Enrico Baj

What follows are some notes on Baj with pointers to some interesting paintings. I can’t remember when and where I first discovered Baj. Perhaps through Virilio, or by way of Topor or Joe Colombo?

Kitsch by Dorfles

Kitsch (1968) – Gillo Dorfles

Enrico Baj (October 31, 1924 – June 16 2003) was an Italian avant-garde artist and art writer. Baj’s work shows similarities with Jean Dubuffet, Roland Topor and the COBRA group. It has a grotesque quality. Baj has also collaborated with Paul Virilio in a book on art horror, Discourse on the horror of art.

The book on Enrico Baj I bought today is an edition by Ronny van de Velde. Its title is Modifications. It is the catalog of an exhibition which was held in Antwerp in 1998. (détrompe l’oeils or modifications by Daniel Spoerri, Enrico Baj and Asger Jorn). It brings to the fore a to me unknown fascination of Baj with kitsch in his paintings from the 1959-1964 period. One of the paintings shown, the 1968 “Miss Paganini Non Ripete” depicts UFO’s superimposed on the same painting that Gillo Dorfles used on the cover of his 1968 book Kitsch, an anthology of bad taste (shown above). Many paintings in Modifications have this same working method, works of bad taste “detourned” by Baj.

Looking for Freddy de Vree

Looking for Alfred (2007) by Johan Grimonprez

On the cover: Delfine Bafort

Today I went into the city, looking for books on Freddy de Vree. I spotted a book on Hitchcock which accompanies the short subject film Looking for Alfred by Johan Grimonprez and ‘The Wrong House‘, an expo on Hitchcock and architecture at DeSingel. Then I found Nagelaten Bekentenis by Emants. I paid a visit to Demian book store in search of – again – de Vree. René sold me a book by Baj with text by de Vree and told me about the expo he will be holding from October 27 until December 1 dedicated to de Vree, in collaboration with Christophe Vekeman. The exposition is subtitled Freddy de Vree, Antiquaire du surréalisme.

World cinema classics #16

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdFjxhDOKNQ]

sex, lies, and videotape (1989) Steven Soderbergh

sex, lies, and videotape (the title is always given in lower case letters) is the film that brought director Steven Soderbergh to prominence. It tells the story of an impotent “voyeur” who films women discussing their sexuality, and his impact on the relationship of a troubled married couple.

This clip features the unforgettable quote: “being happy is not that great … I mean … the last time I was really happy … I got so fat … I must have put on 25 pounds”

In 2006, sex, lies, and videotape was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Previous “World Cinema Classics“

Violence is fine, sex is not

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDqxuGlxbWc]

Explanations on the different ratings

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTL3XMDwY0c]

More on the private investigation bit on the MPAA members

This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)

The MPAA gave the original cut of the film an NC-17 rating for “some graphic sexual content”: scenes that illustrated the content a film could include to garner an NC-17 rating. Kirby Dick appealed, and descriptions of the ratings deliberations and appeal were included in the documentary. The new version of the film is not rated.

NC-17 is a film rating of the United States film industry used to denote films “No One 17 And Under Admitted” (18 and older ONLY). These films contain excessive graphic violence, sex, aberrational behavior, drug abuse, strong language, or any other elements which, when present, most parents would consider too strong and therefore off-limits for viewing by their children and teens. NC-17 does not necessarily mean obscene or pornographic in the oft-accepted or legal meaning of those words. The Board does not and cannot mark films with those words. These terms are legally ambiguous, and their interpretation varies from case to case.

(A little) more on film censorship and banned films and more on Censorship in the United States.

EXPRMNTL

XPRMNTL 4, Knokke

EXPRMNTL 4, poster by Pierre Alechinsky

EXPRMNTL, also known as the Knokke Experimental Film Festival and Festival du Film Expérimental de Knokke-le-Zoute was the largest Belgian festival dedicated to experimental cinema. The festival succeeded the Brussels Experimental Film Festival (1947 and 1958) and was held under the EXPRMNTL moniker in 1963 (EXPRMNTL 3), 1967 (EXPRMNTL 4) and 1974 (EXPRMNTL 5). It was conceived and curated by Jacques Ledoux and the Cinémathèque royale de Belgique in Knokke-le-Zoute. It was organized five times between 1949 and 1974.

There is no equivalent of its kind today, except perhaps for the programmers at Cinema Nova, and the people at MuHKA cinema and other film museums in Belgium. Another worthwhile film festival is the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film.

Gratuitous nudity #3

On The Necessity of Violation

“On The Necessity of Violation” by Jean-Jacques Lebel in TDR T41 (1968)

Description: Incl. photos of happenings – ‘Sunlove’ happening with the Soft Machine, 1967 (Mike Ratledge with naked girl), ‘Miss Festival Contest’ happening with a naked Yoko Ono in background, Lebel’s ‘Happening on the theme of Playtex bras’, etc. Also: Arrabal; Stefan Brecht; Ann Halprin; interviews with Jerzy Grotowski (17pp.) and Charles Ludlam