#zanderpadget

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Where have you gone Zander Padget?

In the past two months we have seen only a handful of Instagram videos, one of which alluded to some sort of coming surgery, and a music video made for Hip Hop artists of his hometown. Besides those works, we have seen nothing from the usually prolific multi-media artist and so we have to wonder, where has he gone?

Since the release of the searingly enigmatic Cali in April, the few works that Padget has put out have been, frankly, commercial. The music video for CP (Chris Porter), Kanayo and DJ Rebel seems more a work of commission than artistic endeavor. It is a completely standard music video, nothing at all meta or self-referential about it. In it we see rappers proposing that they are living the extravagant life (the piece is fittingly titled Livin’ Large) driving from their homes to a liquor store and then to a recording studio. Besides the cleanliness of the cuts and a good cinematographic eye, there is no reason that one would guess that Padget was behind the video. The Instagram videos above mentioned do show more creative agency but these decisions all fall within a 90s color scheme and flatness that has dominated the pop culture aesthetic for the past year and a half.

So, a question arises: is Padget’s once fiercely unique and genre defying voice succumbing to pressures of a capitalist society? Is he becoming a follower in hopes of being led to a land of remuneration?

I would offer that Padget is not following, but rather that Padget is wallowing. Yes, wallowing. If he were following, it would mean a loss of self awareness and perspective that I cannot see happening. It is just inconceivable that he would believe that making monochromatic music videos and Instagram posts in return for cash would lead to a satisfactory existence. Wallowing on the other hand allows for the survival of his self-awareness but puts it into a nefarious cauldron of indecision and societal influence.  

Wallowing is pejorative and certainly where he is right now cannot be called a “good” place in the simple sense. But his indulgence in his own despair, and the resulting one dimensional videos of late, is perhaps necessary if he is indeed convalescing from a surgery.

I posit that Padget is only half-heartedly wading into the commercial/mainstream waters. There is something there he wishes to see and in his state of wallow he can see it without the blinders that a healthy, full fledged self-consciousness would impose. It is dangerous certainly, and if he is not careful he could begin to mistake this study for a passion. But, if he makes it out intact, and finds himself on the other side, he will have added another face to the persona he so carefully crafts. 

The hope of such a magnificence I know he cannot deny.

[ajcritique-blog]

Response to Meyor

Terrell Meyor has recently come out with a rebuff to my critique of Zander Padget's 5-19-11, Passion Pit. This includes both a video and a written explanation. In the prose portion Meyor accuses me of using others' works as "vehicles" for my own "expression". In writing he also contends with a statement I had made in my initial critique, being that the 20 second portion I had chosen "typifies the movement style explored in the piece". In the video section Meyor takes aim on the validity of my critique, picking passages which he believes disprove the opinions I had put down.

What can I say Terrell? You have talent and insight. But your anger belies something pained beneath the surface. I encourage you to discover who or what it is you are really angry at.

And for the record, spatial investigation occurs as much in uniformity as it does with whimsy.

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Critique of just a section from Padget's Vault Series

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What I have been doing since posting WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING

I have started to create a tangible movement section for the video project. Unfortunately, this progress came in a rehearsal that began with the bowing out of Annie Shenzel who has found herself at maximum time commitment capacity. Prior to this development I had imagined a duet with Annie and Hunter Dance Company member Allison Sher, but as it turned out Allison would be the sole body on which I would set the movement.

  The process is amazing one. Making movement on the body that correlates with the movement of the camera is stimulating my brain to almost overwhelming extents. An impulse of my body can find manifestation in my dancer and/or the camera. It is incredible.

  To talk a little of the process, it is first necessary to explain that the scene we were working is going to be shot on top of a large roof in Brooklyn, #theonlythingmorehipsterthanshootingonaroofinbrooklynisnotshootingonaroofinbrooklynbecausethatissomethingthathipstersdo.With this scene I want to emphasize the relative positioning’s of these two players, so I began by concurrently mapping out the paths of Allison and the camera. It was exciting to feel how at times neither the dancer nor the camera seemed to be driving the movement while at other times clearly one of them was initiating.  I want to give the feeling that Allison is dancing with the camera BUT I do not want it to seem like a POV shot of some implied other dancer.

  I will post the video of what we have made so far.

  In Culture Hub land I have been mostly documenting the myriad events that pass through that studio. Last Friday, October 3rd, I filmed the crew as they worked on a project titled One Light, a South Korean art festival that was postponed in the Spring because of the Sewol Ferry Tragedy, and, since being rescheduled for October, has shifted its focus to helping heal the affected communities. It is perhaps because of this noble cause that tensions ran high that day as the Culture Hub team, collaborating musicians and dancers tried to calibrate their product to the vision of One Light's main organizer...I forgot his name. Of course, as this is a Culture Hubian affair, this nameless man was interacting with the artists from his bedroom in South Korea via telecommunication software.

  I will post above the beginnings of a larger piece.

[zanderpadget-blog]

What I have been Doing

Recently I have been a bit bogged down by the many things that I am supposed to be doing. Some of these things include choreographing a piece for Choreographic Projects, making a dance on video piece for an Independent Study, and a third project which I do not want to go into great detail about but which has the possibility to connect many aspects of my creativity. 

But what have I done? The past few days I have been working on the SAF grant proposal for the video and choreographic pieces. This has been a beneficial process because it has forced me to write down in certain terms the many ideas, goals and motivations which influence my work but that sometimes can remain aloft and scattered. I will show that grant in a subsequent post. 

Aside from this I have had a rehearsal with the one dancer/performer which I know I want to be in my piece, Annie Schenzel. We did some filming, me filming her and the other way around. This was ok but not very inspiring. What took my attention most was when we were sitting in between takes talking. I would have the camera on and would be recording our conversation with a lackadaisical, drifting camera work. This gave the footage a documentarian feeling. I am not sure how this will play into overall structure of the piece though. 

Things with Culture Hub have also began to start in earnest. We have worked out a schedule where I will come into the studio on Fridays and be there for a full 8 hour day. My assignments will vary according to the projects that Culture Hub is working on. Currently, I am compiling found footage of New York City and Seoul that will be used during the DJ Spooky show at The Asia Society on October 25th. This footage will most likely be projected onto screens hung a different depths on the stage. In addition to this regular work I will also be attending various workshops and events that Culture Hub will be hosting throughout the fall. I will be documenting these happenings and then editing the footage to create a mini narrative which will convey context and purpose. 

Finally, I have contacted Professor Michael Gitlin of the Media Department and have inquired about the feasibility of renting lighting and sound equipment from the studio, even though I am not currently enrolled in a film or media class. 

In conclusion, my continued pursuit of all modes of personal exploration has recently brought about fluctuating levels of caffein and sugar intake and a proclivity for the writing of the Japanese author Yukio Mishima. Mishima's diving descriptions of forbidden love and psychological turmoil help settle the mood swings brought about by the tumultuous use and disuse of said chemicals. Currently I am eating an apple and drinking green tea, yesterday it was a large coffee and almond croissant, I am the raging sea, the sea turtle below and the gaff taking what is given.  

[ajcritique-blog]

Review: Lay Waste

Lay Waste, the most recent of Zander Padget's video works, ends with text popping up onto the screen, reading, "Don't pigeonhole me bro". Such seems to underscore the overall rebellious nature of this mysterious piece. 

While Padget's previous videos Colorado Walk, My Warehouse and Wall Street offered meditations on movement, space and the body, in Lay Waste we see a move out of the conceptual and into the sensual. The music pounds a beat, the editing riffs and the compositions are mysterious, violent and sexy. The length of the piece, only 48 seconds, gives the piece an urgency which will attract audiences whose attention needs to be grabbed immediately and continually.

Lay Waste almost seems a teaser for something bigger to come. A flowering or bursting forth of some neglected reality. Early on in the short video, as the figure walks towards the camera there is a feeling of coming judgement, of a hellish retribution. I was reminded of Goya's Colossus (now believed to be painted by one of his students), for Padget's character seems capable of great and massive impact. It will be interesting to watch this developement in works to come.

don't pigeonhole him indeed

[ajcritique-blog]

Choice Color?

Regardless of taste some things cannot be denied: the pale aqua, off blue background of Zander Padget’s recently established website is something horrid and misconceived. It is understandable that Padget would invoke a hue that speaks to his subtle proclivities, just as understandable is that Padget would opt for a color that challenges the contemporary milieus of minimal retrogression in color application. To these ends Padget succeeds. But his success is totally subsumed in the overwhelming putridity of the color at hand. One cannot get past the color’s striking ugliness to even begin to consider the rebellion inherent in Padget’s choice.

Undoubtedly many will come to the defense of Mr. Padget, lauding him for his continued exorcism of contemporary art politics. They will succeed in defending Padget and will put forth arguments that many will take on as true. There is one man though, should he stick to the beliefs he has championed throughout his career, that will not be able to come into line with such opinion: Zander Padget himself. For it is Padget who has always valued the useful and aesthetically digestible in art and art making. In Allan Cloister’s interview with the artist Padget talked in depth of the give and take an artist must have with his audience. “You can challenge your audience, but you have to also reward them. You have to guide them along with a gentle hand at times, if it is all challenge then they will eventually tire and move on.” The color chosen by Padget can not be seen as anything but a challenge, as an offensive move that offers little in return.