This especially commissioned Portfolio comprises nine images, each depicting friends of the artist performing for each other or the camera. Derived from the original 16mm film stock, this Portfolio captures Mekas's constant and playful chronicling of the world around him over the course of his career. Artists, musicians and dancers (including Miles Davis, John Lennon and Andy Warhol) are captured in unguarded and personal moments.
A film-maker, artist and poet, Jonas Mekas (b.1922, Lithuania) is one of the leading figures of avant-garde and independent cinema of the 20th century. Emigrating from Lithuania to New York in 1949, it was here Mekas became a central figure in the burgeoning arts community, alongside friends and collaborators such as Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol and film-makers Kenneth Anger and Maya Deren.
Mekas brings a poet's sensibility to the diary film style that permeates his work. His vision is unique in its ability to capture personal moments of beauty, celebration and joy. This especially commissioned Portfolio comprises nine images, each depicting friends of the artist performing for each other or the camera. Derived from the original 16mm film stock, this Portfolio captures Mekas's constant and playful chronicling of the world around him over the course of his career. Artists, musicians and dancers (including Miles Davis, John Lennon and Andy Warhol) are captured in unguarded and personal moments.
Mekas's work in turn has inspired many artists and film-makers to follow in his footsteps. Mike Figgis, Jim Jarmusch, Harmony Korine and Martin Scorsese, among many others, have cited Mekas as a key influence. Mekas's films and archive material have been exhibited extensively throughout the world, including at Documenta 11; the Venice Biennale 2005; the Whitney Museum of American Art and MoMA PS1, New York; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Baltic Art Center, Sweden; and the Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo.
