contemplating color
In My Time
A compilation of video art and digital films created before, during, and after my 40 years at Ramapo College. It includes old music videos, newer poetry video fusions, and contemplations of politics, religion, and art.
“In My Time”
Selected MUSIC, POEMS, VISUALS (60 minutes)
PLAY LIST
Brindisi (3:00) from La Traviata
Digital stills from a bar in Corfu, Greece, where one of my animations was being shown in a festival.
Measures of Volatility/We Got the Beat (1979) 2:30 The Go-Gos Suggested song
Recorded using a video portapak at a street fair in Nyack, NY, the NJ Turnpike and other locations in and around NYC in 1978.
The Nuts Got Loose and the Merry Go Round Broke DownTruth and Consequences
Looney Tunes (2016) 5:00 theme music mix
Some thoughts on words and their meanings.
Excavations/Life in the Real World (1980) 4:00 Pere Ubu Suggested song
Ruins of Palestinian village and my brother irrigating a field in Israel
Doors, Gates, Alleys (2017) 4:00 By Rachel Hadas
Filmed in the old city of Jerusalem.
U.S. Sweat/One Nation Under a Groove (1981) 7:00 Funkadelic Suggested song
Based on a road trip through the southern US.
A War by any other Name (2022) 3:00 By Rachel Hadas
A poem about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Russians are Here (2017) 5:00From DTTV
Fake translations of Russian oration.
Every Storm (runs out of rain) (2017) 4:00 Song by Gary Allan
I heard his song while driving in and around Albuquerque, NM.
Love and Dread (2022) 2:00 Poem by Rachel Hadas
A poem about both sides of life.
Poems from Elegy for Stevenson Magloire (20) 5:00 by Rachel Hadas
Written for a film about the Haitian artist who was assassinated for his political beliefs.
From After Anger (2020) 5:30
Music:
I Will Follow Him 2:30 Peggy March
Wipe Out 3:00 Surfaris
Selection from an homage to Kenneth Anger including a summary of Trump’s first administration.
Introduction to Compilation
I was hired as a professor at Ramapo in 1982. Previously I held a variety of jobs while writing about, curating, and experimenting with electronic imaging tools. I was encouraged to provide NYC night clubs and dance halls with my raw footage which was colorful, visually playful, and percussive. It went well with any music, but I recommended songs that I thought were appropriate for the images. These were being distributed by Rock America to clubs throughout the US. This compilation includes images edited to We Got the Beat, Life in the Real World, and One Nation Under a Groove. An outcome of this exposure was a commission to do a sign off for the prototype music video show Nightlight using Jimi Hendrix’ version of the Star Spangled Banner which the producers of the show had the rights to.
The compilation includes work produced while teaching. For example, The Rabbi in Berlin was a collaboration with three visual art majors who were invited to help conceptual artist Willoughby Sharp, at the time AIR at Ramapo, with his show in Berlin. We roughly scripted a potential story and the kinds of shots that would fit into an edit.
There are several examples of collaborations with the poet Rachel Hadas that are particularly relevant to issues swirling internationally now. Doors, Gates, Alleys; A War by Any Other Name; and Love and Dread refer to the war in Ukraine, Israel/Hamas, and other global struggles. One was researched and shot by a Ramapo alum, Elena Jara-Williams.
The remaining videos are from two series created after Trump’s election in 2016. The first DTTV (Dystrumpia Television) is represented by Brindisi, the opening song of the opera La Traviata about drinking and enjoying youth; The Nuts Got Loose and the Merry Go Round Broke Down about the distortion of meaning; the Russians are Here, a mistranslation of Russian speech; and Every Storm runs out of rain, a country music song that reminds us to be hopeful for the future.
Rachel Hadas wrote four short poems for Elegy for Stevenson Magloire, a documentary film created with Ramapo colleague Edouard Eloi in Haiti about an artist who was assassinated, possibly for political beliefs expressed in his haunting painting.
The compilation concludes with After Anger, an homage to the filmmaker Kenneth Anger, and reminders about Trump as he was trying to get re-elected in 2020.