Ingmar Bergman’s Persona, from 1966, explores the relationship between an actress who has become mute, played by Liv Ullman, and the nurse who is in charge of her care played by Bibi Andersson. The pair travel to a cottage on the beach where their personalities begin to conflict and blend.
The unsettling film contains several experimental elements, as well as images that are outside of the main narrative, that provide more questions than answers.
Installation by Edgar Sanchez Cumbas
The Ybor City Arts Tour was last week and was a great way to check out the many spaces currently in the Ybor City area. The Kress Contemporary building with its multiple galleries, artist studios, performance space (The Fringe Theatre), and microcinema, was definitely a highlight.
The above images are of sculptural work by Edgar Sanchez Cumbas (he was also in the Department of Contemporary Art group show in the same building). It is just one of the rotating works you can find while walking around the space.
Below are some selections from the event.
Kim Radatz opened her space, currently showing an installation focused on the “C” word.
Screen Door: An Ybor City Microcinema is always showing interesting films from a variety of genres. Pictured are the seating area and the movie posters lining the hallway outside of the film viewing area. For the art tour they were showing past Flex Fest short films.
On the third floor are a large group of artist studios with several walls hanging work by many of the artists.
Work by Jon Pannier
Sculpture by Eileen Goldenberg
Polaroid work by Brian Pannier
Lots of great work by the three very different artists that make up the Y3K Collective- Jon Pannier, Eileen Goldenberg, and Brian Pannier, seen above.
Work by Juan Espinosa (left) and Ashley Cantero (right) of Dluance
Inside Dluance
Creative space Dluance is run by visual artist Ashley Cantero and music producer/ graphic designer Juan Espinosa.
Paintings by Marilyn Binder Silverman
Paintings by Eilzabeth Fontaine-Barr
The work above is from the painters Marilyn Binder Silverman and Elizabeth Fontaine-Barr who share their studio space.
Painting by Karol Batansky
Self taught painter Karol Batansky just moved in to her new studio from the Ybor Art Colony which is closed while currently being renovated.
Mixed media artist Chase Parker makes a variety of work, including the unique sculptures pictured above.
Ron Watson creates highly detailed drawings at his Shades of Gray Studio.
Below is one of the common spaces filled with work by a selection of artists. It’s always worth a trip up from the 2nd floor galleries even if most of the artists are not in their studios to see what’s new.
Work by Jenal Dolson (left) and Michael Jones (collage, right)
The next post will focus on three spaces outside of Kress Contemporary that were also part of the tour.
Above are scenes from Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 film, Breathless, starring Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo.
The first two pictures are from a press conference scene where Seberg’s character asks an author (played by influential director Jean-Pierre Melville) for his “greatest ambition in life” He replies- “To become immortal, and then die”.
Although it was sad to hear of Godard’s passing, he has certainly achieved immortality through his beautiful work.
Faces Places– Official Trailer
Agnés Varda passed away last Friday (3/29) at the age of 90. The French film director, photographer, and artist was known for her work in the French New Wave film movement as well as her unique documentaries.
If you have a Los Angeles library card (or are a member of another library- many cities are included) you can stream several of her films using Kanopy including-
Cleo From 5 to 7, a fictional real-time portrait of a singer in Paris in the sixties who is waiting on the results of her cancer biopsy.
Jane B. Par Agnés V., an “imaginary bio-pic” of real life actress, fashion icon, and muse, Jane Birkin
Kung-Fu Master!, Jane Birkin plays a woman in her 40s who falls in love with a 14 year old boy (played by Varda’s son Mathieu Demy)
The Beaches of Agnés, a cinematic self portrait and a great introduction to the artist and her work
Cinevardaphoto, is composed of three short films exploring the photographic medium- one is a portrait of woman who collects teddy bear photos and the exhibition she creates from them; in the second Varda revisits a photograph she made on the beach of a man, a child and a dead goat- it includes a discussion of the work with the participants, including the boy from the photo who is now a man; the third is comprised of pictures and footage from a trip to Cuba made during the revolution’s early days
Daguerreotypes, a documentary about the shops and shopkeepers of Rue Daguerre, where Varda has resided for more than fifty years
Faces Places, which she co-directed with the artist JR, was her second to last film and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The charming film follows Varda and JR as they travel throughout France in his truck, photographing people and creating murals along the way. This film can also be seen on Netflix.
Varda gave a Tedx Talk last year on “how three ideas central to the life of an artist – inspiration, creation, and sharing – have shaped her career over seven decades of filmmaking.” It’s a great example of how inspiring she herself was, as an artist and as a person.