Jack Smith

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Lino · #1 Post by **Lino** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 1:45 pm

Watch Jack Smith's Flaming Creatures, Normal Love and Scotch Tape for free right here!

Anonymous · #2 Post by **Anonymous** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 3:23 pm

Aren't the yellow French subtitles on FLAMING CREATURES the most absurd thing imaginable? Anyway, it's great that there are sites like UBUWEB which promote hard-to-see films like Smith's.

David Ehrenstein · #3 Post by **David Ehrenstein** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 3:24 pm

WOW!

Normal Love was never formally "completed." Jack kept taking it apart and putting it back togehter. His aesthetic resisted editorial finality.

David Ehrenstein · #4 Post by **David Ehrenstein** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 5:17 pm

There's nothing "official" about Flaming Creatures or any of Jack's other films.

Do not forget, Flaming Creatures was shot on discarded postdated stock, as was Normal Love.

Lino · #5 Post by **Lino** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 5:18 pm

A documentary on Smith was released earlier this year. It's called Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis and you can find the official site with lots more info and extras, here. Anyone caught it? Looks very good.

It would certainly be nice to own a DVD set with his complete works at hand but for now, I can content myself with those UbuWeb video files. Who actually owns them, anyway? Are they PD?

David Ehrenstein · #6 Post by **David Ehrenstein** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 5:20 pm

I have yet to see it, though the filmmakers used a sound clip of mine -- Andy talking about Jack.

Gregory · #7 Post by **Gregory** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 6:42 pm

Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend holding out any hope for a legally authorized DVD of these films anytime soon. This Village Voice article is good on the background of the legal entanglements surrounding his work. If there have been any recent developments, I haven't heard about them.

Anonymous · #8 Post by **Anonymous** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 10:11 am

The Plaster Foundation, that is J. Hoberman and Penny Arcade, used to own Smith's work until his money-hungry family turned against them. The whole rights battle regarding Smith's work is utterly ridiculous. As long as Smith was living in squalor in his Lower East Side apartment, no one (except people like Hoberman, Jacobs, Mekas, Arcade, Tartaglia) cared about him. Now a family that during his lifetime didn't even bother to talk to him wants the profits of his art. This is capitalist dystopia, Grand Guignol.

rumz · #9 Post by **rumz** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 11:59 am

The Harvard Film Archive will be screening a few of Smith's films in late February.

Jean-Luc Garbo · #10 Post by **Jean-Luc Garbo** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 4:49 pm

This was my first Jack Smith and I have a question. Is the editing supposed to be all herky-jerky? Otherwise, a very interesting movie.

David Ehrenstein · #11 Post by **David Ehrenstein** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 4:51 pm

Is the editing supposed to be all herky-jerky?

Yes.

Dadapass · #12 Post by **Dadapass** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 9:40 pm

What is the current news on the ownership of his films and property?
I just read the article Gregory provided, but can't find anything else online.

Gregory · #13 Post by **Gregory** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 10:41 pm

Jack's sister sold the estate to the Barbara Gladstone Gallery last summer. Impossible to say whether this will turn out to be good or bad news vis-a-vis the artistic integrity of the work and its long-term preservation and availability. I saw a short item about it in ArtForum but it said nothing about what plans Gladstone has for the work. Just sorting it all out could take a long time.

Dadapass · #14 Post by **Dadapass** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 11:43 pm

Thanks

I just went to the Gladstone website and the Jack Smith Estate is in the list of artist but it wasn't a link like the others were. Hopefully they make the films more available but I am at least glad the sister sold his estate to an art gallery.

Adam · #15 Post by **Adam** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 2:51 am

I'm not. They will probably elevate him into "art" only and make it impossibly expensive to rent films for single screenings.

Gregory · #16 Post by **Gregory** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 5:03 am

I find the whole thing tragic, and I don't use the word lightly. I'm tempted to rant, but my comments would be superfluous. Anyone who cares enough to look into what happened already probably already knows the score. This affair speaks volumes about what "family" means to a lot of people, unfortunately, more than enough to make one thoroughly reconsider how family exists as a legal entity. And it's hard to think of any major artist of the 20th century whose work belongs in a posh commercial art gallery less than Jack's, especially given that the Plaster Foundation was already doing right by the films.
(OK, so I ranted a little.)

David Ehrenstein · #17 Post by **David Ehrenstein** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 9:38 am

THe Plaster Foundation has not been doing right by the films at all. Penny Arcade is a vulture.

Gregory · #18 Post by **Gregory** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 1:48 pm

I'm aware of a lot of claims and accusations both pro- and anti-Plaster Foundation, but I haven't heard anything to suggest that the Plaster Foundations activities were not doing right by the work or its integrity. Wouldn't it all have gotten dumped if they hadn't taken the initiative to preserve it? The question of legal ownership is another matter, of course.
I have my own intuitions about the whole thing, but these are practically worthless as I'm a mere bystander. Apologies if anything I said was unfair or misinformed. The whole thing has already played itself out anyway.

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