observations and reports

What was vision before the acquisition of language? How did we see things before we could fully comprehend them? How has understanding shaped how we see things and has it compromised a more varied perspective of the world we inhabit? If we didn’t have a specific idea of what green was, would our vision exist on a much larger spectrum of color? These are questions that informed the 50 year career and 300 films of experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage, considered by some to be one of the most important filmmakers of the past century. Born in Kansas City, Missouri as Robert Sanders, he was adopted and renamed by his parents, Ludwig and Clara Brakhage. As a child his aspirations were to be a poet, but inspired by innovative filmmakers Jean Cocteau and Maya Deren, he changed his focus to film. Completing his first film at the age of 19, his work, like many artists who are ahead of their time, was originally met with scorn but later heralded by critics and fellow avant-garde filmmakers like Jonas Mekas. Over the course of his career, he associated with several notable poets, musicians and artists including John Cage and Jackson Pollock, whose methods and works informed his own sensibilities. (via Original Creators: Stan Brakhage | The Creators Project)