Burrito Bay
2009 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
26:48
George Kuchar
Burrito Bay is a video by George Kuchar that follows the format of a diary or travelogue centered on a tropical trip to Acapulco, Mexico. The footage was filmed during the production of Tropical Vulture , a cross-generational collaborative project between George Kuchar and his then student, Mexican artist Miguel Calderón. The video strays away from the conventions of documentary: Kuchar adds an array of effects such as fadeouts between scenes, overlaid digital shapes traversing across the frame, and a strange, unexpected soundtrack. These effects, together with the lack of a cohesive narrative, give Burrito Bay a dream-like, surreal quality that is commonplace in his work. Whether through scenes of roadside urinating, the group lounging in the poolside, preparing breakfast or staying indoors on a rainy day, Burrito Bay gives us a glimpse into Kuchar himself and the inner workings of his mind.
George Kuchar was a key figure in experimental and independent filmmaking in the Bay Area and more broadly across America. He gained prominence through his Super 8 and 16mm films produced throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s. Some of his most well-known titles such as Hold Me While I’m Naked (1966) gave him international recognition and legendary status in underground cinema. In the 1980s, after more than three decades of working with film, Kuchar transitioned to video, and subsequently created hundreds of low-fi, diaristic videos that oscillated between real life and fiction. Many of these camcorder pieces featured Kuchar or his friends as actors, and he also regularly collaborated his students from the San Francisco Art Institute. Throughout his very prolific output of over 350 films, Kuchar was known for pushing the limits of film and cinematic tradition, and for creating a distinct visual language that was joyously nonsensical and reflected his extraordinary humor and wit. Whether featuring UFOs, weather, defecating, urinating, or forbidden passions—Kuchar embedded his eccentric videos with himself, often at his most intimate and profound.
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: New pandemic movements in SEA | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Radar October 15, 2020 ArtsEquator’s Southeast Asia Radar features articles and posts about arts and culture in Southeast Asia, drawn from local and regional websites and publications – aggregated content from outside sources, so we are exposed to a multitude of voices in the region...
© » KADIST
Fran Herndon
1962Working independently, Herndon experimented at the forefront of a now-canonical method—appropriation—by painting additions into found images from magazines such as Life and Sports Illustrated in a way that imbues the resulting works with mythical significance...