OVERDUIN AND KITE 6693 SUNSET BOULEVARD LOS ANGELES, CA 90028 TEL: (323) 464-3600 FAX: (323) 464-3607 WWW.OVERDUINANDKITE.COM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tony Conrad May 9th – June 20th, 2007 Opening reception: Wednesday, May 9th, 7-9pm
Overduin and Kite is pleased to present an exhibition by legendary New York filmmaker, composer, and artist Tony Conrad. Conrad played a formative role in the minimal music and underground cinema scenes of New York in the 1960’s and 70’s. Conrad’s early films include such seminal works as “The Flicker” (1966) and his cooked films of the 1970’s, which continue to be enormously influential landmarks of experimental cinema.
For this exhibition, Conrad will be presenting “Beholden to Victory” (1980- 2007). “Beholden to Victory” was shot on sound Super-8 film in 1980 and is now being projected as a random-edited computer video, which runs differently in every presentation, as originally intended. Using the devices of the war film genre, Conrad cast his film with friends and colleagues, such as Mike Kelley, David Antin, Sheldon Nodelman, and Tony Oursler. Rather than directing the actors, he presented them with unscripted scenarios that could only be enacted within the strictly defined roles of ‘officer’ or ‘soldier.’ Each title carried its own set of rules and restrictions. “Beholden to Victory” extends and echoes the militaristic themes and power relationships depicted on screen between the soldiers and officers within the film to the hierarchies constructed between the actors and the camera, the camera and the director, and the audience and the film.
“I attempted to explore this with the idea in mind to dignify the role of the underdog. And the underdog, of course, is not the audience; it’s not the officer, it’s the ‘soldier’ role, and the film itself. When I showed it, the audience actually did take on the disapproving role of ‘officers;’ they of course hated the film, because it didn’t dignify them.” —Tony Conrad, 2005
In addition to his work in film and video, Conrad’s musical compositions, recordings, and performances have been important contributions to American music, beginning in the early 1960’s with his collaboration with John Cale, La Monte Young, Angus MacLise and Marian Zazeela as the Theatre of Eternal Music (1962-1965), a highly significant precedent to minimalist music. Conrad was also a friend and collaborator of Jack Smith, most notably assembling the soundtracks for Smith’s films “Flaming Creatures” and “Scotch Tape.” Recent musical collaborators include David Grubbs and Jim O’Rourke, among others.
Tony Conrad’s “Yellow Movies” were recently exhibited at Greene Naftali Gallery, New York; and Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne. His work was included in “Mind Frames: Media Study at Buffalo 1973-1990” at ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany earlier this year, as well as the 2006 Whitney Biennial. Conrad’s work is the subject of a forthcoming book by Branden W. Joseph titled “Beyond the Dream Syndicate: Tony Conrad and the Arts after Cage” which will be published by Zone Books this fall.
For further information and images, please contact Lisa Overduin or Kristina Kite. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10am to 5pm and by appointment.