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Andy Warhol 3 & 4:
Portraits of Edie and The Screen Tests
Friday, May 4, 2007
Saturday, May 5, 2007
at Eyedrum
8:00 PM
On May 4 and 5, the Film Love series continues its exploration of the
much-discussed but rarely screened films of Andy Warhol. Known for his pop art
paintings, Warhol was also a prolific portrait artist. In conjunction with
Eyedrum’s large gallery show of contemporary portraiture, "Andy Warhol 3 & 4"
presents works from Warhol’s two most celebrated forays into cinematic
portraiture: the sprawling Screen Test series and his extended fascination with
the mercurial superstar Edie Sedgwick.
The Screen Test films – numbering over 400 – were made from 1964 through 1966.
Visitors to Warhol’s Factory studio would be asked to sit for their portrait.
The camera was pointed at their face in closeup and turned on, and three minutes
later the film was done. During this small eternity, subjects would register
everything from boredom to charisma, discomfort to indifference, heroic resolve
to face down the camera, or an inability to suppress emotion (and giggles). The
psychological complexity of the Screen Tests is matched by the care which Warhol
took to highlight his subjects’ individual features, and the immense range of
the subjects themselves. We will screen two representative reels of Screen Tests
as preserved by New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Featured will be subjects from
the famous - Lou Reed, Susan Sontag, Marcel Duchamp - to unidentified people
known to us now only by their three minutes of fame in front of Warhol’s camera.
Rounding out the program are two portrait films of one of Warhol’s greatest
stars (and subject of the recent film Factory Girl), Edie Sedgwick. Radiating
charisma, style, and sly wit, Sedgwick was Warhol’s muse at the height of his
filmmaking activity. "Outer and Inner Space" is a double-screen portrait film in
which Sedgwick responds to her own image on a TV screen. In "Beauty #2," Edie
lies on a bed with her current boyfriend, while her off-camera former boyfriend
tries to distract her with dialogue and increasingly personal comments. Sedgwick
stands up to this demanding and complex scenario, displaying both vulnerability
and a fierce independence.
Program:
Friday, May 4
Screen Tests reel 24:
Freddy Herko; Lucinda Childs; John Cale; Niki de Saint Phalle; Lou Reed (eye and
mouth); Marcel Duchamp; Steve Stone; Grace Glueck; Lou Reed (Hershey bar).
1964-1966, 16mm, silent, 40 minutes
Outer and Inner Space (1965), 16mm, sound,
33 minutes
featuring Edie Sedgwick
Saturday, May 5
Screen Tests reel 17: Ingrid Superstar;
Guy; Susan Sontag; Isabel Eberstadt; Peter Goldthwait; Robert Pincus-Witten;
Louis Martinez; Ed Sanders; Henry Romney; Irving Blum. 1964-1966, 16mm, silent,
40 minutes
Beauty #2 (1965), 16mm, sound, 66 minutes
featuring Edie Sedgwick
Andy Warhol 3 and 4 is a Film Love event, programmed and hosted by Andy Ditzler
for Frequent Small Meals. Film Love exists to provide access to great but rarely
seen films, and to explore the history of experimental filmmaking. More
information on Frequent Small Meals music, film, and art events can be found at
www.frequentsmallmeals.com
All screenings take place at 8:00 pm at Eyedrum,
290 Martin Luther King
Jr Dr Suite 8, Atlanta, GA, 30312
404.522.0655
www.eyedrum.org
Film Love home page
Frequent Small Meals
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