In Crete, Nebraska
It's 'Just Good Meat9
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OPINION
by Nelson Potter
In Crete, Nebraska, last
week, for the third and pro
bably last time, the "Just Good
Meat" show was presented to a
gathering of friends artists
and friends of art by a group
that calls itself "The Church of
Your Choice."
The group is four men who
live and work in Lincoln:
Claude Bery, Gary Hill, John
Spence, and Bob Thomas. They
are actively involved in the
creative process, and the "Just
Good Meat" show is, much of
it, a report on work in pro
gress. THEY ARE primarily in
volved in visual creation
though Bob Thomas also, on
occasion, plays an improvisa
tional guitar, influenced by the
many strands of the American
guitar tradition, but most of all
by the Indian raga.
The group has lived and
worked together for the last six
months, but are starting to split
up. After this period of mutual
exploration of the visual image,
they are no doubt finding that it
is time for great individuality,
artistic and personal.
In their six months together
they have not only been in
volved in the activity that pro
duced the "Just Good Meat"
show they also played a
major role in the production of
"The Bread Also Rises," by
Bruce Killer at Der Loaf und
Stein.
THE GROUP also played an
important role in the produc
tion of "Review Three", a
broadside-poster that included
striking facial closeups and
comments by Claude Bery, a
poem by Gary Hill, and selec
tions from "The Bread Also
Rises."
Sunday night's production of
"Just Good Meat" was pro
bably the last. The group has
done other films recently, and
is eager to show them, rather
than the earlier films of
"Meat." And, in Lincoln, the
group now has no place ade
quately equipped to show their
films.
They started out with the
encouragement and support of
Sheldon Gallery director
Norman Geske, but their use of
the Sheldon's auditorium has
been withdrawn.
ANOTHER MENTOR, now
absent, is one-time Nebraska
photography instructor, Mike
McLaughlin. Some of the films
concern a trip the group made
last spring to visit Mike where
he now teaches at the
University of Connecticut. Mike
came back for the group's first
triumphal showing, to a
capacity crowd, of "Just Good
Meat" at Sheldon.
The main emphasis in the
group's film work is on the
moment of visual insight and
revelation. With some excep
tions, there is little thematic
development, no story line or
dramatic interest, and little
attempt to put individual im
ages in any order.
When one first sees the
group's work, it is exhausting
to watch for the viewer is
constantly trying to impose I
order, and to see what the point
is.
IT IS FURTHER, at first
viewing, hard to make stylistic
distinctions between the work
of different members of the
group. They all seem to work in
a common style, or lack of
style, and they, like Andy
Warhol, seem determined to
throw at the audience all that
they have, the successes and
the failures, make the audience
work to discern and decide for
itself what is good.
To see their work is thus to
become engaged in their
creative processes. One has to
do at least some of the artist's
work of editing, structuring,
giving order, and separating
the ruined experiments from
the successful.
The group is obviously in
terested in entering into a
dialogue with its audience to
have its audience give back its
honest, direct, untutored reac
tions, so that their work can
continue as the audience gives
it direction.
MANY OF the group's films
are experimental in technique.
One of John Spence's films is
John Liljenstolpe
s pea hs Th u rsday
John Liljenstolpe, a pacifist
and ministerial intern in Lin
coln, will speak on the military
draft Thursday at 9; 00 p.m. at
the Centennial College.
Liljenstolpe was a 'co
chairman of the group that
planned the demonstrations at
the 18 Democratic Convention
in Chicago.
Miff
animated with one second ex
posures of each frame of film
so that when the subject
moves during exposure, he ap
pears on the film as a ghost
like half-presence. The results
of this tedious technique are
interesting, but it is not clear
that they add up to any
worthwhile effect or are used to
any purpose.
There were a variety of work
films, some having at least a
unity of subject, matter or
technique. One film showed in
negative the motions of nudes
about a room. Another showed
scenes from a circus Including
one extraordinary shot of the
circus organist, foreground,
playing for trapeze artists in
the distance. Other films look
at a midwestern-style picnic, a
patriotic celebration at a small
Nebraska town, and children.
One longer film, by Gary Hill
at San Francisco State last
year, had greater unity and
more development of themes.
He was obviously being less
if mm' s
W
experimental and free trying
to build more complicated ef
fects. THIS FILM has an in
teresting sound traack, first of
strange vocal sounds mixed
with over-articulated words,
and later, old rhythm-and-blues
music. The music accompanies
scenes of the late sixties the
revolt at State last year, im
ages projected on bare skin,
scary illuminated happenings
at night along a country road.
The old, relaxed music is an
ironical comment on our up
tight times. The themes and
images did not come together
for me but here as seldom
elsewhere there was an effort
to build effects by putting
things together for the viewer.
On the whole, the most suc
cessful and finished work by
the group is its still photos,
mostly by Spence and Thomas.
There Is a collection of faces,
taken with a close-up lens and a
sharp focus.
THE FACES are young and
old, hard and soft, happy, fun
ny, sad. There are shots of
Nebraska roads great, long,
and flat into the distance with
clouds, fields, occasional lonely
trees, road-trucks, persons, and
buildings breaking the horizon.
Faces are the most
hackneyed of subjects but
the people in the "Church"
group must love them a great
deal, for they sometimes
enable us to see them anew.
One can discern the beginn
ings of individual style in the
members of the group. Claude
Bery seems in love with the
Midwest, with its great, flat,
open spaces, the simplicity and
directness of its people
adults and children and its
honest, natural gatherings of
friends and familv.
JOHN SPENCE has a touch
of the surreal in many of his
images.
Gary Hill is probably the
most embittered and mordant
in his images. He is also the
least self-contained person, the
most open to dialogue and au
dience response. It is difficult
to separate his person and his
art.
Bob Thomas Is in many ways
the most successfully creative
members of the group. His
stills and films are interesting
not just as experiments, but in
themselves.
HOW IRONICAL that this
year one had to leave Lincoln
and travel to Crete to see this
group, and enter into the
creative process with them.
How good it will be if they can
find an audience here in Lin
coln with whom they can
engage in dialogue.
ft
fin
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PAGE 6
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1970