Entries (RSS) Art DVDs at David Krut Bookstores
DVDs at David Krut Bookstores, which now stock a wide-range of art, social and historical DVDs. Illuminations is a dynamic and innovative producer of cultural content for multimedia. Illuminations films produce art cinema, features, long-form documentaries, and artist’ films and videos for gallery installations, and is an ideal resource for a wide range of audience, including galleries, museums and colleges, as well as the individual art-lover. Illuminations has over the past two decades worked with many visual artists in Britain and around the world, including their acclaimed half-hour series on the major British avant-garde filmmakers and films, such as Chris Petit and Iain Sinclair’s influential London Orbital. Of particular note is the series of artist profiles created by Illuminations in conjunction with theEye and distributed by David Krut Bookstores. Informative and educational, each DVD is a series of interview-based profiles of contemporary visual artists in Britain and is an excellent introduction to the artists and their work. The interview provides a thought-provoking survey of an artist’s work and ideas, featuring the artist in discussion, and illustrated by sequences captured of key exhibitions and installations from around the world. The beautifully produced films offer a rare and personal insight into the thoughts and reflections of the artist on their influences and creative processes that lie behind their creations, and provide an accessible means of engaging with the pleasures and puzzles of art in the twenty-first century. From watching Julian Opie meticulously arranging his installation of sheep pictures to achieve “maximum sheep effect”, to an actor playing the voice of Francis Bacon and reading from his influential interviews with David Sylvester explicating his meaning and method, each DVD is a rigorous and revealing portrait of the artist from within their social and artistic contexts. Artists featured include Tracey Emin, Anish Kapoor, Gilbert and George (produced in conjunction with their major exhibition at the Tate Modern), Anthony Caro, Howard Hodgkin, Rachel Whitehead, Joe Tilson, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Sarah Lucas. The Saatchi Gallery 100: The Works That Changed British Art is a fast-paced and fascinating guide through the gallery of Charles Saatchi that highlights the work of some of the most well-known British Artists. Illuminations is also recognised as a leading producer of drama, music, dance, and acclaimed history productions. Their history productions are diverse and varied, titles such as The Meeting of Asia and Europe 1500 – 1800, Aztecs, The World of the Lindisfarne Gospels, Image and Idol – Medieval Sculpture, attracting the most attention and acclaim. Harold Pinter’s acceptance speech for the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature – also from Illuminations – titled Art, Truth & Politics, delivered directly to camera, is a complex reflection on his own writing and an excoriating attack on the foreign policy of a “brutal, ruthless and scornful United States”. Art, Truth & Politics is a speech that made headlines around the world. It is an urgent and compelling appeal for us all as citizens to seek out and honour the truth. “I believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory. “If such a determination is not embodied in our political vision we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly lost to us – the dignity of man.” The project to rebuild Shakespeare’s Globe was initiated by the American actor, director, and producer, Sam Wanamaker. His vision has led to the creation of what has become one of the most successful arts enterprises in the world, combining, theatre, education, research and the world’s largest exhibition dedicated to Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s Globe is a day in the life documentary of the Royal Shakespeare Company as they prepare for a performance at the Globe. This release is complemented by a DVD of the Company’s performance of Shakespeare’s classic story of tyranny and ambition, starring Anthony Sher and Harriet Weaver, Macbeth, reviewed by the Daily Mail as the “best television Shakespeare ever seen”. Beckett On Film – 19 films, 19 directors – is a monumental creative effort. A four disc collection of all of Beckett’s stage plays, from the two-hour Waiting For Godot to the forty-five second Breath. Each film is presented in a stylish production with a diversity of visual styles that are always rewarding for their imagination and fidelity to Beckett’s text. The doomed humour and the pathos of Beckett’s worldly characters seems to emerge stronger through the visual presentation of the directors – both established and up and coming – and the talent of the actors involved in this unique challenge of making movies from plays by the most significant and influential playwright of the 20th century. There is a felicitous adherence of the directors to every word and pause of Beckett’s meticulous direction, resulting in a satisfying rendition with the ability to surprise and please. Established directors involved include Atom Egoyan, Patricia Rozema, Neil Jordan, Anthony Minghella, Richard Eyre. And those up-and-coming directors: Damien O’Donnell, Enda Hughes, John Crowley, even Damien Hirst William Kentridge’s The End of the Beginning is a personal interview with the artist explaining his techniques of his film-making with clips from his film Johannesburg, 2nd Greatest City After Paris, Woyzech on the Highveld and the complete Felix In Exile film. Kentridge talks about the deep cultural, political and aesthetic conncetion to his home city Johannesburg, and the influence that it has had upon his work and worldview. With the artist we explore a landscape bearing witness to the dislocations and shifts in the often violent history of South Africa, and the effect that it has had upon him as an artist. An essential reference for contemporary South African art comes from ArtThrob 1998 – 2003: The Archive, a DVD presentation from the creators of the acclaimed eponymous website that for six years has served as the source of the most in-depth information on South African art and artists. With thousands of pictures, hundreds of reviews, numerous essays, and biographies of more than seventy artists, this DVD serves as a global reference and an invaluable resource for students, scholars and all those with any interest in the contemporary South African art scene. |
