Wild Combination at the ICA
The London premiere of Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell -- a film by Matt Wolf -- will take place at the ICA on 26 September 2008. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director, hosted by myself, and a launch party in the ICA bar featuring an Arthur Russell inspired DJ set from Twitch of Optimo.
The invite runs:
Wild Combination is director Matt Wolf's visually absorbing portrait of the seminal avant-garde composer, singer-songwriter, cellist, and disco producer Arthur Russell. Before his untimely death from AIDS in 1992, Arthur prolifically created music that spanned an extraordinary diversity of styles and won the love of artistic communities that would seem utterly dispirate. His collaborators and most ardent supporters ranged from Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg to rock bands like the Talking Heads and the Modern Lovers; the pre-Studio 54 disco scene of Nicky Siano's Gallery and David Mancuso's Loft; and DJ-producers like François Kevorkian and Larry Levan, among others. Arthur's music spanned both pop and the transcendental possibilities of abstract art and now, over fifteen years since his passing, his work is still being embraced by new and ever growing audiences.
Wolf incoroporates rare archival footage and commentary from Arthurs family, friends and closest collaborators including (in order of appearance) the musician and writer David Toop (who did the last print interview with Russell), parents Chuck and Emily Russell, Allen Ginsberg, Ernie Brooks (the Modern Lovers, the Necessaries), Philip Glass, Russell's partern Tom Lee, Steve Knutson of Audika Records (responsible for reissuing Russell's work in recent years), the singer-songwriter Jens Lekman and others.
The invite runs:
Wild Combination is director Matt Wolf's visually absorbing portrait of the seminal avant-garde composer, singer-songwriter, cellist, and disco producer Arthur Russell. Before his untimely death from AIDS in 1992, Arthur prolifically created music that spanned an extraordinary diversity of styles and won the love of artistic communities that would seem utterly dispirate. His collaborators and most ardent supporters ranged from Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg to rock bands like the Talking Heads and the Modern Lovers; the pre-Studio 54 disco scene of Nicky Siano's Gallery and David Mancuso's Loft; and DJ-producers like François Kevorkian and Larry Levan, among others. Arthur's music spanned both pop and the transcendental possibilities of abstract art and now, over fifteen years since his passing, his work is still being embraced by new and ever growing audiences.
Wolf incoroporates rare archival footage and commentary from Arthurs family, friends and closest collaborators including (in order of appearance) the musician and writer David Toop (who did the last print interview with Russell), parents Chuck and Emily Russell, Allen Ginsberg, Ernie Brooks (the Modern Lovers, the Necessaries), Philip Glass, Russell's partern Tom Lee, Steve Knutson of Audika Records (responsible for reissuing Russell's work in recent years), the singer-songwriter Jens Lekman and others.