(waterpiece)

JOHN STURGEON

(waterpiece)

Like an experiment in an underwater dream laboratory, the re-videoed image of Sturgeon's submerged face looks out; while as investigator, he stops and starts the underwater sequence, measuring the air bubbles surfacing. The surface of the monitor and of the water act as a boundary linking measurable reality with the submerged unconscious. As the head reverses, processes become more elusive yet retain their subjective structure. Suddenly the tension within the dream transmission erupts in a staccato oration from a wildly beckoning bearded figure, before Sturgeon breaks contact by surfacing.

Sturgeon emphasizes the dream process by concentrating on a magical manipulation of events - the work has a formal structure, but we are not able to comprehend the chain of events that link the association of ideas. (waterpiece) expresses a concern for the emergence of subject matter with an internal form that is responsive to the characteristics of the video medium, and in this way, it serves as a paradigm for aspects of Sturgeon's subsequent involvements.

Peter Goulds

L.A. Louver Gallery

Video: https://vimeo.com/45221013

Dream that influenced the script for (waterpiece).

Dream: October 29, 1974

Abraham Lincoln (or rather as I discover, an actor playing the part of Abe) is delivering a passionate speech to a crowd. There is a group on the podium with him (the two intimates standing next to him are unknown to me). Perhaps its a stage set, made to look like a Roman Forum but constructed with wood scaffolding.

At the conclusion of the speech, Abe takes out a pocketknife and cuts off the end of his chin – or the tip of his beard. As he does so, it becomes enlarged and strawberry shaped, very full and juicy and red. As he completes the act of cutting off his chin or beard tip, it oozes a thick gelatinous juice. He gestures in exaggerated ways implying that this act is his “gift” - a performance - for the audience.

My immediate thoughts (notations) refer to a possible Jungian interpretation: that the Abe Lincoln figure, the man with the pointed beard, represents the intellect. And further, that as an actor, there is this element of a sham to his action of cutting off his “gift”. This gift (sacrifice) of his chin-beard as an enlarged fresh fruit, is somehow illusionary, or of overrated importance - implying that the intellect, as constructed within the dream, is a deceptive oration.

The December 9, 2007, New York Time review of the Getty Museum’s exhibition California Video included a photo from (waterpiece), one of John Sturgeon’s early video inclusions in CA Video.

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).

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