Clamdigger | Irish Artist's Film Index

Clamdigger

Eoghan Ryan


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https://vimeo.com/110253607

Artist's biography

Eoghan Ryan

Synopsis

'Taking its name from a Willem de Kooning figurative sculpture which John Russell described as ‘part man, part creature of the mud and the shallows’, Eoghan Ryan’s film opens and closes with conspicuous allusions to Elaine de Kooning, the critic and artist who helped build her husband’s career, a career that flourished despite accusations that his abstract expressionist paintings of women were deeply misogynistic. Flicking between soundbites from Marinetti’s Futurist manifesto in which the virtues of museums, libraries and traditional institutions are vociferously torn to shreds, to an excerpt of a tour around an entirely antiseptic exhibition of Willem de Kooning’s work, Ryan’s film also includes extracts of musings from de Kooning in which he describes his fascination with the the human mouth. Over this soundtrack we view an animated dental retainer moving in time with de Kooning’s observations, a disembodiment that somehow both reinforces and ridicules the artist's insights.'

(Text by Alice Butler, Dec 31st 2016)


Images

Details
Title

Clamdigger

Year

2015

Form

Short

Key phrases

portrait, art, text, elaine de kooning, 1918-1989, willem de kooning, 1904-1997, ft marinetti, 1876-1944, futurism (art), abstract expressionism

Language

English

Duration

00:07:00

Original formats

Digital

Aspect ratio

16:9

Colour

Mixture

Sound

Yes

Supported by Kildare County Council Arts Service, the Arts Council of Ireland and Visual Artists Ireland.
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