Paul Clipson (1965 – February 3, 2018) was an American experimental filmmaker and projectionist based in San Francisco. He is best known for his collaborations with musicians, such as Grouper and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma.[2] Clipson's work usually took the shape of "hyper-imposed improvisations" edited live while his musical collaborators performed. Only later would he go back to edit a performance into a film.[4]
Paul Clipson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1965 |
| Died | February 3, 2018 (aged 52–53)[2] |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse | Yelena Soboleva[3] |
| Children | Anya Kamenskaya[3] |
Early life
editClipson was born in Cleveland, Ohio to Scottish designer Ann Gemmell Clipson and professor of architecture Colin Clipson.[3] He grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and moved to San Francisco in the 1990s.[1]
Career
editIn 1995 Clipson filmed his friend and performance artist Adam Heavenrich publicly improvising in San Francisco. The footage was captured on Super 8 film and largely edited in-camera. This resulted in BUCKY, a series of two-minute-long short films releasing over the next few years.[5]
Clipson's work often took the shape of collaborations with musicians and sound artists. Inspired by musicians' "freedom to create on a whim", he used Super 8 and 16mm projectors to layer his film footage in a live environment.[2] This type of work started in 2003 when Clipson began composing the visuals for the live performances of Cantu-Ledesma's band Tarentel.[6] The two had been friends and colleagues since Clipson hired Cantu-Ledesma to work at the SFMOMA in 2002.[1] They discussed the ways music and film can work together and started performing together.[7] Three years later Clipson officialy joined Tarentel as their full-time visual artist.[1]
Clipson has been working as head projectionist and AV manager at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art since around 2000.[1][8] In 2014 Clipson released REEL, a book composed of drawn and written notes from 1999 up to 2013 composed by Clipson for his colleagues at the museum. The book was published by LAND AND SEA.[9]
In 2015 Clipson collaborated with Harris on an experimental feature-length film called Hypnosis Display. The movie was a commission for Leeds Opera North. For the music Harris employed field recordings and cassette tapes.[10]
In a 2017 Interview, Clipson details his creative process. He usually records footage without a purpose in mind to later use it in live collaborations with musicians, calling these sessions "hyper-imposed improvisations". Clipson goes on to describe his short films as "crystallizations of particular sections of footage I’ve become close to".[4]
Paul Clipson died on February 3rd 2018.[1]
Influence
editIn a 2017 interview, Clipson names American filmmaker Bruce Baillie as an influence.[4] A 2018 obituary written by personal friend Max Goldberg and archived by SFMOMA shines a spotlight on Clispon's knowledge of film history. Goldberg goes on to mention the many influences on Clipson: Baillie, Otto Preminger, Chantal Akerman, Jonas Mekas, Stan Brakhage, Orson Welles, Frank Stauffacher, Saul Bass and Elia Kazan, among many others.[11]
Zabriskie Point by Michelangelo Antonioni is one of Clipson's favorite movies.[10]
Reception
editOtie Wheeler, writing for MUBI Notebook, calls Clipson "an experimental, lyrical filmmaker in the tradition of Stan Brakhage".[4]
Clipson's death has been mourned by many artists worldwide, but especially in the local bay area scene. Scott Barley called Clipson an "inspiration" and an "unsung luminary of the moving image".[2] In an obituary, William Basinski was quoted saying "He is brilliant. I adored his work the minute I saw it."[6] "It was at times quite remarkable how he could uncover through his visual medium things that I never would have heard in my own music," says Sarah Davachi. Another collaborator, Gregg Kowalsky, noted that Clipson's excitement was palpable to all of his collaborators.[6]
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Notes | Ref(s). |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | BUCKY 1 | [5] | |
| BUCKY 2 | |||
| 1998 | BUCKY 3 | ||
| BUCKY 4 | |||
| 1999 | BUCKY 5 | ||
| 2004 | Bump Past Cut Up Through Windows | Music by Tarentel | [12] |
| Big Black Square | |||
| Put It On The Ground | |||
| 2005 | Two Suns | Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma | |
| 2006 | Earthlight | Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma | |
| Over Water | |||
| Watercolor Night Montage No. 7 | Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma | ||
| The Lights and Perfections | |||
| Constellations | |||
| 2007 | Passageways | Music by Tarentel | |
| Corridors | Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma | ||
| Sun Place | Music by Tarentel | ||
| Echo Park | |||
| Tuolumne | |||
| The Phantom Harp | Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma | ||
| Bend Sinister | Music by Metal Rouge | ||
| 2008 | Within Mirrors | Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma | |
| 2008–2009 | Sphinx On The Seine | ||
| 2009 | Chrorus | ||
| 2009–2012 | Origin | Music by Che Chen | |
| 2010 | Union | Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma | |
| Light From The Mesa | Music by Barn Owl | ||
| 2011 | Compound Eyes No.1 | Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma | |
| Odonata (Compound Eyes No.2) | |||
| Diptera and Lepidoptera (Compound Eyes No.3) | |||
| Araneae (Compound Eyes No.4) | |||
| Caridea and Ichthyes (Compound Eyes No.5) | |||
| 2012 | Speaking Corpse | ||
| Another Void | |||
| The Crystal Text | Music by Young Moon | ||
| Absteigend | Music by Evan Caminiti | ||
| Landscapes Dissolves | Music by Alex Cobb | ||
| 2013 | Other States | Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma | |
| Difficult Loves | |||
| Bright Mirror | |||
| 2013–2014 | Light Year | Music by Tashi Wada | |
| 2014 | Transparent Things | Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma | |
| La Paloma | Music by Austin Cesear | ||
| Hypnosis Display | Music and sound by Liz Harris | [10] | |
| Pulsars e Quasars | Music by Arp | [12] | |
| The Liquid Casket / Wilderness Of Mirrors | Music by Lawrence English | ||
| Made Of Air | Music by Grouper | ||
| Trajections | Music by Arp | ||
| Love After Love | Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma | ||
| 2015 | Come On | Music by Ilyas Ahmed | [12] |
| Distorting With A Shadow | Music by Alex Cobb | ||
| Lighthouse | Music by King Midas Sound and Fennesz | ||
| 2016 | Fell on My Face | Music by Young Moon | [4] |
| Feeler | Music by Sarah Davachi | ||
| Love's Refrain | Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma | [12] | |
| Headache | Music by Grouper | ||
| 2017 | Cruel Optimism | Music by Lawrence English | |
| Spectral Ascension | Music by Byron Westbrook | ||
| Total Fiction | Music by Shinya Sugimoto and Jeremy Young | ||
| Tenderness | Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma | ||
| at hand | Music by Sarah Davachi | ||
| Black Field | Music by Zachary Watkins |
Further reading
edit- "Parallel Worlds: An Interview with Paul Clipson" by Otie Wheeler for Notebook
- "Cinema for the inner eye: On the films of Paul Clipson" by Dan Browne for the San Francisco Cinematheque
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f Twells, John. "Remembering Paul Clipson, the filmmaker who brought the music of Grouper and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma to life". Fact. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
- ^ a b c d Jones, Kevin L. (February 5, 2018). "Paul Clipson, Visionary Filmmaker and Projectionist, Dies at 53". KQED. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
- ^ a b c Horrocks, Hilary (June 21, 2023). "Scotsman Obituaries: Ann Gemmell Clipson, artist, designer and champion of change at the National Trust for Scotland". The Scotsman. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Wheeler, Otie (September 21, 2017). "Parallel Worlds: An Interview with Paul Clipson". Mubi's Notebook. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
- ^ a b Andersch, Brecht (June 2, 2010). "Thursday Night! Paul Clipson and Adam Heavenrich's Super-8 BUCKY Cycle Performed Live!". SFMOMA. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
- ^ a b c Dayal, Geeta (February 12, 2018). "Paul Clipson (1965–2018)". Frieze. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
- ^ Pickowicz, Natasha (July 3, 2021). "Within Mirrors: An Interview With Paul Clipson From 2011". Foxy Digitalis. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
- ^ "A Tribute to Paul Clipson". SFMOMA. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
- ^ Clipson, Paul (March 9, 2014). "Paul Clipson's "REEL"". Mubi's Notebook. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
- ^ a b c Dayal, Geeta (April 7, 2015). "Interview: Grouper and Paul Clipson Discuss 'Hypnosis Display'". KQED. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
- ^ Goldberg, Max (June 2018). "Eye of the Beholder: Paul Clipson (1965–2018)". SFMOMA. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
- ^ a b c d Browne, Dan. "Cinema for the inner eye: On the films of Paul Clipson". San Francisco Cinematheque. Retrieved October 1, 2024.