NOR/MAL CON/VERSE
JOHN STURGEON
NOR/MAL CON/VERSE ©1974
B&W, 4:00 minutes, sound, with: Nina Sobel
Gesturing their conversation from behind dark glasses in face-to-face headshots, Sturgeon and Sobel exaggeratedly mimic a computer synthesized voice track. Systematically edited, letters stenciled across their cheeks alternately come in and out of focus, forming a hybrid face that reads NOR/MAL CON/VERSE. As the tape speeds up, sentences and images break down producing rather unnerving yet strangely humorous results.
The male and female opposites in NOR/MAL CON/VERSE mouth empty words to the accompanying sound of technical data resulting in a hybrid image which points to the transformative nature of human and technological communications processes.
Peter Goulds
L.A. Louver Gallery
Drawing from mythology, astrology, and ritual, John Sturgeon employs symbolic systems within his videos to explore individual consciousness. Sturgeon creates his own language out of everyday elements, such as water or ice; yet in his poetic orchestration of video technology, he articulates the universal search for self-knowledge. His work from the mid-1970s consists of tightly edited, multi-layered imagery strongly influenced by Jungian psychology and dream analysis.
As his own spiritual search became the subject of his work, the actions depicted in many of Sturgeon’s early tapes eventually extended outside the monitor, often including the element of live performance and sculptural and video installation. Initially reflecting a characteristically West Coast consciousness that could even be described as “New Age”, Sturgeon’s work has continued to embrace new media and interactive forms in an ongoing exploration of ritual and universal experience.
“California VIDEO”, Getty Institute,
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2008
Artists web data base statement
1975 Arts Council of Great Britain,
Serpentine Gallery exhibition
"The Video Show"
Four of John Sturgeon’s early B&W video works from 1974 were curated into The Video Show - 1975 Arts Council of Great Britain, Serpentine Gallery exhibition, London, England. All four of these works from the 1975 The Video Show are included in the collection of the British Film/Video Archives (Steven Ball director).
(waterpiece) ©1974
NOR/MAL CON/VERSE ©1974
Shirt ©1974
HANDS UP ©1974
The Video Show exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, London, was touted at the Tate Modern's 2012 REWIND opening as being a seminal event for British video art. The catalog was inclusive of almost everyone - literally a world snapshot from the first generation of American video artists’ small format activity by the mid-70s, including these works by John Sturgeon.
It was a revolutionary, one-of-a-kind exhibition - with amazing inclusivity and scope. I don't ever recall a similar attempt of such scope in the U.S.
Steven Ball, director – British Film/Video Archives, London
Spin 411 (by: John Sturgeon & Nina Sobel) was a 1974 “installation-event” created for the Experimental Lab Theater of the Mark Taper Forum. Among the following four solo videos by John Sturgeon featured in Spin 411 was one of the first public viewings of NOR/MAL CON/VERSE ©1974.
Although there is no available video or photographic documentation of SPIN 411, historically this event showcased the artist’s early individual works, which became seminal to his career.
These early B&W videos by John Sturgeon, included:
John Sturgeon ©1974
B&W, 4:00 minutes, sound mono
Date Completed: June 1974, Venice, California
Audio Track: Early Digital Voice Simulation
Copyright: John Sturgeon ©1974
Original Master Format: 1/2" Reel-to-Reel AV
Sub-Master: Beta Cam SP & DVCam NTSC
CREDITS:
Artist/Performer: John Sturgeon
Female Performer: Nina Sobel
Additional Sound & Edit: John Sturgeon
Cameras: Sturgeon & Sobel