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BRUCE CONNER, 1933- 2008
Artforum reports that filmmaker Bruce Conner has died. Here is their notice:
Bruce Conner, a San Francisco–based artist known for his assemblages, films, drawings, and interdisciplinary works, passed away Monday afternoon. Conner moved to San Francisco in 1957 and quickly found his place within the city’s vibrant Beat community. His gauzy assemblages of scraps salvaged from abandoned buildings, nylon stockings, doll parts, and other found materials gained him art-world attention, as did A Movie (1958), an avant-garde film that juxtaposed footage from B movies, newsreels, soft-core pornography, and other fragments, all set to a musical score. (In 1991, A Movie was selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry at the Library of Congress.) Conner was active in the Bay Area’s 1960s counterculture scene, designing light shows for Family Dog performances at the Avalon Ballroom, and in the ’70s focused on drawing and photography. Art-world recognition resumed in the ’80s and continued to the present: Conner was included in the 1997 Whitney Biennial, was the subject of a touring survey in 1999–2000, and is featured in the current Carnegie International. At Conner’s request, there will be no funeral.
When Filmmaker compiled its list of “50 Most Important Independent Films,” Bruce Conner’s A Film made the list. A tremendously important artist and filmmaker, Conner pioneered styles and filmmaking practices that resonated across experimental film, punk, and music video. Ray Pride has many links about Conner as well as quite a few embedded videos over at MovieCityIndie.
