Post by petrolino on Sept 13, 2019 22:00:21 GMT
* Experimental art & art activism fuelled the Ohio engine rooms of the 1970s but 2 industrial cities stoked punk's raging fire
* If you look at all of the significant recorded punk acts to emerge from Ohio in the 1970s, two cities continually come into play : Akron and Cleveland. There were punk bands active in other cities as the decade drew to a close, but I don't know of any that took off in the 1970s. The punk scene in Cincinnati has been extensively researched at 'City Beat' and contributors have turned up little, though the band Sluggo became a notable hardcore attraction in the 1980s. Cincinnati's undoubtedly a major musical city - for starters it's home to Mamie Smith, "America's First Lady of the Blues", who's believed to be the first African-American female performer to make a phonograph record - it's just not a punk city.
'Crazy Blues' - Mamie Smith
* Painter and experimental artist Jenny Holzer's innovations in LED art directly inspired the neon visuals dominant in cyberpunk cinema of the 1980s. Jodie Foster drew a degree of inspiration from Holzer when forming her character for Dennis Hopper's crime puzzle 'Catchfire' (1990), in which she portrays conceptual artist Anne Benton, a witness to a mob slaying who goes on the run. Holzer's contemporaries include Cindy Sherman and Barbara Kruger of New Jersey, and Laurie Simmons and Louise Lawler of New York, artists considered part of the "Pictures Generation", whose work formed a concurrent timeline to punk and is now considered in some ways reflective. Holzer, who was born in Gallipolis, was inspired by artist and art activist Katherine Schmidt who was born in Xenia.
"Anyone who has ever flipped through a book about late 20th century art will be familiar with Jenny Holzer’s text based work using LED screens and projectors. It is only those who haven’t who might actually believe Jodie Foster’s character in Catchfire, Anne Benton, as the person behind that work. Many of Holzer’s pieces are used throughout the film (she is even listed in the credits), but their meaning and cultural relevance is totally disregarded by director Dennis Hopper. He isn’t concerned with the obvious themes of power and feminism one might expect from a movie that is essentially about Jenny Holzer being kidnapped. Instead, Catchfire is a celebration of how romantic and sexy Stockholm Syndrome can be if you just give in to your captor and go with it!"
- Jim Gaylord, Art In The Movies
Jodie Foster in 'Catchfire'
Katherine Schmidt & Yasuo Kuniyoshi
Quiltmaker Nancy Crow
Light Sculpture by Jenny Holzer
* In music as in art, a constant need to experiment drives movements forward. Musical inventor Elliott Sharp, who's from Cleveland, is noted for his impact on the "no wave" punk scene. Another experimental composer worth noting is his fellow Clevelander Paul DeMarinis who began etching sound designs in Ohio in the 1970s. DeMarinis is a talented jazz saxophonist who also crafts unsettling sound sculptures by utilising an array of modified electronic devices and devising odd instrumental techniques. These men exemplify the raw creative spirit of the city.
'If God Were Alive (& He Is) You Could Reach Him By Telephone' - Paul DeMarinis