson's "Idylls of the King".", --Harvard Library Bulletin--, Vol. 21, no. 2, 1973 April. p. 187-201.//

INSCRIPTION: mat recto-(signature and handwritten notations in ink) title, "From Life Registered Photograph Copy right Julia Margaret Cameron"

FRAME: cream mount, gold margin

NOTES: Auction: Sotheby's Belgravia, December 4, 1973, lot #68. Cameron citation of registration and copyright. Copyright registration December 8, 1874, "A Photograph illustrating Merlin and Vivien Vivien seated a study from Miss Agnes Merlin a study from C.H. Cameron" Catalogued by JL/PB, 11/84.

SUBJECTS:
allegory
portrait, ident / Cameron, Charles
portrait, female

Allegory of Merlin

Allegory of Merlin

A King intending to conquer a mighty people prepared himself against them for war, and when he would get upon a horseback, he commanded one of his soldiers to give him a cup of water which he mightily loved.

The soldier answered and said, "My lord, what is this water you ask for?"

And the King said, "The water which I long for is a water which I love, and also the water loves me above all things".

Then considering, he went and brought it, and the King getting it drunk, drank again till all his members were filled, and all his veins inflamed, and he was much discoloured.

Then the soldier spoke to him, "My lord, see the horse here and if you please get upon his back".

However the king answered, "I can not".

But the soldier said "For what reason can you not".

And he answered, "I find myself heavy, and my head aches, and I fancy all my members divide themselves from one another. Therefore I command you that you do bring me into a light chamber, which must be in a warm and dry place, then I shall sweat and the water will be dried in me, and also I will be freed from it".

And they did as he commanded them, and the time being over they opened the chamber and found him most dead. But his relations went presently to the Alexandrine and Egyptian physicians, and brought them to him and told them what had happened to the King. When they had seen him, they said that without doubt he might be delivered from it.

Then they asked "Who is the Master among you?"

And the Alexandrines answered "We if you please".

But the Egyptians said "We are Masters if you please and we will be it, for we are more ancient than you, also we seem to be younger".

To which the Alexandrines consented.

Then the said Masters did take the King and cut him in very small pieces, grinding these. Then they did mix them with their moistening medicines a little, then they put him also prepared into his chamber in a warm temperate place as before for a day and a night. When this was done, they did take him half-dead, but having yet a little life, and seeing this the King's relations said, "Ach the King is dead".

To which the physicians answered, "He is not dead, do not make a noise as he sleeps".

Now they did take him again and washed him with sweet waters so often till the least of the medicinal waters went off. Then they mixed him again with new medicine and put him again in his place as before, and when they did take him out they found him quite dead.

Then his relations did exclaim, "The King is dead".

To which the physicians did answer "We killed him for the reason that after his resurrection and the Day of Judgement he may become stronger and more powerful in this world as he was before".

When the relations did hear this, they fancied they were impostors, and then taking from them their medicines they forced them to leave the kingdom. When this was over, they deliberated together what should be done with the dead poisoned body, and they concluded that they should bury him that his stink might bring no damage.

When the Alexandrine physicians did hear this, they came and said, "Do not bury him, for if you please, we will make him better and more powerful than before".

The relations began to scorn them saying, "Will you impose on us also as the others have done? And if you do not perfect what you promise you shall not evade our hands".

To which the physicians consented, and they did take the dead king, as the others hath left him and grinding him they washed him well till nothing remained of the others medicines, then they did dry him. Then they did take of salt armoniac one part, and two parts of Alexandrine Nitre. This they did mix with the powder of the dead King. Then they did make a paste of it with linseed oil, and put it into a chamber, made like a perforated crucible, and under the hole they put another clean crucible. There they left him for one hour, then they covered it with fire blowing till all was melted into the other crucible, descending through the hole. Then the King, also brought from dead to life, cried out "Where are the enemies. Let them know that I will kill them, if they do not obey me immediately".

When they heard this they came before him saying "My Lord, we are ready to obey all your commandments", and from that hour all kings and neighbours did fear him, and when they would see his wonders, they put one ounce of washed mercury into a crucible and projected upon it as much as a grain of linseed of his hairs, nails or blood. When they blowed gently the coals, then they left him to cool, and they found a stone which I know. Of this stone they projected a little upon purified Saturn and presently its form was altered as I know of which afterwards. They put one part upon ten of Venus and it would be all of one goodness and colour. And by another way they did take the said stone powdered and mixed him with salt and Sol as before, and melted him and projected the said dissolved salts into goat's cream, and then it grows good for all things.

Brother, keep secret this treatise for it is of an importance amongst the fools, and no importance amongst wise men, and this is the Royal way of three days, for they will have but little labour and great lucre. Let us glorify the Most High Creator who has taught his faithful Servant to transmute accidences into substances, also that they may bring to action these powers which lay hidden in divers things.

Adept Alchemy

The Book of Lambspring

This is an edition of the well known Book of Lambspring which first appeared in manuscript during the latter half of the 16th century, but which was made widely available in Michael Maier's Tripus Aureus of 1618, and later included in the Musaeum Hermeticum of 1625. The engravings are very well known and are reproduced in many popular books on alchemy or symbolism today. This is, to my knowledge, the first coloured version ever made available in print. It is not a reproduction of any other manuscript. The colouring scheme is entirely my own, but I have drawn on my extensive study of coloured alchemical manuscripts. There is a short introduction, dealing with some aspects of the symbolism found in the Book of Lambspring.

Hermetic Studies series