From the 1999 book 'Exotica. Fabricated soundscapes in a real world' by David Toop:"Along with his interest in music, Harry Smith was a pioneer of American graphic film. Stills from his films look extraordinary. The earliest, made between 1939 and 1946, were hand painted or batiked directly onto celluloid. Later surrealist animations, shot between 1957 and 1962, were photographed from collages with titles such as 'The ascent to heaven on a dentist's chair', 'The descent from heaven in an elevator', and 'The skeleton juggling a baby in the central tableau of heaven' . Inspired by magick and music, they aimed at a synaesthesia of image and sound."
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2 comments:
Smith was amazing!
As was Bruce Conner who died here on July 7th.
That's sad news!
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