Comments on: BROCK ENRIGHT: GOOD TIMES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME Review http://blog.spout.com/2009/04/07/brock-enright-good-times-will-never-be-the-same-review/ Daily coverage of what is truly interesting in the film world Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:42:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: james merrigan http://blog.spout.com/2009/04/07/brock-enright-good-times-will-never-be-the-same-review/#comment-126049 james merrigan Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:56:53 +0000 http://blog.spout.com/?p=11808#comment-126049 This is the problem with documentary film that portrays the artist at work. Jackson Pollock regretted it in the 50's and so will Brock Enright. There is also a clash between film and art. I am not saying that there is a chasm between the two but art is driven by marketability, no matter what the artist is trying to sell. Before this idea of a documentary had been conceived Enright had asked Jody Lee lipes to be a cinematograher for the video work he was producing for his upcoming show at Perry Rubenstein. Enright's request was denied but a docu-film was born. Remember, Roberta Smith described Enright as a "tantilizing elusive figure" up to the Perry Rubenstein show. So, when an artist shows at a establised gallery he becomes less interesting? Maybe Enright got a taste of the market that is part and parcel of the gallery circuit and wants a bit for himself. I went to the show at Perry Rubenstein in 2007 and hated it at first. The "hills have eyes" meets Paul McCarthy. But, overtime, the show has become one of the best I have seen in recent years. The images seem to stay with me. Imprinted. The last line of the review, posed as a question, maybe naive when you consider that "Art'," in the realm of McCarthy, Kelly and Enright, is more compelling when it eludes an answer. And his desire to sell is just a reflection of how the art market controls the beast. This is the problem with documentary film that portrays the artist at work. Jackson Pollock regretted it in the 50’s and so will Brock Enright. There is also a clash between film and art. I am not saying that there is a chasm between the two but art is driven by marketability, no matter what the artist is trying to sell. Before this idea of a documentary had been conceived Enright had asked Jody Lee lipes to be a cinematograher for the video work he was producing for his upcoming show at Perry Rubenstein. Enright’s request was denied but a docu-film was born. Remember, Roberta Smith described Enright as a “tantilizing elusive figure” up to the Perry Rubenstein show. So, when an artist shows at a establised gallery he becomes less interesting? Maybe Enright got a taste of the market that is part and parcel of the gallery circuit and wants a bit for himself. I went to the show at Perry Rubenstein in 2007 and hated it at first. The “hills have eyes” meets Paul McCarthy. But, overtime, the show has become one of the best I have seen in recent years. The images seem to stay with me. Imprinted.

The last line of the review, posed as a question, maybe naive when you consider that “Art’,” in the realm of McCarthy, Kelly and Enright, is more compelling when it eludes an answer. And his desire to sell is just a reflection of how the art market controls the beast.

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