I got the opportunity to go to the opening of "Open for Business" at the Guggenheim Gallery at Chapman University last Monday, April 13th, 2009. Artists included Patrica Burns, Jessica Riga, Sydney Snyder, and Christopher Richmond. About a year ago, I did a little review of Chris Richmond's show "I'm A Real Group Show". This year, I got the opportunity to interview Richmond himself about his art show which included 12 large portriats of his father and photo exhibit, As far as opening mail is concerned. This exhibit included a nice arrangement of photographs of unopened mail against black. Very interesting and fun to look at. I thought there was a good use of space. I'll let the man expand on the work himself. Here it goes:
JC: Hello Christopher. In a few sentences, please describe your installation.
Christopher Richmond: The images in As far as opening mail is concerned are displayed as a loose grid filled with gaps and varying size prints, to reflect the complexity of awareness and the nature of existence without signifiers to place them in context.
The photographs in this work are not windows into a known world—a souvenir of an exotic land, the face of a lover, a landscape, or a documentation of objects. Rather, the content of this work is like the knowledge concealed in the photographs of mail, and is not based upon any concrete information that is known. The meaning in this installation lies as much in the photographs as it does in the recesses of the photographs. This is hard to do in a few sentences (and there lies yet another one).
JC: What were your influences? Are they all artists, does film, music, or anything nonrelated ever influence you?
CR: Roni Horn, Hans Peter Feldman, Felix Gonzales Torres, Charles Ray, and an ever-expanding list. Usually when I look at these artists though, I don’t feel like they influence as much as they give you permission to do something. I also read a lot of theorists like Michel Foucault, Hal Foster, Jean-François Lyotard, and Fredric Jameson.
JC: Is there anything you are unhappy with in this installation?
CR: Yes. But I would never write it down.
JC: Mystery. As far as opening mail is concerned is presented very nicely. I want to ask, why mail?
CR: I am interested in the process of mail and its nature. As initially conceived, the project was to be about only these letters as displaced objects and signifiers for the knowledge and information concealed within because legally I could not open nor keep the letters, so I photographed them and sent them back to the sender. As I continued, however, I began to see that it made sense to think about other objects in a similar fashion. Why mail? Mail is a physical means of communication. This interests me.
JC: What were your father's thoughts on the piece? How did you approach him about posing for the work?
My father was and is very supportive. Granted, I didn’t inform him what I was doing when I took his picture, however, he sat down each and every time and stared at the camera without pulling teeth. What were my father’s thoughts on the piece? You’d have to ask him.
JC: Was your mother jealous at all?
CR: I took one unflattering portrait of my mother two years ago, and she hasn’t let me take another photograph of her since. She was delighted to stay out of the limelight.
JC: Explain those older photographs in your display. I was a bit unfamiliar with them.
CR: The obituaries? I think you are referring to the obituaries so I will talk about them. I am fascinated by the obituaries of old type-cast actors and stunt men who made their living doing the same part or same act over and over again for public display. I found it very interesting that the photographs of them playing these parts were selected for their obituaries and not images of them at home in their day-to-day life. After reading their obituary I felt denied a certain access into the real life and their real character.
JC: Did you steal mail? That's a federal crime I think.
CR: I am not a crook.
JC: Hm. Do you like black licorice?
CR: No.
JC: I went to your exhibit, "I'm a Real Group Show" last year. How have you seen your work progress since then? Your work then focused on photographing hallways. Do you like shooting objects, locations, or portraits?
CR: I am interested in reception and perception—enacting a loss of control in the world. My practice is a consequence of what the work does in the world. The relationship between the viewer and the work is a driving force. The content of the work changes—portraits, location, objects—as my interests evolve, however, my work always aims to create pieces that challenge the viewer to re-align his awareness of physical phenomena in order to investigate how we live and interact with objects and events often scene as ones outside of the realm of artistic inquiry.
JC: What is next for you?
CR: I will have my first solo show this June at Vienna’s C17 Gallery featuring old work and a new video installation. I am very excited to travel. After that I will move to Los Angeles and thrive like a bear cub in the wild.
JC: I like bears. You're also a cinematographer. Tell me a bit about your film work and your art work. Do they compliment each other or conflict?
CR: They are in harmonious disarray with one another.
JC: Thank you, Christopher.
CR: Thank you.
Christopher Richmond is from San Diego. He is finishing up his last year at Chapman University with a degree in film production, ephasis in cinematography, and a minor in art.
Prints of his work are available for sale. If you are interested in purchasing, please contact him via e-mail at cyrichmond@gmail.com. You can also see his work that was selected for the shortlist for Germany’s Szpilman Award at http://www.award.szpilman.de/
-jc del barco ii
interviewer/critic/curious
Then after about an hour of toying with the idea in my head, I had a rough story that fits pretty much what you see in the finished video. A lot of details were filled out weeks or even months after the idea though. The art gallery was originally going to be a record store that Jared’s character worked at and Dana’s character was going to be a regular costumer that always came in and flirted with him, but we heard that we could get an art gallery for free, so we changed it. I guess it worked for the story though. In fact, the free art gallery fell through and we had to dress an empty loft up with all of our friends’ art pieces. So, even though it was an idea that came out of happenstance, it became something that we considered necessary for the story, at least in our eyes.
Also, Jared resetting his dominoes at the end was something that we came up much later in pre-production. That’s what really tells the story I think. The fact that we see that this guy goes through the same thing every day, and that even though he gets disappointed, he’s going to try again tomorrow. I think that it makes it so much more powerful to see him set up the dominoes again at the end of the video. That was never in the original pitch.
JC: How many dominoes did you buy?
AL: I think we bought six hundred and some odd dominoes. A little over 300 black and 300 white. We used pretty much all the dominoes at once in the spiral shot. I think that was the biggest domino shot, and we didn’t get it the first time, so we had to reset that whole thing. I KNOW we used all of the dominoes when we did foley. We set up another spiral and four microphones at different positions so that we could get a long track of constantly falling dominoes.
JC: What were some of the highs and lows of the shoot?
AL: I’m going to start with the low points because that’s how the video started. The first day of the shoot was one of the most nerve racking and disappointing days of my life. It started with false hope. We got the shot of Jared’s feet walking down the hall from his bedroom to the bathroom and the dominoes following him. It took about three or four takes I think, and we were really happy with what we got when we finished. We looked at each other and thought, “hey, this is going to be easy.” The rest of the day was crap. We shot for about seventeen hours. Our crew left after twelve hours and we called all of our friends who were getting off work to come and fill in as our backup crew and we shot for five more. I think we got about three or four shots in that day that we ended up using in the final video. We knew that it was going to be hard to shoot dominoes, but I don’t think we understood how much time it was going to take to reset them. Usually, after you shoot a take and it doesn’t work, you just do it again because all the lights and camera are set up already. However, when you have to reset a couple hundred dominoes, that adds forty minutes to every take.
I felt horrible at the end of that day. I wanted to cry, but I didn’t want to lose my leadership skills, so I held it in and just hugged [Cinematographer] Max. The hug said everything. We’re sort of gay that way. Fortunately, each day after that went a little smoother than the day before. So by the end of the video, we were all domino toppling experts.
I think that the highlight of the shoot for me was the third day of shooting. It was the day that we shot in the bedroom. Every day up until then was really grueling, and I was so stressed and anxious, I wasn’t sure if the video was going to work out. That day though, we ended up getting so many shots that just made me smile. I loved the dolly shots of Jared asleep in the bed and crawling in to bed, the first and last shots of the video. They both took a LOT of takes, but when we finally got them, I knew that whatever else we shot was going to be bookended with these two shots and I wanted them to be perfect. I’m really proud of those shots and REALLY proud of Max Well for pulling them off.
I also remember getting really excited about the shot of Jared’s feet stepping into the slippers. All we really planned was to show the dominoes go by and have his feet come down, but on set I decided that I wanted to see the train pass as well. This took a lot of practice. We had one guy (a certain JC) running the train, one guy toppling the dominos, Jared stepping down at the perfect time, and an AC pulling focus for all of these things. When we finally got that shot, I think I started giggling. Is that weird?
The other shot we got that day that blew my mind was the shot of Jared leaving his house. I don’t say that in a conceited way at all; I had nothing to do with why that shot was awesome. The credit can only go to Jared and Max. Max set that shot up and was able to get the crew to operate the dolly in an incredibly cramped space, and Jared amazed us all with his uncanny ability to walk at the same speed as toppling dominoes. That was something we were really worried about in pre-production, was that they would go way to fast for Jared to be able to walk naturally and keep up with the dominoes. I think he might have practiced at home. Every time we had to do another take, it had something to do with camera or lighting, it was never because Jared couldn’t keep up with the dominoes. He makes it look so effortless, jerk.
JC: Anything you would change about the video?
AL: The opening shot of the art gallery. There is so much I would change about that shot. I wish that the frame started tighter on Jared and pulled out to where it is at the end of the shot. I also wish that we had an extra or two cross the screen so that the shot didn’t seem so flat. I just don’t buy that shot. Also, I think that the dominoes could be revealed a little later. We were so rushed that whole day. Most anything that I’ve ever wanted to change in the video is from the art gallery shots. Fortunately that’s really the only shot that still bugs me though. I hate that it’s right in the middle of the video too, because youtube and facebook use it for the thumbnail. It’s just a frozen frame from the one shot I don’t like.
JC: Does it have anything to do with Mike Burrows or me in the background? Honest.
AL: Ha Ha. No. Well, actually, sort of yeah. I don't like the way that I directed you, Erin, and my mom to move. But it's not your fault, it's mine. Mike did great. Mike didn't even know he was in the video until I pointed it out to him because Jared's performance is so enthralling.
JC: Fair enough. Jared is sort of dreamy... like the glitterboy from Twilight. So, if you could shoot a video about me, what would it be?
AL: I would dress you up like the Easter Bunny and you would walk around with a basket full of Faberge eggs. You would deliver the eggs to all of the girls that like you, but instead of handing the egg to them, you’d throw it to the ground, smashing it. Somehow that would magically destroy the girls’ lives in different ways. I’ve got some ideas, but I want to talk to you about them first. I wouldn’t pitch this idea to just anyone, you’re the most bitter person I know. I think it fits you.
JC: I'm all sunshine and smiles. What are some of your music and film influences?
AL: I’m not really a musician, but I love Ozma. I guess that Argyle Smile influenced this particular video. Film on the other hand I could list so many influences. I think for this video particularly though, I would have to say Tim Burton, Wes Anderson, and Michel Gondry. Tim Burton, because we watched the opening to "PeeWee’s Big Adventure" a bunch to get ideas of how to visually show a chain reaction/Rube Goldberg kind of device. Wes Anderson, because I think a lot of the shots remind me of Wes Anderson. I don’t think we did that consciously, but people have pointed it out to me, and I agree with them, so there was probably some subliminal influence. I don’t know if any aesthetic aspects of the video were influenced directly by Michel Gondry, but I know that I was watching a lot of his music videos the week that I came up with the concept, so I have to imagine that he sparked the idea somehow in my brain.
JC: Do you like black licorice?
AL: I like Good N Plenty
JC: What is in store for you, Argyle smile, and the video? Any new projects?
AL: Argyle Smile’s EP is due out at the end of May and the video is going to be available on the CD. As for the video alone, we’re sending it to lots of festivals. It’s already generated a lot of interest from bands that want to hire us independently, but we hope to start working with some record companies soon so that we can get bigger budgets.JC: If you could shoot any band's music video, who would it be?
AL: Van Halen
JC: What is Jared's email address?
AL: Just message him at www.myspace.com/smileargyle. If he doesn’t get the email, Dana will, but she’s hot so it’s sort of a win win.
JC: Thanks, Alex.
AL: It was alot of fun! (Alex Lamb insists that I clarify that I wrote that last part for him. He claims that he had no fun and was tired when he did this.)
Alex Lamb is from Long Beach, CA but now lives in Beverly Hills. He graduated from Chapman University in 2006 with a BFA in Film Production. He is now an editor and director.
http://www.alexlambeditor.com/
Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alex-Lamb/55879215871
Check Argyle Smile out on the internet:
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/smileargyle
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=506868577&ref=mf#/profile.php?id=1312540500&ref=ts
-jc del barco ii
interviewer/extra/fan
