Stan Brakhage: Adventure of Perception

 Unruled by Man-Made Laws of Perspective

I'd never heard of American experimental film-maker, Stan Brakhage, before now, but today, 9th March, is the anniversary of his death in 2003. He employed a wide variety of techniques including: use of handheld cameras; scratching onto the film (often in film titles); painting directly onto the celluloid (it's thought the aniline dyes used to colour his films contributed to his developing bladder cancer); making use of fast cuts, collage film and many other innovations.

Birthing New Projects

Some of his innovations and experiments were enforced; when his 16mm camera was stolen and too expensive to replace, he switched to using an 8mm camera instead, used to make a series of Songs between 1964-69. That poverty not only influenced his film-making but almost stopped his career entirely; faced with seeming failure, he briefly considered suicide, but went on to meet the woman who would become his wife, (Mary) Jane Collom (Wodening), collaborate on film projects, and bear him 5 children, the birth of one made into featuring in Window Water Baby Moving, 1959.

Unprejudiced by Compositional Logic

Knowing nothing about the man and his work, it was helpful to discover this interesting and comprehensive introduction to his short film experiments, made by a film student, that includes Brakhage talking about his own work:

I particularly like the following quote: 

'Imagine an eye unruled by manmade laws of perspective; an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic; an eye that does not respond to the name of everything, but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception'.

Collaborations

As an Artist-Poet myself I appreciate his collaborations with poets; artists and musicians, including Robert Duncan; Joseph Cornell and John Cage, among others, and shall be following up on their work.

I love, too, that he and his wife kept scrapbooks for making notes, and for inspiration:

Drawn to the Light

I found the exposition, towards the end of the video above, of one of his most famous works: Mothlight, made in 1963, very helpful. The film came out of a period of deep, personal grief, and uses the metaphor of moths being drawn to their own destruction by candlelight.

Great to add to that this article that further illuminates his process:

https://bombmagazine.org/articles/2017/09/22/metaphors-on-vision/

Really glad I've made his acquaintance today.