The Text of Light
| The Text of Light | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Stan Brakhage |
| Cinematography | Stan Brakhage |
| Distributed by | New York Filmmakers Cooperative Canyon Cinema |
Release date |
|
Running time | 67 minutes |
| Country | United States |
The Text of Light is a 1974 American experimental film directed by Stan Brakhage.
Synopsis
[edit]Time-lapse photography of books, paintings, reflections, and light falling on textures,[1] shot entirely through a glass ashtray.[2]
Reception
[edit]The film is considered an "epistemological meditation": "This uncommon lens [that is the glass ashtray] generates an equally uncommon image of the world. The density and shape of the glass subtracts linear perspective from the visual field. In this respect, the ash-tray takes up part of the function of rapid camera movements and zooms in other Brakhage films insofar as the ash-tray demolishes perspective. As well, in Text of Light objects lose their individuation, their outlines blurred in masses of light and color."[3] A presentation by Jonathan P. Watts for the Tate underlines the influence of Turner on this film: "In The Text of Light Turner’s influence is felt in the experimental use of colour, and is similarly visionary in the way it collapses naturalistic pictorial space."[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Martha Schwendenerost (2015-10-15). "Aldo Tambellini's 'Atlantic in Brooklyn' Chronicles a Grittier Time". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
Car headlights and taillights become abstract orbs, similar to Stan Brakhage's experimental film "The Text of Light" (1974)
- ^ "Stan Brakhage: The Text of Light". Museum of Modern Art. Archived from the original on 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
- ^ Carroll, Noel, ed. (1998), "Text of Light", Interpreting the Moving Image, Cambridge Studies in Film, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 225–227, ISBN 978-0-521-58970-3, retrieved 2023-06-10
- ^ Watts, Jonathan P. "Into the light with JMW Turner – Tate Etc". Tate. Retrieved 2023-06-10.
External links
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