moments of harmony korine

the young & abstract, avante garde director was born in the South & has made such films as: Gummo, Julien Donkey Boy, Mister Lonely, and Trash Humpers.  Korine wrote the scripts for both Kids& Ken Park (which were directed by Larry Clark).  His work is distinct & unconventional, focusing more on abstract moments than linear storytelling.  His films create a mood, sometimes disturbing but always compelling.

below are three videos of the director on letterman where he ponders the futility of narrative storytelling and disregards the need for linear plot or thoughts; along with a few other interviews of him that I just liked.

after the  interview videos, i share short form video works that were written & directed by him (two of which commissioned by couture fashion houses).

interviews with the artist:

^english version starts at 2:42

 short films written & directed by harmony korine:
 

^die antwoord directed by korine

^the black keys directed by korine

"if you want to see something, you make it.  first & foremost for yourself & your friends.  i think if everyone else was doing it, i wouldn't want to...as long as i keep doing what i want to do, creating the images that i have in my head; i think then i'll be alright." - Harmony Korine

http://www.harmony-korine.com

art by kray twins & the ethics of criminal provenance

In the art world, quirky artistic temperament is part of the process & gives value to the dealers role as middle man between the creator & the collector. What role does ethics play in selling the creations made by a cold blooded murderer?

Reggie & Ronnie Kray were infamous mob twins who dominated East London gangland but technically were nightclub owners and boxing promoters. Really they're better known for intimidation, psychotic fits of violence, rigging fights, a platoon of henchmen called "the Firm", celebrity friends, impeccable style and undying devotion to their dear old mum, Violet. The Kray brothers made substantial donations to British boxing charities; Jack Ruby is on record as saying: “boxing and criminality are two faces of the same coin.” It has been theorized that Ronnie's homosexual affairs with several closeted high ranking members of parliament from both parties is what let them get away so long with their criminal enterprises.

When the mob boss twins were finally convicted of something, for Reggie it was for the murder of underworld figure Jack 'The Hat' McVitie. For Ronnie he was convicted of the very public murder of gangster rival, George Cornell in front of a pub full of witnesses (most of whom either "didn't remember" or just flat out refused to testify) . They were both sent to jail for 30 years each in January 1969. At the time it was the longest, most expensive trial in British history. Ronnie, who spent much of his sentence at Broadmoor high-security hospital for the criminally insane, died in 1995 aged 61. Reggie died five years later after being paroled a few weeks before his death in response to his deteriorating health from bladder cancer.

Each twin wrote a bookfrom a cell, but more than 32 books have been written about them (especially well done are those authored by John Pearson). The film The Krays(1990) immortalized their flashy brutal business sense on the big screen. But it turns out they also dabbled in paint while they were locked up.

The personal belongings of the twins that were put up for auction were given to a "very close friend of the Krays" who grew up with them and made regular treks to see Reggie in prison and Ronnie in Broadmoor. Also on sale at the auctions were paintings done by the twins while incarcerated. Every auctioned piece of clothing as well as the art is considered a historic object to collectors of true crime memorabilia.

Collectors of outsider and folk art are known for their affection for interesting work by persons with mental illness, children, monkeys and other self taught artists who rarely make the work with the intention of selling it. The twins should definitely be considered outsider artists due to their limited formal art training. Their work comes with a peculiarly dark provenance which adds market value to the Kray's body of artwork.

ART PRICES:
1st Chiswick Auction in London on January 26, 2009 (160 personal effect items) £110,000 total:
- Ronnie's cufflinks in form of the intials RK £1,000
- letter to Ronnie from artist Francis Bacon £7,400
- Ronnie's oil painting done in Parkhurst prison £4,800

2nd Chiswick Auction in London on March 30, 2009:
- Ronnie's brevet revolver £3,000
- Reggie's paintings
- Ron & Kate's engagement ring £2,900
- Ron & Kate's Cartier diamond cluster wedding ring £2,800

"Outsider art - (n.) Strictly interpreted, outsider art refers to works by those outside of mainstream (art) society...folk and ethnic art as well as by prisoners...Because fewer and fewer people are sufficiently isolated (from art/media) to be truly outsiders, most are either mentally ill or working far from urban art scenes." [as defined by artlex.com]

"A victims’ support group has raised concerns over the sale of a gun belonging to the notorious Kray twins, saying it could reopen 'emotional wounds'. National charity Victim Support, which offers support to those affected by crime, yesterday condemned the sale of items saying many of the Krays’ victims were still living with the memories of what happened to them." A spokesman for Chiswick said '“The trade we work in from day to day is antiques and history – they come hand in hand for use. These items are a part of British history. There is no glamourising of this on our part.'"

AUCTION DATES:
- Bonhams Chelsea: sold Wednesday, August 23, 1995 [Lot 395]
Artist: Reginald Kray
Title: Reggie's turmoil, the despair of a Lifer (oil on board w/2 letters from artist and Ronnie Kray)


- Bloomsbury Auctions: sold Wednesday, November 22, 2006 [Lot 79]
Ronnie Kray, Untitled (oil on board Landscape with house and tree)


-Chiswick Auction in London sold on January 26, 2009
Ronnie Kray oil painting done in Parkhurst prison £4,800

- Chiswick Auction in London sold on March 30, 2009
Reginald Kray oil painting

- Bloomsbury Auctions: sold Thursday, September 30, 2010 [Lot 182]
Artist: Reginald Kray
Title: Untitled (+ 4 others; 5 works), 1986


A few years ago, a friend of mine curated an exhibit of paintings by serial killers such as John Wayne Gacy. What if the mother of one of Gacy's victims had come to the show and had an emotional response to the work being displayed by her child's murderer and violently reacted to the piece or establishment showing it? What if Victim's Support has valid concerns about the torment caused by glamorizing the lesser known talents of an real historical person who in life was despised and eventually punished for the evil done to their victims? Is it any different than the Antiques Roadshow like sale of a gun owned by John Wilkes Boothe or Al Capone? Few capitalists can resist market value when a painting outsells a Cartier diamond ring.

If the line between genius & insanity is so very thin, where do we draw the line in commidifying the art created by known predators? I suppose it is a risk to be assumed by the curators & dealers who choose to indulge their collectors' taste for blood.

In 2010, the three Teale brothers reported they would be releasing a tell-all book about the Kray'sfrom their perspective as henchmen, confidantes to the Twins, and eventual star witnesses who were forced into hiding after their testimonies convicted the Krays and many others. "They are planning to mark their unexpected reunion (after 42 years) with a book they hope will strip away the veneer of glamour around two of the most sadistic and dangerous killers this country has ever known." One of the brothers, Bobby mused 'But it almost looks like a waste of time...and a waste of our lives...when you find out that people are spinning a pack of lies about the Krays, glamorising them, treating them as heroes.'"

Back in 1969, the Kray twins older brother was only sentenced for 10 years. After his release, Charlie Krayreturned to crime and died in prison in 2000 while serving time for masterminding a £69m cocaine smuggling plot. I don't know if the less glamorous Kray brother ever picked up a paintbrush.

[ARTWORK to the left was done by Ron &
ARTWORK to the right was done by Reg]

SOURCES:
Chiswick auction prices
art auction dates provided by artnet.com (except the Chiswick auctions)
Chiswick auction
victim support group commenting on 2nd auction
kray conviction info
article about ronnie's open homosexuality
online chapter book about krays
star witness Teale brothers return after 42 years in hiding

henry darger - outsider artist

"Do you believe it, unlike most children, I hated to see the day come when I will be grown up. I never wanted to. I wished to be young always. I am a grownup now and an old lame man, darn it."--Henry J. Darger

One night I saw a documentary about Henry Darger: In the Realms of the Unreal: The Mystery of Henry Darger … PBS also showed a different short about the animator who took the original from the outsider artist’s 20,000 pages of story and collages & drawings & exquisite watercolors and attempted to give it motion.

“The work of Darger's life was a saga titled ‘The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnean War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion.’ It is a seemingly endless, repetitious and obsessively detailed narrative of child martyrdom, massacre and Edenic innocence set on an imaginary planet largely populated by moppets of six to 10.” (Time Magazine)



However, I really strongly recommend you see the documentary from 2004. Its his true biography interlaced with sequences from the storyline of his literature. It is about an autistic savant, outsider artist (developmentally deficient for you pc types) whose absolutely inspired epic about “the Vivian Girls” battle fantastic creatures in an invented world where children are sometimes enslaved by the oddly Confederate overlords and later armed by these seven Vivian Girls. Alternating between profane violence and blissful paradises, innocently hermaphroditic nude children and butterflies tangle with all sorts of challenges from creatures to labor reform. It eerily charming and absolutely fascinating to me.

Henry was a weird cat. He was institutionalized at a very young age in a scandal plagued madhouse and upon his escape lived a reclusive existence in Chicago as a janitor for a Catholic charitable hospital. He rarely left his apartment and no one knew about his epic story creation until about a month before he died in his 80’s.

a volume from "Story of the Vivian Girls" by Darger displayed at Amon Carter Museum, photo by Suzi Migdol

He was hyper-concerned with child welfare and was inspired to design one of the Vivian girls based on a photo printed of a murdered waif from the 30’s. We might also mention that he kept that photo around with him for several decades until it was lost after an apartment break-in.

Mural Size Vivian Girls by Darger displayed at Amon Carter Museum, photo by Suzi Migdol

  detail of Vivian Girls mural by Darger displayed at Amon Carter Museum, photo by Suzi Migdol

back side of Mural Size Vivian Girls by Darger displayed at Amon Carter Museum, photo by Suzi Migdol

 There is much controversy about whether Henry was a harmless, misunderstood creative child in the body of an adult or if he was an untried pedophile and murderer, driven to create by obsession and guilt. I tend to want to think that he was obsessive compulsive and was too religious to allow himself to hurt a fly much less act on sinful impulses. I think the obvious fact that the genitalia of the characters in his work is naïve and unformed by the exposure to female anatomy, suggests that Henry had never had a girlfriend or lover. This behavior suggest to me that his repression would not allow him to act on romantic interests and probably precluded him from more sinister criminal pursuits as well. I think his work is the product of retarded genius, the dark scenes project his lifelong struggle with the evil on Earth that his god does not prevent and get pretty gruesome. The scenes of joy and light revel in the innocence of nature, fantasy and childhood and are colorful and deliberate.

There is an exhibit in New York at the American Folk Art Museum that just closed of 300 watercolors from the roughly 15,000 pieces held in their permanent collection. There are also rumblings of an exhibit in Chicago recreating his pack-rack apartment. I adore outsider art & Henry is justifiably becoming increasingly famous after his own lifetime.

If you like abnormal psychology or outsider art, Henry is a fascinating research subject. There are very good texts by both Michael Bonesteel (whose Henry Darger: Art and Selected Writings includes some of Henry's writings) and John MacGregor (I prefer Henry Darger: In the Realms of the Unreal as MacGregor spent more time with the material). The landlord’s wife who owns the copyrights to Henry’s work also was more involved in a beautifully illustrated book organized by Klaus Biesenbach called Henry Darger

Henry's original studio space in his apartment

Tour inside Henry's Apartment in Chicago > www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWbjIpfi_7w

Pics of Henry Darger’s works:
hammer gallery
edlin gallery

Readings on Darger:
time magazine
gseart
wiki
henryjdarger(dot)com
saraayers(dot)com
american folk art museum

henry darger reading list

Re-creation of Darger's apartment on display in Chicago

 

a volume from life memoirs by Darger displayed at Amon Carter Museum, photo by Suzi Migdol

Henry Darger's typewriter, photo by Jacinda Russell

& finally, one of the most accessible collections of photographs from his epic book can be found in:
Darger: The Henry Darger Collection at the American Folk Art Museum
 American Folk Art Museum in association with Harry N. Abrams, 2001 at 128 glossy colored pages.