Richard Kerr: Industrie

Lots of artists have been collecting bits of Hollywood detritus and re-fashioning them into commentary. Few of their works surpass the artistry and sheer watchability of Richard Kerr’s films.

Teaching in Montreal at Concordia for the past five years or so, Kerr has rightly taken on the French language, at least for the titles of his films. Made from recent film trailers, collage d’hollywood originated in, was worked on in and finished on 35mm film. Without the aid of any digital effects, it is just as complex and tightly cadenced as any computer edited piece. Special effects come ready supplied in the clips themselves. To this, Kerr layers and loops the images and soundtracks. The films may be already forgotten but their rich, undifferentiated multi-million dollar cinematography lives on in Kerr’s work. hollywood decollage is made from sci-fi clips. With the aid of a computer, he switches seamlessly from triple to double screen and back to single. hollywood decollage is like an avalanche rumbling down a mountain completely blanketing the senses. What connects both films is the underlying fear parlayed by Hollywood into big bucks. Pitting high-tech special effects against the primitive reptilian brain is the stock in trade of the Hollywood blockbuster. Kerr lays bare the shock and awe that is Hollywood.

Le bombardement: le port des perles is a throwback to the days when fear of nuclear annihilation was rampant. Currently, we think of history’s end as an ecological disaster, but no doubt war and quite possibly nuclear war will be the eventual outcome. Le bombardement depicts the end in blood, fire and floods under a tissue paper collage of strong primary colours. Kerr’s mastery of these bewitching colours was no doubt gleaned from Hollywood’s seductive and overwhelming use of earth tones.

Lastly demi-mode is a DVD recreation of a double panel slide show of faces in electronic interference patterns that fracture into warped renderings of stained glass windows. Beautiful and haunting, they continue the apocalyptic theme. These are the death masks of the corpses left in the rubble, glowing radioactively.

Richard Kerr’s Industrie DVD is not a mockery of Hollywood and the way it spins its tales through light and sound, but rather a key to its spectacular mythologies. The one he stumbles into most fatally is death. Not just the death of our planet, but also the death of the soul. Hollywood propels its audience into outer space and draws them back into the cave, the eternal womb-tomb. Hollywood is an optical hearth for the primitive modern human, for evidence of this just watch Richard Kerr’s Industrie DVD. (Linda Feesey)

DVD, http://cinema.concordia.ca/industry/

16 thoughts on “Richard Kerr: Industrie

  1. […] had a comment on my post Never Pray For Patience, i needed to share her comment and my response: I watched Evan Almighty, and will not […]

  2. Hello there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my good old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this write-up to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!

  3. Wonderful work! That is the kind of info that should be shared across the internet. Disgrace on the search engines for not positioning this post higher! Come on over and discuss with my website . Thank you =)

  4. I have not checked in here for a while as I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are great quality so I guess I’ll add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂

  5. It¡¦s in point of fact a great and helpful piece of info. I¡¦m happy that you shared this helpful info with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.

  6. Thank you for each of your effort on this site. Debby enjoys conducting investigation and it is easy to understand why. Most people learn all relating to the powerful tactic you present important guidelines on the blog and as well improve contribution from others on that theme plus our favorite girl is truly studying a great deal. Take advantage of the remaining portion of the year. You are carrying out a great job.

  7. I have recently started a site, the info you provide on this web site has helped me tremendously. Thanks for all of your time & work. “Her grandmother, as she gets older, is not fading but rather becoming more concentrated.” by Paulette Bates Alden.

  8. Generally I don’t read post on blogs, but I wish to say that this write-up very forced me to try and do so! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, quite nice post.

  9. Thanks for your whole efforts on this site. My mother delights in getting into internet research and it’s really easy to understand why. My spouse and i know all regarding the dynamic mode you give practical ideas by means of this web blog and improve participation from other people about this concern plus our princess is in fact studying a whole lot. Take pleasure in the rest of the new year. Your doing a terrific job.

  10. I just saved brokenpencil » Blog Archive » Richard Kerr: Industrie on Digg, hope this helps get you more visits. Just right with this particular write-up, I really believe this site needs more consideration. I’ll probably be returning shortly to read through far more, thanks for the posting it is good

Comments are closed.