CU-Boulder's Philip Solomon Remembers Stan Brakhage

"I would say his greatest achievement is he really wrenched film into modernism. He transferred the idea of expression in cinema from actors depicting emotions -- from third person filmmaking to essentially first person filmmaking. He used everything at his disposal in order to express directly in the medium his emotions, his feelings, his dreams, his visions. So this is very much aligned with the abstract expressionists in painting."

-Film Professor Philip Solomon, a colleague of Stan Brakhage, talks about the late filmmaker's work.

[banalarousal]

Phil in his own right is an artist of the very highest order. Rehearsals for Retirement changed my life forever. May his work not be forgotten.

[wsdm]

RIP Phil… One of the greatest to ever do it.

[hd-xclz]

RIP Phil Solomon. Never will forget first viewing of American Falls.

[ZenOkeanos]

The roots of modernism lie much deeper in history than the middle of the 19th century, and starts way before the advent of photography. For historians the modern period actually begins in the sixteenth century (perhaps even the early 15th century with innovations by the painter Masaccio), initiating what is called the Early Modern Period, which extends up to the 18th century. The intellectual underpinnings of modernism emerge during the Renaissance period.

[ZenOkeanos]

Renaissance perspective is not ground into a photographic lens any more than it is ground into the human visual cortex.

[ZenOkeanos]

"Wrenched" the home-movie into avant garde obfuscation.
There never was any "contest" between narrative/dramatic movie making and home movie making (first person pov). It is possible to express "modernism" in the narrative/dramatic film as well. "Modernism" doesn't only mean self-conscious utilization and manipulation of the media itself. Granted that is a predominant aspect of late modernist painting and nice to see in the medium of film (at least for some trained eyes).

[markpx]

Comparing Brakhage to Ab Ex modernism is a seriously mistaken view of his work. B is not interested in personal gesture, he's interested in a distanced, ego-less capturing of pre-linguistic perceptions of the world. He's more an explorer of the qualities of light, motion, juxtaposition, abstraction, etc. than he is in expressing his own individual storm und drang on camera.