I have been making this film compiled from photographs I took whilst visiting Anders in September 2023. Had such a wonderful time as always during the visit, Anders is always so kind to his visitors and to get to find myself in his painting studio again, I am always impressed by the visual imagery I am embraced with. I am proud to say that it is now complete and is the beginning of a series of around 4-5 of his Luminous Paintings to share with the world. This way you the online viewer can see a little bit of what we see during the live event that is the viewing of this painting.
I hope you enjoy it.
I recently edited it one more time so the end can be more like in the studio, Anders turns on the lights at the end of the viewing so you can easily move around again, and also to allow the painting to "charge", as these paintings glow for quite a long time.
Thankfully in September 2023 I got the opportunity to head back to NYC to visit my good friend and Painter Francine Tint. The both of us have developed a tremendous friendship over the years and I look forward to seeing her everytime I come to the big city.
The both of us have done one big interview before, but unfortunately the footage was lost as I didn't back it all up correctly and a small glitch kinda ruined it all, along with three other interviews I had. This time she wished to make another film at the exhibition she was having at Upsilon Gallery in NYC. Enjoy the short interview and walk through.
I've been making more of my time by taking this interview and making it into REELS for online tidbits of the talk. I'm glad to be making videos again. Let's see how the future plays as I might be back making more films soon.
Today I'm making live the crowdfunding campaign to help me get to NYC and then back. As you know I've been visiting NYC many times in the last decade. So much so that I have measured the time and what I found out was technically I've lived in NYC for an entire year... just over 10+ years. LOL
I'm heading back there in September for Francine Tint's exhibition and to visit Anders Knutsson along with staying at Rodney Dickson's place again. I'm looking forward to the journey, even though it's a 9+ hour trip to and from, everytime I get to the area of Pennsylvania that I used to live around, I get a jolt of energy knowing that in less than 2 hours I'll be on the island. I am in need of Gas money along with Food and travel money and am asking for your glorious help.
It's been a long time since I updated this page and I apologize to you wonderful brothers and sisters for my absence. I've seen the youtube page slowly growing and it's really surprising to me as I haven't been updating the channel in a long time. One of the only ways the channel grows is when I can get to the big city and visit the great galleries and visiting with great artists. Soon we'll see a new group of videos. Since the last NYC visit i've decided to grow in my abilities to make video critiques...although I will not call them that since I wish to talk about how I'm enjoying being in the presence of great art. Lately I have also realized I no longer truly need to be in the presence of the art in order to write about it. Thanks to all the other people out there filming openings/exhibitions. Using their videos and my knowledge of the work I shall comment on, I can simply slow the videos to my own personal speed and it makes it more like i'm viewing the work myself. Just knowing there's nothing like being there in person.
Here's part 2 of 3 videos right now on one of my favorite artists/art writers/curators. Since my first visit with him I've become privy to being able to visit with him more and getting to know him deeper than I could have solely on his writings. Come along and enjoy my talk with Robert. http://robertcmorgan.com/
Enjoy this beginning clip of my uploading of each section of my interview with Painter/writer/Poet Robert C. Morgan.
I have decided to put up each clip I have from this wonderful interview. Seeing it again makes me wish to go back and do more as we had originally discussed.
I finally looked at this page today. As I've been doing a LOT of video constructions lately. But I still haven't updated this page with all those wonderful entries. I've been doing videos on Ronnie Landfield, A short video I made in Joseph Marioni's studio many years back when I had been actively working on the video series. And a few videos on the Guy on the Bike... Loren Munk aka James Kalm. Including one I made the day of his opening at Freight and Volume Gallery in NYC on icy cold February evening.
More are definitely on the way.
The next set of films I shall be editing are on the historian, critic, and curator. The legendary Karen Wilkin, in her NYC home. The story behind visiting her is a funny one. I had been in the process of doing my first run of interviews around NYC that week. I had made appointments with Painter Pat Steir and Karen on the same day. I figured it wouldn't be all that difficult since Karen lives close to Joseph Marioni and I could easily walk back to his place, where I had been staying during this trip. I didn't take into account how HEAVY my camera bags were at the time and how they would hurt by the end of that day from sitting on my shoulders. I definitely didn't think about getting a bag with rollers on it, nor did I have the funds to buy one at that time. SO I dug in and made the first trip to Pat's by way of the subway. Thankfully all I needed that day was the Blue line of the A, C, and E, trains. Just a short trip down to 25th street station and a bit of walking to the other side of Chelsea. I had never been in a building like the one her studio is in. Everything was big sized so each occupant could easily move things in and out. I got up to her floor and like just about everything of that trip, I immediately got lost. I saw a number that matched hers, and knocked. A fella answered and told me it was the room next door. He has a photo studio. Typical of photo studios, everything was white and clean as a whistle. Made me jealous.
I went next door and her assistant let me in and greeted me so nicely. Brought me into the studio of GIANT paintings of her "waterfalls", She has been developing her way of pouring paint down the surface of the canvas which gives way to veils of color and lots of movement. She had been working on paintings I think I may have seen later at her Gallery. My mind was truly blown taking in these statements of movement and energy. UNFORTUNATELY, her assistant told me the bad news that I wouldn't be able to interview her that day. The particulars shall stay between us. I did however speak to her and she told me what had happened. It was definitely a crazy day for her.
I couldn't stay long enough for us to meet and hang for a bit. I politely said good-bye and grabbed my bags and put them on my shoulders again and began the trip of getting out of that building. Once I had made it back to the street, I walked down to the end of the street and said FUCK IT, I'm gonna take a cab up to Karen's. After a few minutes of waiting, I made the decision to just struggle and get my butt to the subway station. Once back up to the 35th street station I made my way over to Karen's place, and was so happy to finally be visiting someone that had many major ties to many of my favorite painters. Once inside Karen's place, she was so happy to see me and we immediately began chatting like a couple people that had known each other for a year. I decided as I wanted to film everyone with the light in their homes, for her I had decided to do everything with my 1.4F stop lens which let's in so much light. I had actually been able to use it for about half of our interview before it got too dark. I now wish I had more of the ME that is today to talk with her as I'm so much better at just chatting with people these days. I think my questions were pretty decent and they led to more talking between us.
You can see the few that are up there now, and wait till I've got a new video uploaded. Should be in the next couple days. For now, click the link and come and enjoy these great interviews.
As week two begins. I look back on all the interviews I've made in the last 6 years, and I'm very happy for what i've accomplished. I'm so Thankful for all of you who have helped make these dreams a reality.
Week two begins with a clip from Painter Darryl Hughto. Knowing when a work of art is finished is of paramount importance for just about any artist. Let's take a moment and listen to Darryl talk about it himself.
Equipment used:
Canon 5D2 and Zoom H4n for audio recording.
Editing and Direction by Jeffrey Collins
Beginning the new year with new goals for my films. I have been wanting to put more clips out in the public to share what I believe are great interviews with great stories. I have decided that for the year, I will release two new videos per week as I go through the varied interviewees and their stories. I'm beginning with two clips from Ronnie Landfield. You always get great stories from Ronnie and these are a great introduction to that.
As always, please feel free to share these around, as all your help is greatly appreciated. Don't forget to subscribe to the youtube page which will allow you to know immediately when new films are available.
Thanks.
Jeffrey Collins
Director.
Shot with a Canon 5D2 with a Zoom H4n for recording audio. I love the way the H4n records, it really gives you more of a sense of how the sounds in his studio are.
So it's been quite some time since you saw any truly new interviews from me. Well, I'm back at work on another interview, this time an update with Rodney Dickson. Rodney wanted to talk with me about the changes he has faced in the recent times and how they have affected his paintings.
We are working on adding more to the film, so it'll be a few days before it gets online.
Thanks for your interest. If you want to help, we accept all methods of monetary donations at the link to the right.
Filmed on a Canon 5DMK2 with a Zoom H4n for audio recording. Edited in Final Cut X. Made on a Mac.
I just wanted to share some memories I was playing in my head last night as I listened to Physical Graffiti. As some of you know, I have loads of images from artists in my screensaver. I use it for, well, I use it because I like looking at what I consider the best art. And inside that barrage of painting and sculpture photos, there is photos of people too. People who have made a significant impact on my life. One of those is Klaus Kertess, granted I only got to meet him once, but damn we had a good time talking in his home. I wonder what happened to his place after he passed. What happens when you don't have kids but you have a home of your own. Does it go into some kind of trust, hell I don't know...Just things I think about.
If you want background on who Klaus Kertess is...go look him up.
In 2004 July, was the first time I got to visit NYC. Because of my friend Joseph Marioni, he helped me to come there for a visit. Granted this trip was only 3 days. You don't get much time to do things when it comes to only having that much time on your first visit. I did get to visit the Met for the first time, but it was also when Moma was over in queens, and I wasn't about to go to queens on my first trip to this city. I remember getting to finally meet David Reed in person on the first day I was in town, was funny because Joe was walking me around chelsea to check out the show at Robert Miller which he was in. Pretty sweet since I also got to see a BUNCH of other artists who's work I had yet to see in person. They had a wonderful yellow painting by Jason Martin too. One thing I remember during that trip was how cool it would be to see Klaus Kertess out and about. Granted I had no idea at the time where he lived.
Fast forward and rewind.... 2003 I wrote to Klaus with a few slides (maybe they were photos) of my work, with a nice letter. He kindly wrote back not long after I sent the letter. I still know the dates, because he wrote back on the same paper I sent to him. Pretty funny in relation to the way our emails go back and forth today. He told me to get in touch when I was there the first time, but alas, I was too afraid to get in touch. It took me quite a long time to even get up the courage to ask Joe if I could come visit with him. Sure was a relief when he said yes, and a few days later I was on my way to NYC. Greyhound. What a journey...i'm not able to sleep on public transport, so the little bit I did get to didn't help much when I got there. I think the second we were in NJ and I could see the Empire State Building, the adrenaline in my body shot through me and I was definitely not feeling tired after that.
Again, fast forwarding. In 2011 I began the long task of filming people for a grand documentary I was to make. In retrospect, it was a good idea, just too big for ME on my own. During the period from 2004 to 2011 I had been in touch with Klaus, he even got a painting of mine...
07-30-2002
25.5 X 24"
Acrylic and Wood Filler on Canvas.
Well. When I was planning my first big filming trip, the actual first one was months before when I filmed Carl Belz. But I had to drive up to New Hampshire, 60 miles from the Canada border to get him. And unfortunately I was so unprepared for that interview that I only got 45 minutes of interview with him. I will forever wish I was more prepared on that. If my old Boy Scout troop leader knew that, he'd probably smack me upside the head. LOL.
By the time I went to NYC to stay with Marioni again in 2011 to begin filming where the bulk of my interviews would take place. I was set up to film Peter Reginato first, the day after I got there. Boy was that a wonderful experience, and boy did I learn a lot about my abilities as a filmmaker. The next day I was to go visit with Pat Steir, but as I got there I found out she had been in a bit of a pickle and couldn't do the interview. I did get to spend an hour in her studio, which was awesome just to be there. She was really nice but we haven't gotten to cash in that raincheck yet. It was also the only time I have tried to do two interviews in one day, I went right after Pat's up to Karen Wilkin's place. And here I am carrying two bags of camera gear by myself, I feel like after this whole trip my shoulders dropped a few mm's from all that weight. After Karen's interview, I walked back to Joe's, since it was literally just a couple blocks away. I remember thinking how cool it is to live THAT close to a fellow colleague. As you know, or maybe you don't. I come from Columbus, Ohio, and you don't get any of the same type of art world here as you do in NYC. The next day I was in Brooklyn for my first interview with Michael Brennan. Wonderful times but his lighting situation in his studio was such that it completely messed with the quality of my video. Ended up with all kinds of red bands through the video that was damn hard to fix.
I had a free day after that, and used all the evening to download all the information from my camera to the computer. Took me until I got back home and talked to a fellow filmmaker that I found a much easier way to transfer things into my computer.
Sunday I was able to get up with John Zinsser, who gave me all kinds of new information about being an artist in NYC, along with his history. The guy has amazing stories and is one hell of a painter.
Monday, the day I left, I got to meet up with Klaus at his home on 8th Street. It was a wonderful day, he was out walking his dog and I got him just as he was coming back. I honestly would have thought that a guy with his legend, would be living in a bigger space, but it's his decision on where to live. I had never been in so many different types of apartments in my life. It was wild going into the lair of one of the most legendary of people I had interviewed. This guy had basically at one time been what some thought would be the next Leo Castelli, with the caliber of artists he found and began his gallery with. Klaus had a view outside his apartment most would dig to enjoy each day. Lots of windows from his place meant he barely needed a lightbulb until the sun went down. The windows surrounded two walls in his apartment, which is cool because most only have windows in the front and back. Really gave a wonderful view of his surrounding area. He told me some funny stories about living there, but they are a bit too much for sharing here. It was one person to another, no extensions on those conversations.
He sat in front of a Joan Mitchell drawing and we proceeded to do our interview. Thankfully we were able to get what would become the whole interview done. Granted I wanted to do more but it wasn't long after this that his health caught up to him. I heard a few years later that he was being walked around town by an assistant, and it wasn't long after I heard that news that I heard the news of Klaus' passing. Upon hearing the news, my brain lit up with memories of walking in front of his place when I would go down to the original Whitney museum. Each time I think of him, I think of his telling me I need to get to NY, it makes me wish I had tried harder in order to make that very thing happen.
I wonder about who is now living there, maybe his partner, could be someone completely oblivious as to whom lived there before. Life goes on, but memories keep the past alive too.
Here are a few clips from our interview session...
And
Thanks for reading. I appreciate your interest in what I am doing.
Cheers.
Jeffrey Collins
In running this ETSY shop. One of the items that I have been coveting, is a drawing by Artist Peter Reginato. It was originally given to me to help raise funds for the film company, and will be exactly what I will do with the proceeds from it's sale. Please come and visit our ETSY shop and enjoy all the wonderful DVD's, Prints and Artworks we have available to help us to make more videos of more of your favorite artists.
Thanks for all your support in getting all this history documented. It's people who truly support the documentation of the arts that get things like this continuing.
Duochrome Films finally has a specific place where you can purchase and support this important historical film company.
I've been trying to gather support for the films and their long time storage, and am now happy to say we've got a dedicated place to help support us. Etsy has been around for years now and has become the go to place for crafters and small business' of all kinds.
We will be adding more and more videos as they become available. Making sure that each DVD is up to the highest standards for raw interviews. The audio and video quality are of utmost importance to us, as without them, the content is marred. And we don't want you the viewer to experience that. Each DVD we bring to you is stripped down to the basics. No special titles or extraneous stuff. What you will experience in our DVD's for home use is to see and hear the artist as it was meant to be experienced. No editing, these DVD's are scene by scene. In all their rawness for you to enjoy.
We are also adding prints from each interview as they become available, and soon even to be selling some of the art from the interviewed artists. Come and see for yourself.
Thanks for your time.
Jeffrey Collins
Director of Duochrome Films
On the second trip to visit with Darryl Hughto and Susan Roth around the Syracuse area of New York. I got to film Darryl speaking about his breakthrough "Diamond" paintings. A group of paintings Darryl completed between 1967 to 1981. This talk consists of those works and what brought him into new territory.
A very valuable interview for anyone interested in painting and especially the history of painting. You can learn a heck of a lot in the 22 minutes this runs for.
Liv Mette Larsen is a painter that I met through my friendships with a number of previous interview participants who became friends. The minute I saw her work in her studio I was enamoured. It took me a while longer before I asked her if I could interview her. We met up in January 2014 when I was house-sitting for a couple friends. I spent a few hours with Liv, talking about every aspect of her work. From her use of Egg Tempera as a paint medium to how she gets her ideas from right outside her windows. She uses what she has around her in such a unique way that with every painting, I wanted to look outside and see if I could tell where she gets this or that shape from. It's such an involved way of painting that it makes you pay more attention to the world around you and not in an obvious way like Rauschenberg, but a much more subtle way that works on your mind after you see it in person.
Over the last few months, I have been meticulously editing this new film from Portrait Painter Stephen Bennett about his 2007 travels to Papua New Guinea and Papua. This film is more of a visual diary than anything else. What you see are the sights and sounds that went into Bennett's video camera. Looks like a very cool trip, wait till you see the end.
Edited on Final Cut Pro Ten with my SSD MBP.
Cheers.
Jeffrey Collins
Editor
In case you live under an art rock. You have heard about the passing of one of the legends Klaus Kertess. The gentleman who began the Bykert Gallery which gave rise to artists like Ralph Humphrey, Brice Marden and David Novros. Klaus passed away little over a week ago now, and I've been doing some serious thinking about the interview that we did back in 2012. So many questions are still unanswered and will remain that way. I heard from a friend that he wasn't quite all there in his last few months, really wished he had been one of the healthy up to the end ones. Feeling for his partner of over 40 years, Billy Sullivan and what he's been going through. In 2012 I got to sit down with Klaus for the first and last time. It was quite an experience to hear his stories, many you won't hear from anywhere else. Most of the people who wrote about him were only really interested in his time as a gallerist in the 60's. But he was OH SO MUCH more than that. And he really shared that with me. One of the interview subjects we spoke about was his working on an exhibition of Matthew Barney at the Morgan Library in NYC. He was in the midst of planning it as we were talking. He felt free to share what I am going to share with you now. No need to talk more about the clip, since Klaus does all the talking in it. Enjoy.
If you would like to see more and more clips like this, please visit the black DONATE box to the right>>> Your help is greatly appreciated, as it takes a lot to do this by oneself and it's been getting harder and harder to keep up with my filming. I haven't been able to do much lately as I've no funding for this. If you know anyone or anywhere you think would help, please do let me know.
Thanks for your time. Jeffrey Collins Director
It wasn't too long after I got to film Ronnie Landfield and his wife Jenny in his Tribeca studio moving paintings around, that the storm of the century for NYC hit and ended his time there. I'm glad I got to spend some wonderful time there, either filming, or just hanging out. Ronnie is always a great person to talk with. We have lots of differences in the way we see art, but that's what makes the conversations all that much richer. I've been looking forward to visiting his new studio for years now and who knows when i'll be able to get up there to film.
If you know someone who likes to sponsor art projects, especially of the documentation sort, please get them in touch as it takes more than I've got to make these films for you. History needs films like this.
Thanks for watching!
Jeffrey Collins
Artist/Filmmaker
As I was living for a period of time in Pennsylvania. I got the opportunity to take time to make a documentary on Tamaqua's favorite resident, Portrait Painter Stephen Bennett.
My working with Stephen really brought this together. During the making of this documentary, I got to learn more of how calculating Bennett was about his paintings and about how he likes things done. It is because of this steadfast desire to communicate his work in the most clear way, that this documentary is as good as it is. I am very Thankful to Stephen Bennett for granting me the time to make this about him.
I hope you enjoy it and decide to learn more about him on your own.
I am working on another documentary for Stephen at this moment and when finished, will share it with you here.
