ryllsome

thanks for posting it jazz will read it later.

Jazz

Book Review: Recent Forgeries




by Richard Marcus

From November 1998 to January 1999, Viggo Mortensen exhibited a selection of his more recent work at the gallery Track 16. The title he gave the show was Recent Forgeries, and naturally enough the catalogue for the show bore the same name. First published in 1999 when the show ran, through Smart Art Press, Recent Forgeries has now entered its seventh printing and is released through Perceval Press.

So we need to backtrack in time nine years, if not more, to when these works were created. Something to be kept in mind is that these works were in a gallery before Viggo Mortensen became the name he is today. Prior to Lord Of The Rings, Hidalgo, and History of Violence, the movies that have thrust him into the limelight, he was already an established artist in his own right, not because he was a movie star or a celebrity.

Although anybody who has spent any time reading his poetry or observing his visual art would quickly recognize his talent, I'm sure there have been many a disparaging comment made about a celebrity getting recognition without deserving it. In fact, my voice was one of those making cynical comments like that before actually seeing or reading anything Mr. Mortensen had created.

Even a casual flipping through of the pages of Recent Forgeries will quickly dispel any impression of this being the work of a dilettante or someone out for easy ego strokes. These are all difficult and challenging works of art from both the artist's and viewer's perspective.

In some instances the mundane quality of the subject matter — shots from a child's birthday party, a swimming pool, a mother and child on a front porch — might individually provoke a reaction of "so what? I can do that." But taken in context with the other pictures, a theme, or perhaps the modus operandi of the guy behind the camera, would be more appropriate a way to apply our focus .

By getting beyond our initial reactions to the focal points — the painter on the ladder, the surfboard in the pick-up truck, a man holding a hose which sprays a glorious arch of water across the frame, or any number of other simple moments in time compositions — something changes. Questions about the individuals in the works might all of sudden come to mind – how did that man with those tattoos on that shoulder come to be outside in the blazing sun painting a seemingly endless wall?

Who would leave a surfboard in wide-open bed of a pick-up truck? What kind of person owns a beat up red pick-up truck and surfboard that looks as weather-beaten as the vehicle? What is the child in the blue face paint at the birthday party looking at off to one side, what is making him smile like that? What is the woman writing in the journal with many crossed out lines in it – or is she just reading it? What are they all thinking?

Questions abound about everything in our world when you let them. Viggo Mortensen's photographs remind us that behind every simple act there is the potential for complexity. Surfaces are just that, the face over top of what lies beneath. Even if his photographs aren't x-rays they do bring us to the point of pausing for a moment to think about what we are looking at and what's below the surface.

"I'm not arrogant enough to say I haven't been influenced by anyone," Mortensen comments on his way of seeing, "but the way I work has mostly been shaped just by being in the world and looking ... So much has already been done and there's not much that's new ... Making things is a way of finding out." (page 9)

The worst things about looking at catalogues of shows of paintings is the fact that it is so hard to get an idea of scale when seeing a work on a page. How much of the impact is lost by not seeing the work in person? Especially in the case of abstract art — and Mr. Mortensen's work is no exception to this — where texture and colour combine to stimulate a reaction within the viewer.

Look at how he describes his process as "making" in the above quote, then go through the book and look at the pictures again. For indeed, making these constructions is exactly what he's done, using as his building materials paint, wood, scraps of images from other sources, and pages of writing from what we can only assume are his own journals.

If making things is, as he says, "a way of finding things out," what is he attempting to find out? What has he seen "being in the world and looking" that has generated the questions he hopes to answer in his "makings"? What is your emotional response to the work on the page in front of you? What do you think he's asking?

In his opening preface to Recent Forgeries, Dennis Hopper says something along the lines that the process in which Mr. Mortensen's art travels is from his subconscious to his conscious and in turn is absorbed by the viewers' subconscious where it forms into a conscious reaction. While it's maybe true there is some visceral reaction to the paintings on an instinctual level — bright colours and forms do provoke reactions — I think that to stop there would be selling his work short.

Mr. Mortensen may not follow a conscious process of observation, questioning and answering when he creates his works, but that is always at the heart of the matter. Whether or not they come together in a particular piece, thought has been given to composition and how materials relate to each other as they help him find things out.

Although abstractions, his work is not simply a half-hazard throwing together of material in the hope that it will make you "feel" something. Look at them a second and a third time and see the work that is involved; spot the clues that he may have left for you as to what he was thinking of at the time. It will be worth your while.

Viggo Mortensen is not a person to do anything lightly; you only have to read the poems that have been included in this work to realize that. More than anything else they are what reveal the complexities that lie behind all of his work. Sometimes describing, like his photos, the seemingly commonplace or the everyday and elevating it to art, his poems read like post-it notes from emotional minefields. On the surface nothing much seems to be happening, but if you were to put a foot down in the wrong place… things could get messy.

Other work brings chaos theory to life when unrelated people become tied in by an event – the man hit by the Harley Davidson owner on her way to the health club, and knocked into the salad bar of the Denny's allows the unemployed actress in the bathroom to walk out without paying her bill. We had learned that the man liked to live dangerously in traffic, ignoring lights and safety, and ironically is killed by someone else ignoring a light driving a vanity vehicle to the health club.

We can form pictures of each of these individuals in our mind, or at least find a frame of reference for them. But all we learn about the out-of-work actress is that "tragedy has often been her ally." Frustrating in its incompleteness maybe, but real in the fact of how much do we ever know about the people at the outer ripples of events?

After plunging into Recent Forgeries and reading, looking and listening (a CD of Mr. Mortensen reading some of the poetry in the catalogue is included), one gets the impression of a mind that is constantly in motion with an eye always on the look out. He might see and hear things in ways we don't and draw conclusions that perhaps we wouldn't have from those observations, but he is not afraid to try and explain his vision to us.

You could do him the disservice and say these works shouldn't be analysed intellectually, but left alone to be "felt" by each individual who sees them. That only serves to cheapen what he does and reduce his effort to the hackneyed. Too often people who have less skill than ego will be heard to say that technique doesn't matter, it's what you make people feel that counts. If you can't organize your thoughts on the page, focus a camera, or hold a paintbrush, you're not going to communicate anything.

Not only does Recent Forgeries find Viggo Mortensen quite capable of doing all those activities, it all shows he has mastered them to the extent of being able to communicate to those willing to listen. If you're not willing to meet any artist halfway, there is nothing they can do about that.

Jazz

poken Word CD Review: This That And The Other




by Richard Marcus


When I read poetry I'll occasionally try to listen for the voice of the poet in my head. Trying to visualize — or whatever the equivalent for hearing something that you can't hear is — someone's voice is a fun proposition, but in the end you’re no closer to knowing what the person sounds like than you were when you opened the book.

Hearing the inflections and the nuances that an author gives a piece sometimes makes a world of difference in how you interpret a person's work, and it can help you understand a little of how he or she sees the world. The closest analogy I can think of is watching a play versus reading a script off the page. You might think you've got the meaning of the words, but then you hear the actors speaking the lines and gain new understanding and depths of perception.

Now, there are some poems and poets where the meaning isn't that far below the surface. It doesn't take a post doctorate in English literature to figure out the meaning of a Hallmark card or the equivalent that passes for emotional truths in most of today's world. But there are still writers and work out there where hearing a reading does add another layer of meaning.

It's recently been my good fortune to receive a number of books from Perceval Press of the work of poet/painter/photographer/actor Viggo Mortensen. Leaving aside his work as an actor, although a case could be made for that as well, Mr. Mortensen's work is that of an observer of those things that most of us would walk by and not give a second thought to.

Specifically in his photographs and poetry, the impression that comes across is that the scene under observation, or the object on view through his lens, was simply waiting for him to wander by with pen and paper or camera. What it is that attracts his eye or his ear is what he is attempting to communicate to us through his work.

Dennis Hopper says in his introduction to Viggo's book, Recent Forgeries, that art in the twenty-first century has hopefully reached the point where we are beyond fascination with technique and are content with allowing it to inspire reflection. In other words we should be able to sit, listen, look, hear, and feel without having to particularly understand what the artist has done to achieve an affect.

Now that's all very well and good of course for the visual arts, but for poetry and writing of any kind, concessions have to made for intelligibility. If no one can understand a word of what you've written you might as well have not wasted paper and ink. So the object for the poet is to be able to express the emotions he or she wants to convey by putting together words that may or may not have anything to do with the end result individually, but together generate or convey a feeling.

Of course, what I've written could also be a load of crap posing as an intellectual dissertation on the nature of art, or it could actually stem from an effort to communicate an idea to you. How did it make you feel? Did it piss you off? Did it make you feel like I was a jerk off? Or did it strike a chord of recognition?

You don't know if I'm sitting here typing this with a self-satisfied smirk on my face thinking, "Doesn't that sound great, aren't I brilliant, and nobody is going to understand a word of this so I'll sound even smarter." Or maybe I'm sincerely trying to communicate an idea that I find really important. Wouldn't it be nice if you could hear me saying the words so you had an idea of whether or not I'm sincere?

Which is the point I'm trying to make about Viggo Mortensen and listening to him read his poetry as opposed to just reading it on the pages of a book. If we go by the thesis proposed above about the reader or the viewer just reacting, then you can argue both for and against hearing him read as opposed to reading it yourself.

There are people who would make the argument that after an artist finishes with a creation, he/she surrenders it to the interpretation of others and they should have no say in the matter, let alone offer spoken renditions to cloud the observer's ability to form an impression.

I personally think the argument that listening to the writer read his work is erecting a barrier of interpretation between the audience and the work is a load of crap.

This That And The Other is a compilation of tracks assembled from four amazing discs that Viggo and Buckethead (the musical genius with the KFC headgear and mask preserving his secret identity, and the mind behind Bucketheadland) have produced over the years combining Viggo reading his poetry over musical compositions that their two minds, plus some friends, have come up with.

Listening to Mr. Mortensen read his work, as far as I'm concerned, brings words that were dormant to life. What I get from hearing him speak the words is a deepening of appreciation for what he has to offer as an artist.

Mr. Mortensen's poetry is not your typical verse and rhyming couplet-type thing, or even the more acceptable modern version of free verse. He creates something more along the lines of prose pictures, imagery forged in words that seek to define, in the words of Joyce that he quotes so appropriately in one of his books, the conciseness of his race.

That could encompass an observation on relationships, love lost, and our reactions to those incidences. How we react to the day to day of existence says more about who we are as a people than any grand statement by politicians making patriotic proclamations of pride and prejudice. Listening to the words of Viggo Mortensen one might be tempted to dismiss them as mundane or convoluted, but if listened to closely they have more to say to the heart than is comfortable for most people to hear.

It is easy, as I've shown in this article, to get caught up in intellectualizing art and what it should and shouldn't do. Listening to Viggo Mortensen and Buckethead's renditions of Viggo's works on This That And The Other is to be brought back to the direct immediacy of art and to be given the opportunity to experience a creation firsthand from its creator.

In my opinion there can be no finer gift that an artist can offer his audience. No matter what your opinions of art and its role or how best to appreciate it if you can't accept that simple truth when listening to This That And The Other, then I think you've missed the point of art altogether.

So, sit back, put the disc in the machine, put on your headphones, crank the volume, and go for a trip with Viggo and Buckethead.

Jazz

Viggo posted on Perceval Press:

Apologies to anyone who has been temporarily blocked from connecting with percevalpress.com by something called " (Content)Watch", which apparently involves state censorship dictated by moral judgments on what "(Content)Watch" calls "Hate/Violence" and "Pornography". I haven't the faintest idea what could have roused the watchdogs, and, frankly, do not care to know. This is the world we live in. I certainly hope it wasn't the recently-posted Sun-Sentinel link regarding restoration of constitutionally-guaranteed voting rights for ex-cons in Florida. We at Perceval Press will continue to provide whatever information we see fit to post on our site. Hopefully you will be allowed to view this information at your personal discretion so as to be able to draw your private conclusions with regard to "content".

Happy Easter. -VM

ryllsome

thanks for posting those Jazz he is really a very talented extraordinary man.

hey! we all know that

Jazz

I wonder if the last thing that he said there on Perceval had something to do with censoring him because he speaks out about the government?

Jazz

SALE!!!! Now's the time to buy!

Perceval Press announces the Spring 2007 sale. From Monday, April 16th through Sunday, June 17th. All books and cd's are half price. T-shirts are available for cost of shipping only while supplies last (limit two per customer). Discounts will be reflected at the final order checkout page.

PERCEVAL PRESS

Jazz

A review on Linger.

Images of Disquiet | Books From Perceval Press
Written by Shandy Casteel

On the heels of his international success starring in the popular The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Mortensen founded the independent publisher Perceval Press, giving himself an outlet for his own work and a platform for showcasing other talented artists.
The conceit of stars—those so ennobled by the public and media to carry such a title—sometimes gets the best of the performer, especially when aspirations of serious art beckon all levels of talent. Nowhere do these desires turn feeble more quickly than in the realm of literary musings. From Ethan Hawke to Jewel, and right through the likes of Madonna; everyone seems to want to publish a book, whether or not they are capable of such work. Occasionally, the crossover manages a success or two. Steve Martin has produced notable fiction and plays while raking in money from the occasional piece of box-office chum; and last year, established indie music star John Wesley Harding published a radiant first novel, Misfortune, under his real name, Wesley Stace.

For others though, like Viggo Mortensen, the art seems to be part and parcel of who he is, the antitheses of the narcissist, a true Renaissance man as adept at carving out a musical interlude as he is putting brush to canvas, eye to lens, and words to poetry. On the heels of his international success starring in the popular The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Mortensen founded the independent publisher Perceval Press, giving himself an outlet for his own work and a platform for showcasing other talented artists. Perceval Press specializes in art, critical writing, and poetry, and makes no bones of its political leanings—from its adamant stance against the war in Iraq, to the politically charged home page (www.percevalpress.com), and publications such as Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation, which features contributions from activists and journalists.

Whatever one’s ideological kinship, Perceval Press’ most appealing aspect of the creative endeavors they undertake is the approachability of the work. The small art books are easily held, well-constructed, and beautifully produced, with an affordable arts-for-the-masses verve—all characteristics shared by each of these recent releases from the press:

Jazz

In praise of small presses

In Praise Of The Small Press
Written by Richard Marcus
Published June 02, 2007

To say that I do a fair number of book reviews is probably something of an understatement. The main reason for this is that I love reading; no matter how many books I've read I just can't get jaded. There's always something new and exciting if you know where to look.

Of course I've my preferences in genre and style — who doesn't? -- but on occasion I like to challenge myself in order to keep intellectually sharp. The brain is like any other muscle, I figure - if you don't exercise it, it will grow flabby. I have to admit that I will always prefer a well-written story over anything else, though, no matter if it's an intellectual challenge or not.

Which explains why J.K. Rowling is equally comfortable on my bookshelves as Thomas Pynchon and James Joyce. But if there is anything or anyone I have a soft spot for when it comes to books it's the smaller independent presses. I suppose you could put it down to a type of romanticism, an affinity for the small press that puts out books because they love it, rather than being in pursuit of the next bestseller of the moment like bigger presses are forced to be.

Of course that's not the truth in either situation, but larger imprints do have much more put on the line than the small ones and have to worry more about the bottom line. The small press with only a limited run of far fewer titles can afford to take a few more risks with the style and content of its releases. Whether it is true or not, in my mind's eye I will always associate small presses with work that is more concerned with artistic merits than commercial viability.

I know that is an awful generalization and that there are probably numerous instances of just the opposite, but how often do you find the work of a contemporary Cuban photographer in one of those luxurious coffee table books the large houses produce periodically? How many would risk publishing translations of detective novels by a former officer in the Algerian army?

Trance, published by Perceval Press, and the early works of Yasmina Khadra, published by Toby Press, are respectively the two small presses referred to in the paragraph above. Over the past few months I've come to appreciate both of them for the wonderful content they have to offer.

Perceval Press was founded by Viggo Mortensen and is primarily concerned with publishing books of artistic expression that would probably have very little chance of seeing the light of day otherwise. A good percentage of the work is Mr. Mortensen's wonderfully cerebral and emotional poetry and photographs. But this is much more than just the vanity press of a wealthy individual, as they also publish selected works by a variety of other artists.

The majority of their focus is on art for art's sake, but they do publish other work as well. There are the highly strange and brilliant musical collaborations of Mr. Mortensen and the mysterious Buckethead (so named for the empty Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket he wears on his head while performing, and his penchant for appearing masked at all times) available on CD. There are also a good variety of other photographs and visual arts on sale as well.

In a lot of ways Perceval Press epitomises the nature of the small press in that they publish a very specific type of book. The books they produce are not going to appeal to a mass audience, but they weren't designed to. The books they offer challenge us to see the world in different ways and not all of them are comfortable or pleasant. But then again, there is a lot about our world that is not comfortable or pleasant.

Toby Press is a lot more like your traditional publisher in that they offer a variety of fiction and non-fiction work. Where they differ from their more mainstream contemporaries is the nature of their content. Aside from the aforementioned Khadre, they lean heavily towards authors from the Middle East.

Probably Toby Press is one of the few places in the world where Jew and Arab are equally at home as they rub shoulders quite happily together in their catalogue. Whether it's an Iranian describing the days just before the overthrow of the Shah or an elderly Orthodox Jew who is devoted to his faith and his life in the city of Jerusalem, the gulf that exists between them in our world is bridged in Toby's catalogue.

It is truly an international publisher as stories travel from eastern Africa to the Georgia Steppes, to the Golan Heights, and the streets of Damascus and Algiers. Although on some pages the characters speak the polemic of the times, the authors are not endorsing those sentiments, just ensuring that we know the reality in which they exist.

Like Perceval Press, Toby Press brings us the voices we don't normally get to hear. While now it seems like almost every publisher has at least one Muslim writer in their stable, to go with their Hindu, the only distinction that seems to have mattered at Toby has been the quality of the writing.

Over the next few days I'll be reviewing some more items from the Perceval Press catalogue, including more work by Mr. Mortensen, some from the forbidden island of Cuba (forbidden at least if you live in the U.S.), and, surprisingly, a couple of books for young adults. Until June 17, you can buy pretty much any title from their catalogue for half price – including all CDs, books of poetry, and visual art books as long as you purchase directly form the site.

There are numerous other small presses out there who do much the same thing that either one of these two do and you'd be doing yourself a favour if you checked them out. Who knows - you might discover a gem of your own.

Jazz

Check out Perceval Press and see the new layout they have done! Also, Viggo has a new book coming out this winter!!!! Woo-hoo!

Jazz

Review on Viggo's new book released this month!

Book Review: M0 Te Upoko-O-Te-Ika/For Wellington by Viggo Mortensen
Written by Richard Marcus
Published June 06, 2007

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be traveling all over the world; going where your work takes you? How much would you really see of what each place has to offer away from your workspace? Would the travel become a blur of light, colours, and sound that blends together with other travels of similar nature?

Do you become adept at picking out distinctive patterns in the shifting shapes that whip by you as your body is propelled by one means or another through or past them? Do those fleeting glimpses give any real insight into your new environs or are they just the revelations of illusion?

Tourists are packaged up into buses and shipped through countries spending an hour here and an hour there so they can say they've done France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Holland all in two weeks. What do they see and when they get home and develop the pictures they have taken? Why don't they recognise what's on the prints in front of them?

Usually it's because they have tried to preserve something static in an ultimately kinetic experience and what is still in the frame in unrecognisable. Nothing but bricks and mortar or wood and plaster captured within the neat frame of a 5 X 7 inch postcard that says nothing about where they were and what it meant to be there passing through.

MoTe Upoko-o-Te-Ika/For Wellington is a collection of reproductions from two exhibits of photography that Viggo Mortensen presented as a gift to the city of Wellington, New Zealand in the year 2003 after the completion of filming for the Lord Of The Rings movies. The images that appeared in the exhibition were of the places, including New Zealand, which he had traveled to in the years directly preceding the show.

The pictures that form the first part of the book are abstract representations of the places he has visited. The shutter has been left open allowing it to capture every iota of movement that can paint its way across the lens. Layers of texture and colour are painted on negative, and then given life under the enlarger as Mr. Mortensen brings us a glimpse of how fast the world can be.

In some instances he is the one standing still watching the world zip by, and in others he is travelling at speeds that match or are faster than our poor planet can turn. Is that what we are seeing in these photos visions of speed blurring everything until all that's left are colours and streaks of light?

Abstract art in any medium presents the conundrum of what we are to attempt to take away from the images. Do we stand in front of it and try to guess what the artist's intellectual motivation was for the work, or do we let the colours and configuration wash over us and feel whatever emotions they generate?

Sometimes the artist doesn't give us any choice in the matter and the images are so powerful we can only stare at them, overpowered by colour, light and design. Mr. Mortensen's work in this instance falls into that category as they explode off the page in their vividness. Galaxies swirl in whirlpools of beams of white light etched into blues and blacks. Greens, browns, blues, and whites appear in splotches looking like a satellite image of some mysterious coastline.

Either one of these combinations is enough to be stirring, but to turn the page from one to the other is to be aware emotionally of the contrasting environments in the world; feeling the diversity of the planet instead of just knowing it. It's exhilarating, but also tinged with sadness, seeing how ethereal it all can be.

At least that's what I felt. Someone else, somewhere else at another time might feel something else, which is one of the beauties of abstract art. They give the viewer the freedom to feel emotions instead of being overtly manipulated by sentimental attachments to figures or real situations.

The second half of Mo Te Upoko-O-Te-Ika/For Wellington is composed of photos that are more easily recognizable. Landscapes, forest groves, trees, and other familiar objects are the subject matter. Judging by the titles in the first section of the book and those that are given to the more figurative photos in the second, they are all, if not of the same subject matter, at least taken in the same locales.

Some are from other series that have appeared in other books. The "Hindsight" sequence, for example, has shown up before, and here again offers views in tight circles that appear to be looking backwards, or from a distance at the subject matter even when in a tight close up. There is something distancing about this effect that makes them almost as abstract as if they weren't figurative and removes the photographers influence from the shot as much as it was in the earlier part of the book.

Mr. Mortensen has always described his work as being a means of journaling and recording what he sees around him. Whether it’s a photo, painting, or poem, the objective is the same. With that being his goal his work has no ulterior motivation; there is no manipulation of set to make us feel anything in particular.

He looks, he sees something that attracts his attention, and he shoots it with his camera and the result is what you see on the page in front of you or on the gallery wall. In some ways he stands a lot of notions of modern art on their heads in that his realistic imagery is far less objective than his abstracts.

With his abstracts he has to "stage" the shot more and aims for a desired affect. But his figurative images are much more "of the moment" in that he is only recording what he sees with no other objective, and leaves it up to us to interpret it to our heart's content.

Mo Te Upoko –O-Te-Ika/For Wellington is an opportunity to see the two sides of Viggo Mortensen's photography, the abstract and the realistic, and reach our own conclusions about which you find more effective emotionally, artistically, and visually. Each has its own unique perspective to offer on the world and each has something different to offer the viewer.

Like all items from the Perceval Press catalogue, Mo Te Upoko –O-Te-Ika/For Wellington is half price until June 17, 2007. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to explore the variety of works that Perceval Press has to offer before this deal disappears.

HappySquared

OMG! Wait! I cannot contain my excitement. Did you jsut say sale?

Jazz

There is a sale on his new book!!!! $12.50 I believe!! That is CHEAP!!!

HappySquared

Waaaaaaaaaaaa! I just renew my M5 fanclub membership. I dunno if I still have credit for Viggo's books.

Jazz

Check, check, check those statements and see!!!!