Design Matters: Lawrence Weiner:
This is the first short film that I watched by Hillman Curtis. The fist thing that I considered note worthy were the striking visuals. This short was made with purpose and the visuals were beautiful and haunting. I think that the visuals matched the overall tone of the piece well. With that said, I’m not sure that I agree with the over all composition of the work. The vocal track seemed to be too low and felt inaudible at times. Also while there were some very compelling sound bites I feel that the overall narrative of the film was broken. I still have no real clue who Lawrence Weiner is other then a very insightful old man who makes text art. I know that this is a short, but a lot of information can be conveyed in 4 minutes. Over all I really enjoyed this first short, but I just wish it told me more. Maybe that was the intention so that I would seek more information on my own and to be honest if I wasn’t so buried in work I would. As far as Lawrence’s work featured in the film I really enjoyed it. They were mostly ironic text based paintings that reminded me of grandfather of modern graffiti.
Milton Glazer :
This short film had much more of a developed message than the first film that I watched. I really liked the overlying sentiment of non-violence that Glazer preached. He asserts that if people can agree on art then they already have something in common and that commonality it a good basis for reducing violence on a global scale. His work plays with texture and form and I really enjoyed many of his pieces. I think that his magic is taking simple images and making them interesting by playing with their form. I will try to apply this concept in my own work.
Final Verdict:
Overall I really enjoyed the work of Hillman Curtis. He is a talented filmmaker who really adds a surreal feeling to the subjects of his shorts.