Video Portrait NO.1 (KEV SOAR)
Baxter Dury-Claire
Too Late Too Early
Jay Griffin- He's kind of invisible
Somewhere In the middle
Monday 16 July 2012
Danny Sangra & Kevin Soar
Video Portrait NO.1 (KEV SOAR)
Baxter Dury-Claire
Too Late Too Early
Jay Griffin- He's kind of invisible
Somewhere In the middle
Interview with Maurizo Amadei for Hector (Hostem Mag), July 2012
Delight In the Detail
2011 was a paradigm shift of a year. Changes in one’s lifestyle
were sought by many, changes in thinking by the
government were sought absolutely, changes in thinking
by the police were sought reluctantly, changes in thinking
for political leaders the world over were sought forcibly,
changes in thinking in the retail sector were sought optimistically
and changes in thinking in fashion were sought
obviously. As the world turns, grounded designer Maurizio
Amadei focuses on the little things.
The individual has had to learn to adapt to their social surroundings,
to accept changes more negative than not and the
world has felt the brunt of years of bad mistakes. 2011 wasn’t
anything new, changes like this must and do occur in society
more often than we think, it was only in the 1980s that those
old enough to remember experienced more or less the same
kind of developments and regressions in the economy, society
and world wide. Coming out of those dark times were the
indulgent 1990s where the yuppy went mainstream and everyone
could and would have a taste of the finer things in life.
This year we will still be reeling from the hangover, but the
taste of those that revelled and induced the need for thoughtful
alkaseltzer is still fresh and certainly won’t wear off for some
time to come. The retail sector was predicted to suffer over
the winter period but instead it flummoxed the Aristotles and
roared on, not with lion force but the roar still lingered. In
fashion it appears people are seeking the pieces that last, that
stand the test of time, throw-away seasonal items are being
advised against.
One would assume that a wallet effecting label such as ma+
would have to adapt to not feeling the brunt of change. But
Maurizo Amadei sticks to what he likes, the second skin many
like to refer to when describing his output, is paramount and
a second skin is what people now seek with their purchases.
Imagine a new lover, discovering the many contours of their
body, and over the coming weeks and months stumbling upon
hidden moles, birthmarks and scars, all the things that make
the skin a beautiful textile to admire. Maurizio is, of course,
famous for his leather work and perhaps this is also responsible
for the second skin connotations.
Kevin Soar [KS ]: I have read much about how your designs
are inspired by the human form, when did this idea start to
inspire you? Was it something you were interested in when
you began or a gradual appreciation?
Maurizio Amadei [ma+]: My interest in the human form g rew
since I was young. But I am also inspired by all kinds of forms,
whether it be geometric shapes or wildlife.
[KS ]: Are you interested in forms to seek an ideal? Do you
believe in the ‘ideal human form’ or should it be celebrated
in all its guises?
[ma+]: Much of the collection is quite fitted, so naturally I have
a certain form in mind if I want the pieces to be comfortable
to wear. But thankfully, there are all kinds of shapes out there
to keep life interesting and fresh. The A+V project we are doing
is as much about any kind of form as it is based on the custom
made to measure approach.
[KS ]: Do you have a perfect muse, past or present, that you
imagine pieces on to help design?
[ma+]: Not really, muses come and go. However, I have used the
same male fitting model for the last five years, since he was 16.
I like the idea of watching him grow with the collections. I only
see him when we are presenting a collection in Paris, so I need
to imagine how things will fit him whilst I’m developing them.
[KS ]: Is it important that to celebrate the human form you
must feel slightly detached from it? Surely like everyone
else you must see things on the news that make you detest
humanity sometimes?
[ma+]: Definitely. When it comes to news, I see mostly things that
make me very depressed, angry or disgusted… but I guess that’s
what sells news. Luckily, to reaffirm my notion of humanity,
I have family, friends, positive new encounters and very importantly,
humorous moments.
[KS ]: Many designers detach themselves from world events
to concentrate on their work. Where do you stand on
Europe’s current financial crisis and the political situation
in Italy? Do you ever worry about the future, whether in
business or personally?
[ma+]: I usually try to ignore politics in Italy because it is
so pathetic. But of late, shutting it off is almost impossible.
I feel more concerned for the future Italy. It does not really
matter where you are or where you come from – we are so
interconnected. The problems of today are increasingly shared
and can only be resolved with widening co-operation. But
I do feel a general optimism in that such a pressure point that
we are currently experiencing could bring strong changes,
which would be good…changes in structure, thinking, attitudes…
real progress.
[KS ]: Leather, many would a rgue, i s the material you a re
most famous for using. The material in garment form has
connotations with the rebel, and the hunter among others.
Which of these do you feel closer to in your personality?
[ma+]: Good question. Hard to pick one. I am motivated by the
traditional origins of leather use not wasting [anything] from a
hunt and I am attracted by the strong tough look of leather. If I
really had to choose, I would have to say the hunter aspect,
even though I don’t hunt.
[KS ]: With regard to your timeless work boots, did you design
and make them to withstand the stresses of day to day labouring
or as more of a peacock/expressive piece of footwear?
[ma+]: They’re both equally important. But knowing that something
is made to last, feeling and looking better with wear,
really deepens its aesthetic.
[KS ]: When did you first become fascinated by the craft and
beauty of leather?
[ma+]: When I left home to go and live in London I started to experiment
more with what I wore. I have always looked at what
we wear as a second skin and leather being one, it naturally
became a base for me to develop from.
[KS ]: Your style of constructing I would say is not very
European. Where does this almost Zen way of construction
come from?
[ma+]: I’m not really sure what European is? I take influences
from all kinds of things…obvious and not so obvious. I like the
idea of Zen, for example, it suits the way I ideally like to create.
But life is full of many intense moments…maybe this drives me
to find and make some tranquillity in making the pieces.
[KS ]: I know your textiles are largely sought in Japan; do
you also take inspiration from the East?
[ma+]: Yes, very much so. I try to go to Japan once a year for
the fabric and love to see firsthand how things work there and
understand their points of view.
[KS ]: I find your work is not defined by trends but it seems
the product of an artisan. Do you keep an eye on what
those on the streets of Rome or in fact any large fashionable
city are wearing and what other designers are doing,
or do your inspirations come purely from the imagination,
the psyche of an artist?
[ma+]: I’m actually not very often in the city, nor do I browse
the internet or read magazines. I guess I absorb things from my
teenage daughter, listening to music, a film, reading a book, a
conversation, being able to relax or even to argue...anything
really. I don’t really work through themes or stories. A lot of it
is problem solving, if you can really call them problems.
[KS ]: Do you have a specific piece in your back catalogue
that is close to your heart?
[ma+]: I like pulling things out that I have not worn for a long
time or especially things that I have forgotten about. I get quite
a nice sensation if I can relate to it on different levels, whether
it be reliving certain memories, revising how I made it or seeing
it with fresh eyes.
[KS ]: You must then take an interest in buildings and also
the shapes of the natural world. What places always give
the most joy and stimulation to your brain?
[ma+]: I really enjoy travelling and seeing all kinds of environments.
But I get the most joy from nature, in particularly the sea.
[KS ]: Once you c reate something, do you ever take more
and more away to see the very beauty of the bones of the
garment and work with that?
[ma+]: S ure, t his p rocess h elps t o e stablish a f oundation t o
explore and evolve in new directions. People sometimes say to
me that there is not enough change in the collection, but it’s a
little like quantum physics, there is a lot there if you are open
or wanting to see it.
[KS ]: I see your work as somewhere in the middle, a beautiful
cohesion between the wearer and the cloth. What type of
person would you say works seamlessly in ma+?
[ma+]: It’s open. There are people who are looking for something
from ma+, whether it is a way of construction, certain
details, a deepness to the fabric, a particular essence. There are
also people who have a chance meeting with a piece, leading
to a new found connection, we all like nice surprises.
www.maurizioamadei.com
Delight In the Detail
2011 was a paradigm shift of a year. Changes in one’s lifestyle
were sought by many, changes in thinking by the
government were sought absolutely, changes in thinking
by the police were sought reluctantly, changes in thinking
for political leaders the world over were sought forcibly,
changes in thinking in the retail sector were sought optimistically
and changes in thinking in fashion were sought
obviously. As the world turns, grounded designer Maurizio
Amadei focuses on the little things.
The individual has had to learn to adapt to their social surroundings,
to accept changes more negative than not and the
world has felt the brunt of years of bad mistakes. 2011 wasn’t
anything new, changes like this must and do occur in society
more often than we think, it was only in the 1980s that those
old enough to remember experienced more or less the same
kind of developments and regressions in the economy, society
and world wide. Coming out of those dark times were the
indulgent 1990s where the yuppy went mainstream and everyone
could and would have a taste of the finer things in life.
This year we will still be reeling from the hangover, but the
taste of those that revelled and induced the need for thoughtful
alkaseltzer is still fresh and certainly won’t wear off for some
time to come. The retail sector was predicted to suffer over
the winter period but instead it flummoxed the Aristotles and
roared on, not with lion force but the roar still lingered. In
fashion it appears people are seeking the pieces that last, that
stand the test of time, throw-away seasonal items are being
advised against.
One would assume that a wallet effecting label such as ma+
would have to adapt to not feeling the brunt of change. But
Maurizo Amadei sticks to what he likes, the second skin many
like to refer to when describing his output, is paramount and
a second skin is what people now seek with their purchases.
Imagine a new lover, discovering the many contours of their
body, and over the coming weeks and months stumbling upon
hidden moles, birthmarks and scars, all the things that make
the skin a beautiful textile to admire. Maurizio is, of course,
famous for his leather work and perhaps this is also responsible
for the second skin connotations.
Kevin Soar [KS ]: I have read much about how your designs
are inspired by the human form, when did this idea start to
inspire you? Was it something you were interested in when
you began or a gradual appreciation?
Maurizio Amadei [ma+]: My interest in the human form g rew
since I was young. But I am also inspired by all kinds of forms,
whether it be geometric shapes or wildlife.
[KS ]: Are you interested in forms to seek an ideal? Do you
believe in the ‘ideal human form’ or should it be celebrated
in all its guises?
[ma+]: Much of the collection is quite fitted, so naturally I have
a certain form in mind if I want the pieces to be comfortable
to wear. But thankfully, there are all kinds of shapes out there
to keep life interesting and fresh. The A+V project we are doing
is as much about any kind of form as it is based on the custom
made to measure approach.
[KS ]: Do you have a perfect muse, past or present, that you
imagine pieces on to help design?
[ma+]: Not really, muses come and go. However, I have used the
same male fitting model for the last five years, since he was 16.
I like the idea of watching him grow with the collections. I only
see him when we are presenting a collection in Paris, so I need
to imagine how things will fit him whilst I’m developing them.
[KS ]: Is it important that to celebrate the human form you
must feel slightly detached from it? Surely like everyone
else you must see things on the news that make you detest
humanity sometimes?
[ma+]: Definitely. When it comes to news, I see mostly things that
make me very depressed, angry or disgusted… but I guess that’s
what sells news. Luckily, to reaffirm my notion of humanity,
I have family, friends, positive new encounters and very importantly,
humorous moments.
[KS ]: Many designers detach themselves from world events
to concentrate on their work. Where do you stand on
Europe’s current financial crisis and the political situation
in Italy? Do you ever worry about the future, whether in
business or personally?
[ma+]: I usually try to ignore politics in Italy because it is
so pathetic. But of late, shutting it off is almost impossible.
I feel more concerned for the future Italy. It does not really
matter where you are or where you come from – we are so
interconnected. The problems of today are increasingly shared
and can only be resolved with widening co-operation. But
I do feel a general optimism in that such a pressure point that
we are currently experiencing could bring strong changes,
which would be good…changes in structure, thinking, attitudes…
real progress.
[KS ]: Leather, many would a rgue, i s the material you a re
most famous for using. The material in garment form has
connotations with the rebel, and the hunter among others.
Which of these do you feel closer to in your personality?
[ma+]: Good question. Hard to pick one. I am motivated by the
traditional origins of leather use not wasting [anything] from a
hunt and I am attracted by the strong tough look of leather. If I
really had to choose, I would have to say the hunter aspect,
even though I don’t hunt.
[KS ]: With regard to your timeless work boots, did you design
and make them to withstand the stresses of day to day labouring
or as more of a peacock/expressive piece of footwear?
[ma+]: They’re both equally important. But knowing that something
is made to last, feeling and looking better with wear,
really deepens its aesthetic.
[KS ]: When did you first become fascinated by the craft and
beauty of leather?
[ma+]: When I left home to go and live in London I started to experiment
more with what I wore. I have always looked at what
we wear as a second skin and leather being one, it naturally
became a base for me to develop from.
[KS ]: Your style of constructing I would say is not very
European. Where does this almost Zen way of construction
come from?
[ma+]: I’m not really sure what European is? I take influences
from all kinds of things…obvious and not so obvious. I like the
idea of Zen, for example, it suits the way I ideally like to create.
But life is full of many intense moments…maybe this drives me
to find and make some tranquillity in making the pieces.
[KS ]: I know your textiles are largely sought in Japan; do
you also take inspiration from the East?
[ma+]: Yes, very much so. I try to go to Japan once a year for
the fabric and love to see firsthand how things work there and
understand their points of view.
[KS ]: I find your work is not defined by trends but it seems
the product of an artisan. Do you keep an eye on what
those on the streets of Rome or in fact any large fashionable
city are wearing and what other designers are doing,
or do your inspirations come purely from the imagination,
the psyche of an artist?
[ma+]: I’m actually not very often in the city, nor do I browse
the internet or read magazines. I guess I absorb things from my
teenage daughter, listening to music, a film, reading a book, a
conversation, being able to relax or even to argue...anything
really. I don’t really work through themes or stories. A lot of it
is problem solving, if you can really call them problems.
[KS ]: Do you have a specific piece in your back catalogue
that is close to your heart?
[ma+]: I like pulling things out that I have not worn for a long
time or especially things that I have forgotten about. I get quite
a nice sensation if I can relate to it on different levels, whether
it be reliving certain memories, revising how I made it or seeing
it with fresh eyes.
[KS ]: You must then take an interest in buildings and also
the shapes of the natural world. What places always give
the most joy and stimulation to your brain?
[ma+]: I really enjoy travelling and seeing all kinds of environments.
But I get the most joy from nature, in particularly the sea.
[KS ]: Once you c reate something, do you ever take more
and more away to see the very beauty of the bones of the
garment and work with that?
[ma+]: S ure, t his p rocess h elps t o e stablish a f oundation t o
explore and evolve in new directions. People sometimes say to
me that there is not enough change in the collection, but it’s a
little like quantum physics, there is a lot there if you are open
or wanting to see it.
[KS ]: I see your work as somewhere in the middle, a beautiful
cohesion between the wearer and the cloth. What type of
person would you say works seamlessly in ma+?
[ma+]: It’s open. There are people who are looking for something
from ma+, whether it is a way of construction, certain
details, a deepness to the fabric, a particular essence. There are
also people who have a chance meeting with a piece, leading
to a new found connection, we all like nice surprises.
www.maurizioamadei.com
Interview with Bruce La Bruce for Baron Magazine, Jan 2012
Baron Bonds with Bruce La Bruce
Bruce LaBruce is a true zeitgeist of our generation.
As a moviemaker Bruce LaBruce is unchallenged in the way
he makes movies, he operates without a care for who will watch
them, an avant-garde artist in every sense. He doesn’t set out to
deliberately offend like a fledgling artist might, but offend he can.
He makes what he wants, about what he wants, with micro budgets.
Confronted with money he doesn’t bow to the masses; he uses it
to make something true to himself and his vision. This piece is not
intended as an homage to Bruce LaBruce, he like everyone else has
flaws, but it is the honesty in his work that overrides and forcefully
volleys back any criticism sent his way.
LA Zombie was the movie that brought Bruce into the
consciousness of most of today’s young film enthusiasts and
budding auteurs. But on the back of this controversial masterpiece,
the artistic importance of his oeuvre is bound to be rolled out,
and consumed once more. Banned at the Melbourne Film Festival,
it wasn’t so much the shock of sexual orifice intrusion (already
witnessed in Otto: or, Up with Dead People) that shocked those
who did get to see the movie, but its portrayal of the LA homeless
situation and its explicitly original handling of horror and porn.
“I made LA Zombie more as a visual idea, I only had a three
page outline when I went to LA to shoot it, and when I went for
pre-production and scouting locations we really noticed the severe
homeless situation so we included as much as we could when we
were shooting. It’s obviously systematic of something much wider
that is happening, that America is turning into a banana republic.”
Throughout history horror writing has manifested society’s
fears, but recently the genre has lost its way, regurgitating
old themes, films and stories. Stoker’s Dracula and its numerous
adaptations highlighted the fear of the immigrant and the
foreigner, and Shelley’s Frankenstein set its sights on science
and the enlightenment. Bruce LaBruce doesn’t see that
correlation in horror today.
“I think that the whole new wave of horror movies,
are almost like an anti-intellectualism where certain people,
and certainly horror geeks, almost resent when you try to use
the genre for nefarious purposes, like metaphor or allegory, it’s
almost supposed to be unconscious or something, so they feel
very territorial about the genre. There’s a kind of tendency
to reject any kind of analysis of horror.”
Romero re-introduced the zombie onto our screens as
a political monster and now Bruce has re-worked Romero’s idea
of the ‘Political Zombie Film’ by introducing the homosexual
man as the zombie in Otto; or, Up with Dead People for one of
the worlds first brushes with the ‘Gay Zombie Porno’. With LA
Zombie, Bruce took that theme one step further, introducing not
just alienation as a theme but poverty as well. So what we’re left
with, as Bruce alluded to, is LA Zombie the first ‘Gay Zombie
Poverty Porno’ ever made.
“Both Otto” and LA Zombie featured marginalised, schizo
gay people and a friend of mine who saw LA Zombie said ‘wow,
that really is poverty porn’ because it’s combining elements of porn
with cinéma vérité style footage of the homeless, whilst looking at
street life in LA. I tried to put two seemingly impossible elements
together so I mixed porn with this documentary realism; some
people get it and found it interesting and some people just can’t
get past the porn.”
Bruce LaBruce was greatly influenced by his mentor in film
college, the respected film critic Robin Wood who edited a seminal
book on 70’s horror, ‘The American Nightmare: Essays on the
Horror Film’.
“His main theory was that a lot of these films signified the
return of the repressed. There was a lot of repression in American
society post Vietnam, there was political upheaval, there was a
return to a certain social conservatism and a lot of the analysis was
about sexual oppression and how any kind of repression returns as
some kind of monstrous form; it has to manifest itself someway!”
Bruce claims that it’s this idea that he was referencing
somewhat in Otto; or, Up with Dead People, his first foray into the
horror genre. Last year LaBruce wrote a tongue-in-cheek article for
his column ‘Wondering’ in Vice Magazine, criticising Canada and
some of its foreign policies.
“I was partly forced out of the country in a way because
my early films were that sexually explicit I was accused of being
a pornographer. I had film labs call the cops on me, I would have
them try and confiscate my work, so it was hard to get funding
from anyone in Canada so I was forced to move away to make the
films, that’s when I moved to LA for a year”
Whether or not Bruce is consciously referring to his
feelings toward the extreme conservatism that runs rife through
Canadian society in his films, he definitely still finds it a difficult
place to go back to in terms of work.
“I get next to no distribution in Canada, there is a
weird phenomenon here, you are forced to leave for your work,
because there isn’t an interest or a market here for avant-garde,
underground or pornographic film so you have to go somewhere
else to make it. Then when you come back they kind of resent
you for having gone away in the first place. There’s also a sort of
preventionism in Canada.”
From early in his career Bruce found minds akin to his own
in Berlin. His long time producer Jurgen Bruning found funding
and open arms for Bruce in the German capital. The city’s influence
on Bruce LaBruce is evident in No skin off my Ass and Skin
Flick in their association with the gay skinhead, a culture he first
witnessed in Berlin. However it’s in The Raspberry Reich that the
love affair really blossoms. The Raspberry Reich is a pastiche of
revolutionary fashion and fads and an ode to the Red Army Faction,
the famous Baader Meinhoff group who ran amuck during the
70s. Upon release, Bruce was introduced to Felix Ensslin who was
Gudrun Ensslin’s son, one of the four main members of the RAF.
Through him Bruce met Gottfried Ensslin, Gudrun’s brother who,
whilst she was in jail exchanged letters with his sister in which she
encouraged his homosexual activism. Gottfried loved the film for
embracing these ideals, and it is these links that encourage
Bruce to push on in his use of pornography as political activism.
“I like to think we did something unique that was about
sexual revolution but also a porn movie which I think was
important, as it was like ‘put your Marxism where your mouth
is’. It was also not only an investigation into their belief system
but also a critique into how revolutionary movements are coopted
or how they become incorporated into fashion, and their
political significance becomes irrelevant, dissipating, leaving empty
signifiers that are exploited by capitalism.”
Bruce again referenced porn’s importance as a weapon
in a recent column, saying, “Today, with the emergence of the
gay conservatism, pornography appears to be the last bastion
of sexual radicalism. That’s why I always express solidarity with
gay pornographers. They’re the last glimmer of glamour in
the gay movement.”
As we chatted with Bruce about last year’s gay marriage
law passing in New York he said,
“There is no movement anymore, there is no solidarity,
there’s no progressive or subversive agenda anymore, so what
unified people disappears, in a way I think the gay movement
is dead anyway. I think it’s a shame that so much money has been
poured into marriage as opposed to AIDs, the AIDs crisis has
kind of been put on the back burner to fund the marriage agenda.”
It was back in Canada where Bruce found his first real
avant-garde inspiration in AA Bronson and his partners
‘General Idea’, enthusing,
“3 gay men in an art collective who made work that was
ahead of its time, and specifically homosexual and influenced by
the sitiuationalists, they put a political and aesthetic dimension
to the work that was quite avant-garde way back in the 70s.”
This is where Bruce wants to be. He cites himself as
a purveyor of The Gay Avant-Garde and he is an inspiration
to others because of it. But what’s most inspiring is that Bruce
LaBruce isn’t nearly done, he has only just begun and with porn
as his weapon, he won’t stop until the machine has been bombed
into submission.
Baron Bonds with Bruce La Bruce
Bruce LaBruce is a true zeitgeist of our generation.
As a moviemaker Bruce LaBruce is unchallenged in the way
he makes movies, he operates without a care for who will watch
them, an avant-garde artist in every sense. He doesn’t set out to
deliberately offend like a fledgling artist might, but offend he can.
He makes what he wants, about what he wants, with micro budgets.
Confronted with money he doesn’t bow to the masses; he uses it
to make something true to himself and his vision. This piece is not
intended as an homage to Bruce LaBruce, he like everyone else has
flaws, but it is the honesty in his work that overrides and forcefully
volleys back any criticism sent his way.
LA Zombie was the movie that brought Bruce into the
consciousness of most of today’s young film enthusiasts and
budding auteurs. But on the back of this controversial masterpiece,
the artistic importance of his oeuvre is bound to be rolled out,
and consumed once more. Banned at the Melbourne Film Festival,
it wasn’t so much the shock of sexual orifice intrusion (already
witnessed in Otto: or, Up with Dead People) that shocked those
who did get to see the movie, but its portrayal of the LA homeless
situation and its explicitly original handling of horror and porn.
“I made LA Zombie more as a visual idea, I only had a three
page outline when I went to LA to shoot it, and when I went for
pre-production and scouting locations we really noticed the severe
homeless situation so we included as much as we could when we
were shooting. It’s obviously systematic of something much wider
that is happening, that America is turning into a banana republic.”
Throughout history horror writing has manifested society’s
fears, but recently the genre has lost its way, regurgitating
old themes, films and stories. Stoker’s Dracula and its numerous
adaptations highlighted the fear of the immigrant and the
foreigner, and Shelley’s Frankenstein set its sights on science
and the enlightenment. Bruce LaBruce doesn’t see that
correlation in horror today.
“I think that the whole new wave of horror movies,
are almost like an anti-intellectualism where certain people,
and certainly horror geeks, almost resent when you try to use
the genre for nefarious purposes, like metaphor or allegory, it’s
almost supposed to be unconscious or something, so they feel
very territorial about the genre. There’s a kind of tendency
to reject any kind of analysis of horror.”
Romero re-introduced the zombie onto our screens as
a political monster and now Bruce has re-worked Romero’s idea
of the ‘Political Zombie Film’ by introducing the homosexual
man as the zombie in Otto; or, Up with Dead People for one of
the worlds first brushes with the ‘Gay Zombie Porno’. With LA
Zombie, Bruce took that theme one step further, introducing not
just alienation as a theme but poverty as well. So what we’re left
with, as Bruce alluded to, is LA Zombie the first ‘Gay Zombie
Poverty Porno’ ever made.
“Both Otto” and LA Zombie featured marginalised, schizo
gay people and a friend of mine who saw LA Zombie said ‘wow,
that really is poverty porn’ because it’s combining elements of porn
with cinéma vérité style footage of the homeless, whilst looking at
street life in LA. I tried to put two seemingly impossible elements
together so I mixed porn with this documentary realism; some
people get it and found it interesting and some people just can’t
get past the porn.”
Bruce LaBruce was greatly influenced by his mentor in film
college, the respected film critic Robin Wood who edited a seminal
book on 70’s horror, ‘The American Nightmare: Essays on the
Horror Film’.
“His main theory was that a lot of these films signified the
return of the repressed. There was a lot of repression in American
society post Vietnam, there was political upheaval, there was a
return to a certain social conservatism and a lot of the analysis was
about sexual oppression and how any kind of repression returns as
some kind of monstrous form; it has to manifest itself someway!”
Bruce claims that it’s this idea that he was referencing
somewhat in Otto; or, Up with Dead People, his first foray into the
horror genre. Last year LaBruce wrote a tongue-in-cheek article for
his column ‘Wondering’ in Vice Magazine, criticising Canada and
some of its foreign policies.
“I was partly forced out of the country in a way because
my early films were that sexually explicit I was accused of being
a pornographer. I had film labs call the cops on me, I would have
them try and confiscate my work, so it was hard to get funding
from anyone in Canada so I was forced to move away to make the
films, that’s when I moved to LA for a year”
Whether or not Bruce is consciously referring to his
feelings toward the extreme conservatism that runs rife through
Canadian society in his films, he definitely still finds it a difficult
place to go back to in terms of work.
“I get next to no distribution in Canada, there is a
weird phenomenon here, you are forced to leave for your work,
because there isn’t an interest or a market here for avant-garde,
underground or pornographic film so you have to go somewhere
else to make it. Then when you come back they kind of resent
you for having gone away in the first place. There’s also a sort of
preventionism in Canada.”
From early in his career Bruce found minds akin to his own
in Berlin. His long time producer Jurgen Bruning found funding
and open arms for Bruce in the German capital. The city’s influence
on Bruce LaBruce is evident in No skin off my Ass and Skin
Flick in their association with the gay skinhead, a culture he first
witnessed in Berlin. However it’s in The Raspberry Reich that the
love affair really blossoms. The Raspberry Reich is a pastiche of
revolutionary fashion and fads and an ode to the Red Army Faction,
the famous Baader Meinhoff group who ran amuck during the
70s. Upon release, Bruce was introduced to Felix Ensslin who was
Gudrun Ensslin’s son, one of the four main members of the RAF.
Through him Bruce met Gottfried Ensslin, Gudrun’s brother who,
whilst she was in jail exchanged letters with his sister in which she
encouraged his homosexual activism. Gottfried loved the film for
embracing these ideals, and it is these links that encourage
Bruce to push on in his use of pornography as political activism.
“I like to think we did something unique that was about
sexual revolution but also a porn movie which I think was
important, as it was like ‘put your Marxism where your mouth
is’. It was also not only an investigation into their belief system
but also a critique into how revolutionary movements are coopted
or how they become incorporated into fashion, and their
political significance becomes irrelevant, dissipating, leaving empty
signifiers that are exploited by capitalism.”
Bruce again referenced porn’s importance as a weapon
in a recent column, saying, “Today, with the emergence of the
gay conservatism, pornography appears to be the last bastion
of sexual radicalism. That’s why I always express solidarity with
gay pornographers. They’re the last glimmer of glamour in
the gay movement.”
As we chatted with Bruce about last year’s gay marriage
law passing in New York he said,
“There is no movement anymore, there is no solidarity,
there’s no progressive or subversive agenda anymore, so what
unified people disappears, in a way I think the gay movement
is dead anyway. I think it’s a shame that so much money has been
poured into marriage as opposed to AIDs, the AIDs crisis has
kind of been put on the back burner to fund the marriage agenda.”
It was back in Canada where Bruce found his first real
avant-garde inspiration in AA Bronson and his partners
‘General Idea’, enthusing,
“3 gay men in an art collective who made work that was
ahead of its time, and specifically homosexual and influenced by
the sitiuationalists, they put a political and aesthetic dimension
to the work that was quite avant-garde way back in the 70s.”
This is where Bruce wants to be. He cites himself as
a purveyor of The Gay Avant-Garde and he is an inspiration
to others because of it. But what’s most inspiring is that Bruce
LaBruce isn’t nearly done, he has only just begun and with porn
as his weapon, he won’t stop until the machine has been bombed
into submission.
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