Art poetica

Art and movies sometimes make really strange bedfellows. Like the blind prisoner with talons in Resident Evil 4 sharing a cot with Clay Aiken.

But there are a lot of great DVDs about artists such as Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, which you could only get at HMV and Borders, or via Amazon.com. What a damn shame. There is no way local video shops would stack those titles along with their prized Bruce Willis movies that are not Pulp Fiction or Sin City.

A digression: Who picks the DVDs for these outlets? Is there any prospective customer out there who gets a hankering for Hilary Duff or Lindsay Lohan discs? Their movies give a phony Hollywooden picture of what life in general is all about. Most of the time romantic comedies aren’t at all romantic or funny. What we get is an eternity of cloying cuteness, cloying dialogues, and fake plastic scenes. I don’t know anyone who sat through a Ben Affleck flick in a movie house, so who needs the DVD with "commentaries," "deleted scenes" and "the-making-of" specials? Well, maybe just Ben Affleck.

Now back to regular programming.

Several DVD titles can make great companions to anyone’s collection of Taschen or Thames & Hudson art books.

The Mystery of Pablo Picasso is one of the best documentaries made on the most influential artist of the 20th century. What director Henri-Georges Clouzot (the guy behind Diabolique) did was to put the camera in front of Picasso, so that the viewers could see how the artist applies his masterful brushstrokes and bleeds. Think of it as Picasso painting on glass and you’re on the other side.

The metaphor the filmmaker made about the Spanish master is that of a bullfighter who attacks his canvas with both finesse and brute force. It’s as if Picasso was going toe-to-toe with invisible enemies. Fittingly enough since the artist once said, "Art is not made to decorate rooms; it is a weapon against the enemy."

The Last Days of Pablo Picasso deals with the artist’s twilight years. The old master, after reinventing art several times in his career, was still experimenting with forms and figuration. Miles Davis was like Picasso in a sense that the jazz legend was still exploring hitherto uncharted musical territories after going through "cool," "orchestral jazz," "modal," "jazz fusion," and "funk jazz" phases in his career. Picasso, like all great innovators, was always discontent. (Unlike some of the Filipino artists we know who churn out the same un-engaging nude, flower and landscape paintings exhibit after exhibit.) The Last Days of Pablo Picasso shows the artist still creating great artworks just before he died in 1973. Oh yeah, he invented "neo-expressionism" before he went the Great Gallery In The Sky. Essential viewing.

The name Andy Warhol has become a brand name in itself, like Campbell’s Soup or Brillo Box, or like Jean-Michel Basquiat (Reebok Basquiat shoes, anyone?). The Life & Times of Andy Warhol Superstar tells the story of the pop art icon from his Pittsburgh childhood to his death after a surgical procedure gone awry. The documentary directed by Chuck Workman is fast-paced and riveting, especially the bits about Warhol’s rise to pop art superstardom. There is even an interview with Campbell’s Soup executives and a revelation about the artist appearing on, of all TV shows, The Love Boat. Will another Warhol soon be making another run?

Basquiat the movie deals with the rise of graffiti artist S.A.M.O. (meaning "Same Old Shit") to doomed superstar artist. It features heavyweights like Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Claire Forlani, Benicio Del Toro and David Bowie as Andy Warhol. The film is directed by artist Julian Schnabel, which proves advantageous (since the story is told from the viewpoint of an insider) and disadvantageous (since there are lapses in continuity that a more grizzled director would never commit). Still, Basquiat is essential viewing, even if it is disheartening to watch the downfall of such a magnificent artist. Just like watching Ed Harris’ Jackson Pollock biopic. Just like reading Bill Milkowski’s biography of legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius. Rising and falling make such a hideous cycle.

You could also check out Downtown 81 and take a journey with a down-on-his-luck Basquiat around Manhattan as he tries to sell a painting. It features music from his band Gray, along with The Lounge Lizards.

The film directed by David Hinton featuring British artist Francis Bacon is one of the best I’ve ever seen. A priceless moment: when asked to tell the story behind a particular painting, Bacon answers, "It is itself and it’s nothing else." (It was a eureka moment for me. I interviewed a young Filipino artist years ago and I asked him about his paintings. His answer: "My paintings are objects, not windows." Aha, so that’s where he got his answer.)

In Francis Bacon, Reporter Melvyn tags along with Bacon as he makes his rounds to a London fruit stand, the Tate Gallery, to his studio, and to his favorite haunt – the Colony Room. Bacon comes across as a witty, happy-go-lucky chap, very different from the guy who sits alone in his studio and creates his dark visions on the human condition. Like Albert Camus or Franz Kafka with a palette board.

The existential nature of Bacon’s paintings is brought to the fore, as are the doomed poses of his subjects – his screaming pope, loners, misfits, distorted nudes and assorted figures with gaping mouths, bloody carcasses, meaty torsos, and other strangely beautiful things.

If only for the glimpse of Bacon’s chaotic studio, this DVD is worth the dough.

Nothing beats being in a gallery or a museum somewhere in the world and gazing at the work of Bacon or Picasso or Warhol or Basquiat. They say great art communicates without words, showing viewers a world without end, but a well-made documentary or biopic can be the next best thing.

So, spin the silver circle and have a brush with eternity.

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For comments, suggestions, curses and invocations, e-mail iganja_ys@yahoo.com.