Cheeky Freak Of The Week
Text: Mikey Gilles
Every street has that crazy old hippy artist guy that’s so far ahead of his time, no-one really understands him. Maybe he collects junk in his front yard to make wacky Rauschenberg-esque sculptures, maybe he carves totem poles out of railway sleepers or weaves beaded necklaces… whatever their medium, they ALWAYS have some cosmically original yet totally convoluted way of looking at the world, and their art is the only non-pharmaceutical way of understanding it. Len Lye was DEFINITELY that guy on his street. Except Lye actually WAS a total visionary. In 1935, he was the first guy to make a film without a camera. Why would he bother trying? Because he couldn’t afford the camera! Amazing! He painted directly on the film, in full colour, treating it like a moving painting.
This was in the 30s, remember, when films were black and white… shit would’ve blown MINDS!!! He scored the films with his own jazz compositions, improvising both elements as he worked. Eventually he got down with Hans Richter, Georgia O’Keefe and Le Corbusier, who supported his experimentation in virtually every art discipline that occurred to him, as long as it furthered his obsession with ‘pure figures in motion.’ He made some of the earliest and significant kinetic sculptures in the early 60s. He wrote poetry and philosophy throughout his entire life. Later on he managed to push the boundaries of film again, with his ‘scratch’ films, such as the incredible Free Radicals from 1958. This is one crazy old art hippy who’s definitely worth figuring out. Pretty much everything is on exhibition at the moment in Melbourne, at ACMI. See more Len Lye videos…
This weekend we suggest going to the beach if you are in Sydney and if you are in Melbourne check the Len Lye An Artist In Perpetual Motion at ACMI Federation Square, open 10am-6pm daily until Sunday October 11.
