Series Site
October 22–November 5, 2023
“Three recent feature films and two historical short films provide in-depth, intimate access to the creative process.
The New York painter Peter Bradley speaks about his life in art as an abstract painter and curator in With Peter Bradley. For Bradley, “There’s people who just paint color. . . . Color is the most important thing.” His 1972 painting Isom Dart 1 is currently on display at BAMPFA as part of What Has Been and What Could Be: The BAMPFA Collection, in a section devoted to works by Black artists purchased by the museum in the early 1970s. Screening with this film are two archival short films by artist, musician, and filmmaker Mike Henderson; his 1979 The Yellow Pencil is on loan for the exhibition.
Made by the son of a Japanese Buddhist altar maker, Carving the Divine: Buddhist Sculptors of Japan provides a rare look at the artistic process of traditional Japanese wood-carver Master Seki Koun and his apprentices. For filmmaker Yujiro Seki, a UC Berkeley graduate, “Japanese Buddhist sculptures force people to confront life itself. This is a profound art.”
London-born Brian Wall, a longtime Bay Area resident who taught in UC Berkeley’s Art Department for more than two decades, is known for his abstract sculptures, which include some of the earliest minimal sculptures—“I built my own aesthetic.” His life and work are detailed through archival photographs and extensive interviews in An Improbable Odyssey: The Life and Times of Brian Wall.”
—Kathy Geritz, Film Curator