CLIP JOINT

                  With most video art, after you grasp the concept, you cannot watch it more than a few minutes, however with the video, Clip Joint, by Norman Yonemoto, I wished it to go on forever. It was as if someone handed me a new form of language, or played something called music that I had never heard before but understood perfectly. This is because Y has constructed his language out of a collective subconscious that we all share. Just as  primitive (and I'm not so sure they were all that primitive in this area) people were said to have shared a common dream pool, we share a large and powerful ocean of movies that have formed our emotions and speaks to our darker less logical side in a nonverbal language that we all instantly understand. Y has selected from this warehouse of entertainment, which is communication in its most hypnotizing form, certain clips to be his words in a new sentence that they were never (or maybe they were subconsciously) intended to speak. The sentence is an emotional one, not narrative, and each clips gains a novel power in its new meaning while still dragging along the shadow of its past movies career. In this way the video comments on the role these clips have played in forming our not so individual psyches, which is in direct relation to the power they have to move us in their new context. It becomes an emotional shorthand that our logic can barely keep up with. How telling it would be if we each strung together our favorite clips into a trailer of our mental state. And how seriously formidable it is when a master manipulator such as Y sits in the editing bay. At first his audience plays the name game, which clip is from what movie, but soon the brain gives up it's attempt at control and we become animals purring with delight as he strokes our mental fur.

                  And what is the sentence that Y has created, the meaning that is to replace the bar code stamped on the backs of our heads? Actually it is a very old lesson that stands repeating especially in America now. It's a call for the reinstatement of the feminine in the ying yang balance of both men and women. In Western culture it's as old as the medieval Gnostic celebration of the sacred marriage of masculine and feminine, the gold the alchemists strive for, the philosopher's stone. This secret message is not dead, it is alive and stored deeply in our movies often under the misunderstood label, sex, and it's time we woke up and saw that Hollywood's obsession with the boy girl thing is not just about two people in love - it's about the imbalance of the logical and emotional side of each person, in all of  us. The repurposing of these movie clips pulls them out of their accustom shadows where they have been buried, candy coated, or mislabeled; Cathy saying I am Heathcliff, the farmer in 'The Good Earth' understanding that his dying wife is the earth he cannot live without, the catastrophic storms of mother nature's violence while man only cares if it's a boy child, even the juxtapositioning of Tony Perkins as Norman looking through a peep hole before to a line of boy students saying good by to Mr. Chips. Man abandon by his feminine side, is played by Jake Lamata slamming his head into his jail cell wall. What Hollywood does better than religion, science, and even literature, is the glorification of the female face we all have, Garbo, Dreyer's Joan of Arc, Audrey in "Roman Holiday' and Y wants to free this female side. The video questions why Monica Viti is so alienated in l'Eclipse, why the hero of La Doce Vita turns away from his last chance, the young girl on the beach, and why Anna Karina doesn't know how to say I love you as they drive away from Alphaville, and it answers with Dr. Frankenstien being talked into creating his own woman out of electricity, the same electricity that tortures our childhood hero, Flash Gordon. The loss that rosebud signifies is understood differently when society separates a young Peter Ibetson from his female playmate, his other half. The video resulted is my asking myself why men can't see the Garbo in themselves instead of feeling they want to fuck her, fuck the planet, and fuck over their neighbors, and end up like Jake Lamata, as aggressive brutes. When will they learn that fucking something doesn't mean you have it, but finding something does. These clips I have described are only the words and do not begin to tell you the film sentence Y has created nor will I waste any more time in a lame description where words are really out of date.

Unlike other conceptual artist, who dress in theory and love to spout logic, Y is not afraid to play with emotion and sexuality, how could he be when the Hollywood he is sampling is so over the top in this area. When I asked him about his video, he exploded that it was an attack on Bush, the lame, Bush, the stupid. Calming down, he continued in his normal silky voice, it's about patriarchy and it's perversion of the feminine. And just in case there was any doubt he had added the extra title "The Monosexually Perverse Verses the Feminine".

Clip Joint

Norman Yonemoto

TRACK 16

                  With most video art, after you grasp the concept, you cannot watch it more than a few minutes, however with this piece, I wished it to go on forever. It was as if someone handed me a new form of language, or played something called music that I had never heard before but understood perfectly. This is because video artist Norman Yonemoto, in his recent video Clip Joint, has constructed his language out of a collective subconscious that we all share. Just as primitive people shared a common dream pool, we share a large and powerful ocean of movies that has formed our emotions and speaks to our darker less logical side in a nonverbal language that we all instantly understand. Movies are our most hypnotizing form of communication and Yonemoto has selected certain movie clips to be his words in a new sentence that they were never (or maybe they were subconsciously) intended to speak. The sentence is an emotional one, not narrative, and each clips gains a novel power in its new meaning while still dragging along the shadow of its past movies career. Yonemoto comments on the role these clips have played in forming our not so individual psyches, which is in direct relation to the power they have to move us in his new context. It becomes an emotional shorthand that our logic can barely keep up with. How telling it would be if we each strung together our favorite clips into a trailer of our mental state. And how seriously formidable it is when a master manipulator such as Yonemoto sits in the editing bay. At first his audience plays the name game, which clip is from what movie, but soon the brain gives up it's attempt at control and we become animals purring with delight as he strokes our mental fur.

                  And what is the sentence that Y has created, the meaning that is to replace the bar code stamped on the backs of our heads? Actually it is a very old lesson that stands repeating especially in America now. It's a call for the reinstatement of the feminine in the ying yang balance of both men and women. In Western culture it's as old as the medieval Gnostic celebration of the sacred marriage of masculine and feminine. This secret message is not dead, it is alive and stored deeply in our movies, often under the misunderstood label, sex. In other words, Hollywood's obsession with the boy girl thing is not just about two people in love - it's about the imbalance between the logical and emotional in all of us. The repurposing of these movie clips pulls them out of their accustom shadows where they have been buried, candy coated, or mislabeled: the catastrophic storms of Mother Nature while all people want is a boy childe, the farmer in 'The Good Earth' understanding that his dying wife is the earth, Cathy saying I am Heathcliff. Man abandon by his feminine side, is Jake Lamata slamming his head into his jail cell wall, or the insane Dr. Frankenstien creating his own woman out of the same electricity that tortures Flash Gordon. The loss that rosebud signifies is understood differently when juxtapose with a young Peter Ibbetson when society separates him from his female playmate, his other half.

What Hollywood does better than religion, science, and even literature, is the glorification of the female face we all have. Garbo, Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc, and Audrey in Roman Holliday are some of the feelings Yonemoto wants to free inside of us and his video resulted in my asking myself why man can't see the Garbo in himself instead of feeling he has to fuck her, fuck the planet, and fuck over his neighbors, and end up like Jake Lamata, an aggressive brute.

Instead of bogging down in theory, Yonemoto plays beautifully with emotion and sexuality, like the Hollywood he is sampling. "It's about the patriarchy and it's perversion of the feminine," says Yonemoto and just in case there is any doubt he has added the extra title "The Monosexually Perverse Verses the Feminine".