It has been about 2 years now that I have been working on this documentary. Many ups and downs...the ups always outweighing the downs. And so much that I have learned. I have given the idea of a book on my travels and insights into the art world a lot of thought, and I figured I'd just go and print some of the introductions right here for you to get a peek into my life, as I am giving you a peek into these people's lives.
So without further ado. Here's how it began.
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It was
1999 when I fist got to see the film Painters Painting. I remember I went to
the library that day; we have a great library in Columbus, Ohio, always voted
the best, even better than NY’s public library. I found myself checking through
all the vhs tapes, looking for something interesting to watch, maybe there was
a nice art documentary in the art section that would give me some insight into
art that I had yet to find. As my eyes darted back and forth over all the basic
videos of Picasso and Renoir, I suddenly came across this white vhs tape box
with red lettering that said PAINTERS PAINTING. I immediately felt, hey this
might be something here, grabbing it, and checking out the back of the box. I
see names like Jackson Pollock, Willem De Kooning, Barnett Newman, Larry Poons,
Jules Olitski, and Frank Stella. I knew right then I was in for a treat. I
almost couldn’t wait to get back home to watch this. 2 hours is a long time for
a documentary, but I remember being glued to the TV as I was watching this. I
only found myself hitting fast forward when Andy Warhol came on the screen.
That guy has always bored me to tears. But immediately after was one of my
absolute favorite painters…Frank Stella. I noticed that the way the film was
put together, that it had the originators, and then it went into the generation
right after, finally ending up at the end with the youngest of all the people
in the film. A young Larry Poons, who had been in his second phase of his
painting journey for only about 2 years when Emile De Antonio came to film.
Larry is a brilliant painter, and his section is still my absolute favorite of
the film. I always felt that De Antonio put his section the way it was, so that
we wouldn’t be interfered in it by anyone else getting in the way of what was
happening. We actually get to witness something you’ll probably never see in
another film, a painter cropping his own painting. I say this not to demean,
but to give you an idea of how rare videos like this really are. The window
they give us into the world of these geniuses.
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Cheers.
Thanks for reading.
Jeffrey
