Long Play
16 Jan - 23 May 2010
Bruce Conner
THREE SCREEN RAY (composite), 2006
three-channel black-and-white video projection with sound, 5:14 min.
Collection SFMOMA, Accessions Committee Fund purchase; © Conner Family Trust; image: courtesy Conner Family Trust
THREE SCREEN RAY (composite), 2006
three-channel black-and-white video projection with sound, 5:14 min.
Collection SFMOMA, Accessions Committee Fund purchase; © Conner Family Trust; image: courtesy Conner Family Trust
LONG PLAY
Bruce Conner and the Singles Collection
January 16 - May 23, 2010
In Bruce Conner's electric THREE SCREEN RAY (2006), a new acquisition that premieres in this exhibition, Ray Charles's 1959 hit song "What'd I Say" is set to an ecstatic, frenzied collage — nude women, bomb explosions, fireworks — of original and preexisting imagery, including war newsreels, cartoons, and TV commercials. A tour de force of editing and experimental film techniques, the piece features Conner's manipulations of the film surface itself and his signature use of countdown leader. The work's point of departure and central image is Conner's 1961 film COSMIC RAY, which he adapted to three screens in 1965 and later reedited to create this gallery installation of three video projections. A rotating series of "singles," single-channel video works from the SFMOMA collection related to music or appropriating found footage, is presented in an adjoining gallery alongside the late San Francisco-based artist's 1966 film BREAKAWAY, which was a forerunner of the music video genre. Featured artists in January and February are Cory Arcangel, Michael Bell-Smith, Pipilotti Rist, and Steina.
Bruce Conner and the Singles Collection
January 16 - May 23, 2010
In Bruce Conner's electric THREE SCREEN RAY (2006), a new acquisition that premieres in this exhibition, Ray Charles's 1959 hit song "What'd I Say" is set to an ecstatic, frenzied collage — nude women, bomb explosions, fireworks — of original and preexisting imagery, including war newsreels, cartoons, and TV commercials. A tour de force of editing and experimental film techniques, the piece features Conner's manipulations of the film surface itself and his signature use of countdown leader. The work's point of departure and central image is Conner's 1961 film COSMIC RAY, which he adapted to three screens in 1965 and later reedited to create this gallery installation of three video projections. A rotating series of "singles," single-channel video works from the SFMOMA collection related to music or appropriating found footage, is presented in an adjoining gallery alongside the late San Francisco-based artist's 1966 film BREAKAWAY, which was a forerunner of the music video genre. Featured artists in January and February are Cory Arcangel, Michael Bell-Smith, Pipilotti Rist, and Steina.