![]() ![]() Unconcerned with tidy narratives or story boards, Smith attempted to create a world that drew on the exoticized glamor that characterized the movies of Maria Montez, a Dominican-born actress who appeared in films like “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” “Arabian Nights” and “Cobra Woman.” Montez’s movies were panned by critics, but their lavish drama, costumes, sets and exaggerated sense of performance appealed to Smith. He built his own sets, using plaster and tinsel and a heavy dose of kitsch and decadence. Soon after he started creating films inspired by the B-movies that he loved. Smith moved to New York in the mid-1950s and became active in the city’s underground filmmaking community, where he began shooting 8mm films. In recent years, though, interest in Smith has increased, with a PS1 exhibit, traveling shows and a documentary, “Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis.”Ī retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York features 11 newly-preserved prints of Smith’s work, which were recently acquired by MoMA as part of its film preservation festival, “To Save and Project.” The films are shown as originally intended: on celluloid and in a movie theater. After his death from AIDS-related causes in 1989, Smith’s work was preserved by artists Penny Arcade and J Hoberman but generated little excitement within the art world. Though he was largely unknown in his lifetime, and impoverished until his death, Smith’s body of multimedia work - photographs, performances and films - has been enormously influential, inspiring figures like Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, John Waters and others. It’s a brief scene in Jack Smith’s “Flaming Creatures,” the notorious film that first brought him national attention. Within moments, the vampire-queen will feed on an unconscious figure lying on the floor. The curls of a blond wig hang low against the eyebrows. Those films and more are now available for rent through the Film-makers’ Coop.A blond figure emerges from a coffin, the appearance punctuated by jump cuts, eye rolls and fluttering gestures. Someone in the audience at this screening also asks what Jack’s lasting influence has been where Mekas gives a great response about Smith’s contribution being his unique, fantastical vision.įor those who only know Smith’s work through Flaming Creatures, which was shot on washed out, discarded film, might be taken aback by the beautiful color footage from his other movies seen in the above video.Īccording to Laura Major, the project manager at the lab where Smith’s films were restored, the clips in the above video come from the films, in order, Scotch Tape, Hot Air Specialists, Song for Rent and the last is probably Yellow Sequence or possibly Respectable Creatures. Smith, being the artist that he was, didn’t quite have his mind on the job and was instead busy planning his shoot for Flaming Creatures. However, Mekas discusses here their early relationship when he briefly hired Smith as a ticket taker at the Charles Theater at Ave. Eventually, they would have a falling out over Mekas’ distribution of Smith’s classic film Flaming Creatures. Seeing these in person must have been an incredible treat at this event.Īnd it’s worth it to listen to some important underground film history by Mekas about his early relationship with Smith. Then, the Smith footage is very brief, but absolutely gorgeous to behold. In the above video, first you’ll have to wade through two intros by Film-makers’ Cooperative director MM Serra and Coop founder Jonas Mekas who were on hand for a special celebration honoring the 50th anniversary of the Coop. This footage has been restored by Jerry Tartaglia and Daniel Feinberg, and was funded by the Barbara Gladstone Gallery. ![]() 11, 2012, the Microscope Gallery in Brooklyn, New York screened long lost films by iconic and hugely influential underground filmmaker Jack Smith. ![]()
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