Harry Smith - Heaven And Earth Magic (Excerpt)

Part of the beginning...
The entire film can be purchased at the Harry Smith Archives on DVD or VHS.

www.harrysmitharchives.com

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• harry smith
• heaven and earth magic

[ibotanist]

@diantonovich I think your point was well made. The distinction between opinion and criticism becomes more and more tenuous as social media glorifies opinion and reduces the evaluation of art, music and literature to something "liked" or "disliked," thumbs up or down, or the hardly more useful continuum of 1 to 5 stars. Mass opinion is not the same as informed consensus.

[troublesaway]

@diantonovich you may think so sir but please dont lend the impression that we all share such a dismissive and high nosed view of aesthetic value, if otis redding where to sing, "bla bla bla" it would be the satin rope of art and soul to me. just because this guy is no otis, doesnt mean his work contains no aesthetic value, thus the beauty of art, your opinion is not the all encompassing equation of artistic value, but it is your opinion and at least you (might) have given it a chance

[marcce007]

anyone knows about the film thats about mannequins living" in an old building a do repetitive things like dance and drinking?

[landonwm]

I just saw this for the first time over the weekend at an art fair in LA. I couldn't make sense of it but was completely captivated and had to keep watching it even though I wanted to check out the rest of the fair.

IDK why you would say this is not aesthetically pleasing, other than it is plain/simple at the lowest level. The style of the images and their movement is interesting and engaging, the drawings are well done, & its even funny at times. Thats dope to me, and I wasn't even stoned!

[angryherbalgerbil]

There is no bigger philosophical picture here. Harry Smith was a booze swilled drunk with a penchant for narcotics and a large believer in the occult so any philosphy unless coneyed coherently would be lost to anyone otther than himself. This is merely some product of his abstact mind, yes it could be considered art by those who will endeavour to attach a meaning to it, but that is to miss the point (if there even is one) entirely of Smith's outlook and philosphy...

[angryherbalgerbil]

I don't think art neccessarily need aesthetic value ("beauty is in the eye of the beholder") but I do however feel it should contribute something to the human psyche weather it be a philosphy an emotion or an expression to someone other than the artist himself, as it is through art that we find our kindred bond that connects us all...

[angryherbalgerbil]

Harry Smith had a large opposition to non-transformable objects that remained in a state of functonal stasis, he detested mundane facts, rational thought or anything that could be defined, therefore to attribute a meaning to his work would imply that it is solid and has a place, only he would be able to convey the purpose of his work and therefore no one else can...

[angryherbalgerbil]

... So on that basis I would not define this as art as it is purely self-indulgent! Im quite sure that Smith would prefer his work not to be defined as it would again suggest the static. I hope this will clear up the matter

[diantonovich]

@ExistentialGirl ok, explain it to me. i promise to try to understand. in fact the reason i post insults here at all is because i am not understanding, but i didn't bother to formulate my commends with enough care. what is the bigger philosophical question?

[ExistentialGirl]

@diantonovich Eh, you're missing the bigger philosophical concept here, and I can see that this will go nowhere.