Delights: Stan Vanderbeek's A La Mode, 1958

It's not Sunday, and I said I would do my film reviews on Sundays, however I find myself in a mostly packed-up apartment and endlessly bored when I'm not packing even more. And so, I've been watching films and youtube clips endlessly, and now I'm going to write this to stave off further ennui and share a newfound favorite artist of mine.

Like many of his Baltimore-born contemporaries (John Waters, Philip Glass, Jeff Koons to name a few) Stan Vanderbeek's practice came out of a love for inter-connected images and idealizations of every day life. A graduate of Cooper Union, he started making illustrated and collage assemblage films in the 50's that mostly dealt with communication, technology, sensual imagery as well as the idealized images of every day life, which he cut out from magazines and newspapers. His work no doubt had monumental impact on Terry Gilliam, who created his eponymous collage and assemblage shorts for Monty Python. 

Vanderbeek's work is fantastically forward-thinking and seriously fun to watch. His films always have a quick wit and the sort of whimsy that makes you feel as though you're just watching a daydream. Here, I present A La Mode, which the artist calls "An Attire Satire". Yes, this film is quite funny and cheeky, but what Stan's really getting at is the presence of the idealized image in pop culture. Curvy female figures and chiseled male bodies float around in some scenes, while cutouts of models explore the zany possibilities of clothing. He also slightly pays homage to Man Ray, which I can't help but love.

So yeah, watch this. I'm gonna go pack some more.

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