Raymond Salvatore Harmon
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Contact Information*:
Chicago Illinois USA |
Contact Type: Artist |
| web: http://www.raymondharmon.com | |
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Bio:
Currently based out of London, Raymond Salvatore Harmon is a cross genre media artist, filmmaker, sound artist, and record producer whose work has defied categorization for the past decade. As a new media artist and experimental filmmaker his work pushes at the boundaries between anthropological study, philosophic discourse, and contemporary art. With a CV extending from performance based 16mm and 8mm film to video circuit-bending and analog feedback installations as well as sound and visual conceptual installations and guerrilla media actions. Born in Jackson, Michigan in 1974 to a middle class background Raymond Salvatore Harmon has lived widely throughout the US (New York - NY, Savannah - GA, Ann Arbor, Louisville - KY, Eugene - OR, among many other locations). Over the course of the past ten years Harmon has been developing and evolving the theoretical and practical applications of non object oriented art. Utilizing new media, web based content and interactive architecture in coordination with public performance, graffiti style ad bombing, and web based social engineering Harmon's work has carved out an over arching form of contemporary media insurgency. His work has been reviewed in numerous magazines/publications, most recently in the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Signal to Noise, Wire Magazine, New York Times, Pop Matters, All About Jazz, Downbeat, Jazztimes, Point of Departure, Foxy Digitalis, among others. His work has been presented and screened at hundreds of festivals and galleries throughout the world including - The Museum of Contemporary Art - Chicago, Unsound Festival - Krakow, Robert Beck Memorial Cinema, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, Artist Television Access, Chicago Underground Film Fest, Cement Media Festival, Athens International Film Festival, RAW Tempel - Berlin, Axiom Theater, Northwest Film Forum, Ann Arbor Film Festival, among others. Harmon has produced highly acclaimed records from artists such as Chicago Underground Trio, Andrew Bird, Jim Baker, Josh Abrams, Rob Mazurek, Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre, as well as collaborated on projects with Alan Licht, Jeb Bishop, Frank Rosaly, Keefe Jackson, David Grubbs, John Olson (Wolfeyes), the Magik Markers, Spires that in the Sunset Rise, among others. As an experimental filmmaker his work is abstract, often accompanied by his own electronic compositions as well as those of his various collaborators. His recent works include full scale immersive video and sound environments, large format digital prints that are then hand manipulated and painted on, and live video performances. Harmon has performed improvised video with numerous musical groups from a diverse background including Exploding Star Orchestra, Blood on the Wall, Diplo, Wolf Parade, Chicago Underground Trio, Birth Refusal, Mandarin Movie, Jason Forrest among others. Harmon's films often contain layered subliminal content, the source of this content is often derived from occult and mystical texts. Utilizing texts such as the Gates of Light (an early work of Hebraic mysticism, kabbalah) and Aleister Crowley's Book of Lies, Harmon's occult based films work as advanced meditative tools for use in occult rituals and the expansion of the conscious mind. Often compared to Stan Brakhage and the painter Mark Rothko, Harmon's use of abstract imagery is more directly influenced by the works of Harry Smith (both as a filmmaker and archivist) and Nam June Paik. Much of the philosophical discourse concerning the alchemical/mystical influences in Harmon's occult filmworks (YHVH, Tree of Knowledge/Tree of Life, Elementals) mentions the works of 17th century English author Thomas Vaughan and the anonymous 13th century English mystical text "The Cloud of Unknowing" On March 7th 2008 Harmon presented a 3 channel video performance of Aleister Crowleys Rites of Eleusis. This piece was reviewed in the [Fortean Times]. In Nov/Dec 2007 Harmon toured and lectured in Europe, performing improvised video with Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra, and conceptualizing several new works to be unveiled in 2008. In December 2007 Harmon was invited by Prof. Ryszard W. Kluszczynski to lecture at the University of Lodz. In April 2007 he celebrated the release of Chronicle, a feature length music performance of the Chicago Underground Trio. Which had its theatrical premiere at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival in November. From October 2005 to October 2006 Harmon was the visiting Director of the DANK German Cultural Center in Chicago. His programs were featured in Timeout Chicago, Chicago Tribune, MetroMix, Chicago Reader, WGN TV, among others. In October 2003 Harmon was invited to lecture at the University of Oregon and to present a new film piece commissioned for the occasion "The Three Stigmata of Marshal McLuhan" In April 2002 Harmon launched the Betasound online record label. Whose free online catalog contains works by artists such as Luc Ferrari, Derek Bailey, Noël Akchoté, Mats Gustafson, David Grubbs, Frank Rosaly, Joe Daley Trio among many others. In February 2001 Harmon was invited to be a guest of the Cement Media Festival in Eindhoven, Netherlands. He presented his large scale video installation "Dreamlife of Sleeping Buildings" at the Technical University of Eindhoven. This curated installation piece included video works by Brian Frye, Kenneth Eisenstein, Eve Heller, Sean Capone (Positron), Alexander Horn, Andrew Personnette, Suji, and Randy Lee Sutherland. Filmography/Awards Info: The Fifth Refract - 2009 Aleister Crowley's Rites of Eleusis - 2008 Veves + Loas - 2007 The Philosopher's Stone - 2007 Sigils of the Heptameron - 2007 Traces - 2007 Chronicle - 2007 Cornerstone - 2006 Secrets - 2006 redlight - 2006 Colorform - 2006 Elevated - 2006 Plexus Illuminata - 2005 YHVH - 2005 Reliquary of Light (for Mr Boyd Lynn) - 2004 violetsummer - 2004 Resistance - 2004 The Three Stigmata of Marshall McLuhan - 2003 Cloud of Unknowing - 2003 Fireflies - 2003 Daath - 2002 ambientlight - 2002 A Map of the City - 2001 Six Ways Sideways - 2001 Unfolding Urban Algorithms - 2001 The Koan of Sisyphus - 2001 Tiny Inconsistencies - 2001 Les Fantomes de Lumiere - 2000 staticerosion - 1999 Sprayed On In Light - 1997 This Contact appears in this database if Microcinema International has screened a film directed by the Contact, a film directed by the contact is featured in a DVD distributed by the Blackchair Collection Shop, or featured an organization or activity linked with the Contact. This database is used for commercial as well as informational, non-commercial purposes. It is a historical archive of Microcinema International's activities. Inclusion in this database and archive in no way implies a continuing formal relationship or affiliation with Microcinema International or the Blackchair Label nor an endorsement of its activities by the Contact. Contact details are not displayed in order to protect privacy. If you wish to contact this artist please see their website as listed above or write Microcinema International and we will be happy to forward your e-mail.
Microcinema Interview/Article:
SELECTED SHORT FILMS OF RAYMOND SALVATORE HARMON by David Finkelstein 2001, Un-rated, 53 Minutes, Raymond Salvatore Harmon creates his films by superimposing images from several projectors. The films are often hand-processed, and the projectors have also been electronically and manually modified. Thus, his films have a live, partly improvised feel to them. The resultant compositions are then captured to digital video for presentation, making in effect single channel works which retain a multi-channel look. "Sixways Sideways" 11 min. One layer in this composition is footage from an educational film detailing the life cycle of silk worms. This footage is bathed in an orangey beige color. Another layer is rapidly shifting white stripes, slashes, and scratches from hand-processed film. Harmon constantly shifts the projector of these white marks into and out of focus, so they alternate between creating a distinct layer 'on top of' the silkworm images, and forming a white blur. The overall effect for me was a film event which, like the productions of silkworms, was not a meticulously planned construction, but was more a kind of organic accretion of a multiplicity of individual threads and moments which nevertheless build themselves into a definite form and structure. The musical score of freely improvised jazz sounded tantalizingly powerful and beautiful, and it could have been a force which would have lifted this piece up and taken it to another level. However, at least on the preview tape I received, the sound quality was so bad that it could barely be heard, and thus it did not contribute to the overall effect. "Staticerosion" 4 min. Time-lapse shots of flowers opening. Slashes and scratches of hand-processed film, suffused with a deeply glowing green color. A saxophone plays a soulful, spiritual-like solo. A feeling of effulgent, green, organic growth. "Tiny Inconsistencies" This hauntingly beautiful collage is constructed from superimposed loops of a black and white Hollywood film, taken from two different scenes showing a man and a woman in evening dress on a balcony (or possibly two different parts of one scene.) In one part of the loop the couple embraces. In another part, the man says something to the woman which causes her to look shocked and distressed. In still another shot, a third man comes out on the balcony and confronts the couple. Yet another layer of imagery consists of flame-like flashes of white light. The beautiful Middle Eastern soundtrack is mixed with what sounds like surface noise from a vinyl LP, except that the noise has the same rhythm as the flame-like flashes of light, and so may be part of an optical soundtrack. There are also electronic noises that sound a little like chickens. It was not immediately obvious to me why I found this combination of simple, seemingly disparate elements to be so entrancing and moving. The Middle Eastern sound of the music at first seemed to be at odds with the Hollywood setting, but it actually made a beautiful accompaniment. Like the evening party depicted in the film clip, the music was highly formal, yet contained elements of sorrow as well as passion. The 'tiny inconsistencies' of the title could refer to the abstracted, theme and variations structure of the film collage, which highlights the way the different film loops go in and out of phase with each other, but could equally refer to the look of shock and dismay on the woman's face when she realizes her lover is not what he seems to be. The subdued flame-like flashes and sounds reinforce the feeling of quietly smoldering passion. Together, these elements come together to create a delicate composition which is abstract, yet full of feeling. "The Koan of Sisyphus" A collage of loops made from found footage of steam shovels, trains chugging up mountainsides, and various scenes of hard physical labor in industrial settings, all colored a garish red. A layer of marks, like red snow, drifts across the screen. A harshly discordant electronic score reinforces a sense of a hellish, senselessly repetitive nightmare of meaningless toil. "Ambientlight" Flashes of light slash across the screen in shallow diagonals and triangles, edged in yellow and brown, in patterns reminiscent of video feedback but which I suppose are somehow made from altered film projectors. The sound track consists of more of Harmon's chicken-like electronic sounds. This extremely brief ambient piece manages to create an ecstatic and elevated mood with very simple means. "Les Fantomes de Lumiere" This collage is made from a negative print of a vintage black and white porn film. A second copy of the same footage, delayed by about 10 seconds, is superimposed on the first, creating the visual equivalent to a musical 'canon.' The surprisingly dumpy looking performers pretend to smoke and chat, and then pretend to struggle with each other as they have sex, looking just as fake as contemporary porn stars do. The negative stock and the visual echo of the superimposed images make the film look both more abstract and prettier. Some of the close up shots of genitals look like certain erotic Indian paintings which depict mandalas of a sexualized, tantric universe. The erect prick looks like a dark heart plunging into the light which erupts from the vulva. The new age-y electronic music reinforces this sense of meditative, spiritualized sexuality. The negative images also look like x-rays, which, along with the age of the film, reinforces the idea of the impermanence of the body and of sexuality. I got the impression of sex as pure energy, as a force of light passing through the mortal body. This collage is truly experimental in the sense that Harmon seems to have thought of an interesting formal idea, and tried it out to see what it would look like. As in scientific experiments, parts are quite interesting and even beautiful, while much of it is not. I wished he could have shaped and edited the material more, bringing out his own point of view about the material more clearly, instead of, as seems to be the case, merely letting the clip and it's echo play through from beginning to end. ------ Subliminal 3 Olympia Experimental Music Festival @ "Traditions", downtown Olympia, WA, 6/27-28/2002 "Raymond Salvatore Harmon/Subliminal 3 (from Chi-town) follow... some interesting video leads off, scratch & bars, face behind, very interesting; wild child, tho' sloe, plum fuzz impressions, very intricate; definitely bring the ambience back as th' experiment continues & grows the mind higher, feels much like a shroom trip, flowing under minds leaving worry behind & blots out th' taste of th' smoke machine sax behind th' white curtain... once again, th' undermind comes to th' fore, as before, some surreptitious videos & not a nuance is lost on those who can hear th' quiet between the notes, porno film as th' evolvement to th' "basics" of sound & climax, it is an odd juxtaposition of sound & instinct being painted for th' ear, tho' th' images are cruder than they needed to be & I think "passion is in th' music, not th' balls on th' wall"... it is th' tones that are subtle..." Rotcod Zzaj http://home.attbi.com/~rotcod/Live562.htm ****** Dreamlife of Sleeping Buildings Cement Media Festival jaargang 43, 8 februari 2001 Eindhoven is the venue for the so-called Cement Media Festival from February 7 to 11. Studium Generale is making various locations on campus available for performances. The skeleton of the former T-hooggebouw will be the dŽcor for the visual arts project 'Dreamlife of Sleeping Buildings'. The American artist Raymond Salvatore Harmon pushes back the frontiers of human interaction and architecture using a video installation. Each evening (from February 7 to 15), he will project the illusion of an inhabited office somewhere else in the cement skeleton. In the Blauwe Zaal on Saturday February 10 a performance of DiGit: ten surprising compositions combining music and images. Ten talented artists will exhibit work in the main building during the whole festival. Cursor/21 ****** OneirographerÕs Closet: An exploration of ritual iconographies and the delineation of Freudian taboo at 18 frames per second (micro-installation exhibiton) Feitico Gallery, Chicago, IL - August 2001 As a series of micro-installations dealing with the underlying context of perceptions concerning sexual repression in organized religion, these film based pieces will be on display through out the week of the Chicago Underground Film Festival in conjunction with the premiere of Harmon's latest film "Sixways Sideways" at CUFF 2001. (Film-loop projector based "retablos" boxes constructed in the style of Peruvian religious altars.) Harmon's previous film work has been shown over the last decade throughout the U.S. and Europe. His film "The Koan of Sisyphus" was on display as part of this years Sidewalk Cinema Festival and his short "Les Fantomes de Lumiere" had its Chicago premiere at CUFF 2000. With the help of a grant from the Technical University at Eindhoven his large scale video installation "Dreamlife of Sleeping Buildings" was exhibited in Eindhoven, Holland in the February, 2001. His ongoing series of out door film projections, the "Subliminal Light Project" continues to present experimental images within the urban environment via unannounced performances. "Six Ways Sideways" premieres at the Chicago Underground Film Fest Sunday August 19, 7pm as part of the SPELLS FOR ALL YOUR TROUBLES program. |
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