Influences

I suppose I should start with one of my biggest influences, Bruce Nauman. Though his earlier works may be more closely aligned with performance art, Nauman still utilized video to present his art. Many of his early works, like Make Up and Stamping in the Studio, emphasize the quotidian. The repetition involved in his performances references to the ritual of everyday life.

I just recently became aware of Bas Jan Ader. A contemporary of Nauman, Ader's work similarly explores common life. His video, I'm Too Sad to Tell You, showcases the artist's raw emotion. He breaks down the line between public and private persona by crying straight into the camera. It is unclear why he is crying, or even if the tears are real; though as the title suggests, he is too wrought with emotion to answer these questions.

David Horvitz: Disappear

Andy Warhol:

Another artist I've discovered recently is Sam Taylor-Wood. Despite working years after
Nauman and Ader, her videos investigate parallel themes on daily life. For instance, Hysteria and Breach, both expose raw human emotion. The viewers' uncertainty drives each video: in Hysteria we are unclear which emotion is being displayed despair or elation and in Breach we cannot know the origin of the sitter's breakdown. In Pieta, Taylor-Wood explores a historical theme and twists it into contemporary life. As a video, we are able to experience the weight of the figure and the process. Taylor-Wood tries to maintain the pose, but the weight of Robert Downey, Jr. is still evident as their bodies shift slightly in the time lapse. Pieta is cool and analytical, almost stripped of its meaning from its predecessors.

Cindy Sherman: Doll Clothes

Anthony Goicolea. Act of Contrition, NailBiter, The Septemberists

Monica Winther & Kjersti Vetterstad’s Giants of Yore

JanSvankmajer: Darkness/Light/Darkness. Alice. The Flat

Neil Jordan. Company of Wolves.

Fever Ray: When I Grow Up
If I Had a Heart directed by Andreas Nilsson

Of Montreal, An Eluardian Instance directed by Jesse Ewles