This night was the solo exhibition for conceptual film maker Robert A. Nelson:
We got to see a really great never before seen glimpse of a rough-cut film that was in the archives since the late 60's...here is the set up in the gallery building main lobby:
The film evolves around a game of pool executed by mustached men in lounge suits and distinctive pointy-toed patent leather slip-ons.
The piece is a beautifully edited assortment of actions, portrait shots and still-lifes surrounding this said pool game in an unknown place but within a simple room. We see again and again the balls being hit, the shoes being pointed, the cue tips rubbed with blue chalk, knowing nods and glances, brushing gestures and pegged mod-esque pants akimbo the pool cues on a short pile carpet...and then some again and again.
This being set to an excellent score by contemporary composer Steve Reich.
In the gallery were an ethereal collection of simple landscape photographs taken by Nelson.
I found these to be subtle in their immediacy, yet quite beautiful and soft renditions of landscapes that evoked something darker.
I was lost in them for a while, and really appreciated the abstractions of what I knew was something more defined.
Here's what Ashley Tibbits of Flavorpill mentions:
In Robert A. Nelson's exhibition Common Ground, viewers are treated to a new side of the '60s experimental filmmaker. Nelson's offbeat, conceptual, and often humorous shorts (including collaborations with Bruce Nauman, the Grateful Dead, and William Wiley) are shown tonight alongside a collection of manipulated photos from his 35mm camera. The abstract works, shot near the artist's cabin in Laytonville, California, capture nature both conceptually and realistically, as Nelson admires his subjects' innate spirituality.
In attendance at the opening was Paige Wery, publisher of Artillery Magazine pictured here with David Stone.
and Ezhra Jean Black, author and blogger for Artillery...here with friend Mitch.
Steven Cioffi was there too...
filmographer for a recent project hosted by Artillery Magazine entitled "The Chocolate Santa Butt Plug Round Table"...centering around a serious discussion regarding Paul McCarthy's chocolate sculpture...includes a panel discussion with Dave Stone, Steven Cohen, Tulsa Linney, Mary Woronov, Carole Caroompas and Ezhra Jean Black.
