After seeing Matthew Barney's "River Of Fundament" we're driving up to Ojai Film Festival to support my short "Mother & Brother" which is showing in the "Nuclear Families" block.
Barney's 5 hour avant-guard operatic cinema experience was inspiring.
"Art is an experience - not a thing or an activity - which unfolds in the confrontation with the work of art" - Enriquez Martinez Celaya, On Art And Mindfulness
River Of Fundament 1
Reincarnating from the bubbling mucus mud of the powerful ratcheting pulsating explosions at the core of the crust of the earth.
River Of Fundament 2
Transcending self. Reaching another. Formed out of simmering. Contracted shift. Shimmering in time. Hardened by glory. Disappearing into existence. Sculptural foam. Chains and damage. Kicking steel. Gods of carnage. Dripping with presence. Fading in certainty.
Pharoah's Dust.
River Of Fundament 3
River Of Fundament 4
Hubris.
"Nothing that is according to nature can be evil" - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
I'm back into Mauy Thai at the moment at Fortune Gym, I've been studying Bushido and bought myself a practice sword which has already been put to good use. I admire the nobility of the samurai, their cultivation of a skill that was also at the core of their spiritual development. Of course this skill was also their way of providing for themselves. They were given food and shelter in return for their protection. As a film like Seven Samurai demonstrates the feudal system in Japan in the 19thC, seven samurai protect a group of farmers from bandits. The ultimate honor was to serve the Emporer with the entirety of themselves, complete discipline in accordance with nature.
"It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways." - Miyamoto Musashi, Book Of Five Rings
I admire the honor and nobility they acquired through their daily practice. In the simplicity of this practice they were able to find peace and harmony in accordance with the world around them.
"A thousand days of training to develop, ten thousand days of training to polish." - Book Of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi
As we enter Ojai, the crisp mountain air, I think of my character in "Mother & Brother".
The cabin is not dissimilar, and the feeling of time dripping away. His overwhelming desire and construction in his mind of the world beyond the mountain. Though my feelings coming up here are quite different. The woods the forest and mountain air are like a release from the metropolis of Los Angeles. Rejuvenating fresh air. Feeling the spirit of film in Ojai.
