2 Sculptors (Shorts about Donald Judd & Tony Cragg)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C- Shorts: B-
Palm
Pictures’ Arthouse Films series continues with two portraits of key sculptors
simply entitled 2 Sculptors. The shorts cover the work of Donald Judd
& Tony Cragg to varying degrees of success, if not as in depth as hoped
for. Since hardly anything is on DVD
about the artform, it at least is a good start.
Donald Judd’s Marfa, Texas runs only 25 minutes and shows
the work of the late sculptor who walked a fine line between minimalism and
modernism, but came up with something distinct enough to stand out. Part of his goal was to examine the idea of
space, maybe in between the materials used, materials that were not traditional
and new synthetics seemed to have been a favorite.
Tony Cragg: In Celebration Of
Sculpture runs a
healthier hour, examining the British sculptor whose first phase of work was
about recycling discarded materials that still had worth and that is how he
built his reputation. Later, he became
more traditional, but he was sometimes political and definitely
deconstructionist.
The 1.33
X 1 image on both are shot on analog videotape and softer than they should
be. The art is interesting, but deserves
better than this. The Dolby Digital 2.0
sound on both is barely stereo. There
are hardly any extras, except weblinks and previews for other Palm titles. Both programs are worth a look, but more
extras would have been nice, including a brief history of sculpting and maybe a
still section.
- Nicholas Sheffo
