Of Matter, Of Mind
JOHN STURGEON
Of Matter, Of Mind
©1978, B&W, 9:00 minutes, sound
Mining subconscious terrain among clay symbols and archetypical beings, a metaphorical archeologist/fisherman plumbs psychic depths for latent clues to a more essential self. Barriers must be confronted and rituals performed, culminating with a spiral footprint drawing that evokes a transforming glimpse of a more holistic potential.
The subject matter of Sturgeon’s earlier video productions (1973-1990) has a strange rootedness in history, as he tends to address the timeless questions of an individual‘s relationship to larger, inexplicable forces using visual and linguistic vocabularies from a murky past.
Excerpt: Radical Mysticality: The Work of John Sturgeon
by Steven Kurtz
Of Matter, Of Mind
Date Completed: February 1978, Venice, California
Non-Verbal (with sound and image)
Copyright: John Sturgeon, ©1978
Length: 9:00 minutes, black/white, mono
Original Master Format: 1/2" Reel-to-Reel AV
Sub-Master: Beta Cam SP, DVCam NTSC
CREDITS:
Artist / Performer: John Sturgeon
Camera, Sound & Edit: John Sturgeon
The recurrence of elemental, archetypal motifs, the evocation of ritual in the choreography and the unpredictability of the action generate both the emotionally charged atmosphere and the intense perceptual presence of dream.
- David James
