Death of Van Gogh?

1973, 5minutes, 16mm film
music by Iannis Xenakis
Text by Antonin Artaud
spoken by Robert Blacklock

This was my graduation film, as opposed to video, at the Royal College of Art. It combines live action with animation from still images and is cut to a soundtrack by Iannis Xenakis. Both times I used pre-existing music were with film and both illustrate the close dynamic relationship between music and image that I went on to develop through video.

This work metaphorically explores the external social tension between visionaries and society and the internal psychic tension between creative and metaphysical issues.

When played at the intended high audio volume, most viewers find the piece quite challenging . . . .