American Avant-garde Film Research Articles

Text as Image

Other| March 01 1986 Text as Image: In Some Recent North American Avant-Garde Films Scott MacDonald Scott MacDonald Scott MacDonald teaches at Utica College, Utica, NY, and has written for such publications as Film Quarterly and The Independent. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Afterimage (1986) 13 (8): 9–20. https://doi.org/10.1525/aft.1986.13.8.9 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Scott MacDonald; Text as Image: In Some Recent North American Avant-Garde Films. Afterimage 1 March 1986; 13 (8): 9–20. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/aft.1986.13.8.9 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentAfterimage Search This content is only available via PDF. © 1986 by The Regents of the University of California1986 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The Theatre of Jack Smith

From the mid-1960's on, Jack Smith—best-known as the director of Flaming Creatures (1962-63), a key work In the American avant-garde film—has astonished New York audiences with a series of highly influential performance pieces. Although Smith's theatre, which is even more fugitive and underground than his film production, has attracted little critical writing, it has made itself felt in the work of artists as otherwise disparate as Ronald Tavel, John Vaccaro, Richard Foreman and Robert Wilson. At the same time, Smith's refusal to separate his persona from his art presaged the gallery-based “performance artists” of the mid-1970's. His presentations include the ongoing slide-show (known variously as Spiritual Oasis of Lucky Landlord Paradise, Fear Ritual of Shark Museum, Horror of the Rented World), which has in some ways superceded his 16mm film work, and a number of individual plays. Both modes are original and important contributions to American art.