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The Buffalo Series

The "Buffalo Series" is an evolving platform exhibiting the work of Buffalo based film and video artist.

Buffalo New York (USA) has a rich history in the visual arts. Home to the Burchfield Penny Art Center, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, CEPA Gallery, Hallwalls, Center for Media Studies and many other cultural organizations and exhibition spaces. In the 1960s and 70s Buffalo was a hub of energy and creativity attracting and supporting the work of many artist. In 2012 the Albright-Knox Art Gallery posted an exhibition titled: Wish You Were Here: The Buffalo Avent-garde in the 1970s (currated by Heather Pesanti).

 

Rapture

Film by Paul Sharits

Rapture (1987) is a tightly controlled visual statement about the abandonment of the self to heightened transportive states. It is also an exploration of the similarity between 'religious' and 'visionary' ecstasy and psychotic states. It illustrates the inarticulateness of pain - the inadequacy of a recording device to capture the radical subjectivity of pain, or ecstasy. (International Film Festival, https://iffr.com/en/2008/films/rapture)

* VASA thanks the Rose Popper Archive for permission to screen this film .


1987
time: 4 min. 59 sec.
Videos may go full screen.

Paul Jeffrey Sharits (February 7, 1943, Denver, Colorado—July 8, 1993, Buffalo, New York) was a visual artist, best known for his work in experimental, or avant-garde filmmaking, particularly what became known as the structural film movement, along with other artists such as Tony Conrad, Hollis Frampton, and Michael Snow.

Paul Sharits' film work primarily focused on installations incorporating endless film loops, multiple projectors, and experimental soundtracks (prominently used in his film Shutter Interface, produced in 1975).

Sharits' works of the 1960s, when he received the widest acclaim, included influential "flicker" films such as Ray Gun Virus, Piece Mandala/End War, N:O:T:H:I:N:G, T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G (featuring poet David Franks), and S:TREAM:S:S:ECTION:S:ECTION:S:S:ECTIONED. His works of the 70s were among the forerunners of contemporary installation art. Themes of violence permeate his work. His work has been preserved by Anthology Film Archives and is distributed by The Film-Makers' Cooperative and Canyon Cinema. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Sharits, March 8, 2020)

Related sites:
Wikipedia
Interview with Paul Sharits and Gerard O'Grady
Film: "Epileptic Seizure Comparison" (1976)

The VASA film/video series is designed to prsent the work of emerging and established film/video artist.
Previous series may be accessed through the menu on the main VASA navigation page.

 

 

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