Jesse Beau Richards (born July 17, 1975) is a painter, filmmaker and photographer from

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

and was affiliated with the international movement

Stuckism Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson (artist), Charles Thomson to promote Figurative art, figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art.underground culture Underground culture, or simply underground, is a term to describe various alternative cultures which either consider themselves different from the mainstream of society and culture, or are considered so by others. The word "underground" is used ...

,""The Movie Can Be Made Another Way"
iNews.bg. Retrieved September 5, 2012. and "the father of remodernist cinema."
SofiaLive. Retrieved September 5, 2012.

Early life

Jesse Richards was born in New Haven. He had an ambition to be a forest ranger during his teens, which was also the time he started to make films. He studied film production at the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, which he left after a nervous breakdown.Milner, Frank (2004). ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', p. 132.

National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool in Merseyside, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The mu ...

, He directed plays including ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'' and ''

Look Back In Anger ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956) is a realist play written by John Osborne. It focuses on the life and marital struggles of an intelligent and educated but disaffected young man of working-class origin, Jimmy Porter, and his equally competent yet i ...

'' for the New Haven Theatre Company, and made short

romance Romance may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings ** Romantic orientation, the classification of the sex or gender with which a pers ...

and

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

films. In 1999, Richards was arrested for reckless burning, destruction of property and disorderly conduct. After the charges were dropped, he began painting.

Stuckism

Richards is affiliated with the

Stuckist Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson (artist), Charles Thomson to promote Figurative art, figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art. In 2003, an anti-war "Clown Trial of President Bush" took place outside the New Haven Federal Courthouse, in order to "highlight the fact that the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

does not have the support of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, thus violating a binding contract with the UN". It was staged by local Stuckist artists dressed in clown costume, led by Richards with

Nicholas Watson Nicholas Watson (born July 9, 1977) is a social entrepreneur based in Pennsylvania, United States. He was previously a producer and writer in film and television. He co-founded the New Haven Stuckist art group. Social enterprise career Nichol ...

and Tony Juliano. One of the participants was a public defender for the state of Connecticut."Clown Trial of President Bush"
stuckism.com. Retrieved March 27, 2006. Simultaneously the Stuckism center opened a ''War on Bush'' show, including work from Brazil, Australia, Germany and the UK, while the London equivalent staged a ''War on Blair'' show.
stuckism.com, 2003. Retrieved March 27, 2006. Richards said the original intention of a straightforward art show to an anti-war show had been changed after a phone discussion with Stuckism founder,

Charles Thomson Charles Thomson (November 29, 1729 – August 16, 1824) was an Irish-born Founding Father of the United States and secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its existence. As secretary, Thomson prepared the Journals of the ...

. Richards told ''

The Yale Herald ''The Yale Herald'' is a newspaper run by undergraduate students at Yale University since 1986. Published weekly, the paper covers campus and local events and aims to provide in-depth investigative reporting; it also includes essays, interviews, ...

'', "

Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, ; ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...

would go over to the

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is an art museum in New Haven, Connecticut. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University. Although it embraces all cultures and period ...

and he would say, 'This is crap,' and he would go paint a picture.""Stuckists scoff at 'crap' war"
, ''

'', March 28, 2003. Retrieved March 27, 2006. Also in 2003, Richards was an exhibitor in the UK show, ''Stuck in Wednesbury'' at

Wednesbury Wednesbury ( ) is a market town in the Sandwell district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England; it was historically in Staffordshire. It is located near the source of the River Tame, West Midlands, River Tame and ...

Museum & Art Gallery, the first Stuckist show in a public gallery,"Archive: Diary"
stuckism.com. Retrieved on August 20, 2009. and in ''The Stuckists Summer Show'' at the

Stuckism International Gallery The Stuckism International Gallery was the gallery of the Stuckism, Stuckist art movement. It was open from 2002 to 2005 in Shoreditch, and was run by Charles Thomson (artist), Charles Thomson, the co-founder of Stuckism. It was launched by a p ...

, London. In 2004, Richards was one of eight artists in the "International Stuckists" section of ''

The Stuckists Punk Victorian ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'' was the first national gallery exhibition of Stuckist art.Moss, Richard"Stuckist's Punk Victorian gatecrashes Walker's Biennial Culture24, 17 September 2004. Retrieved 3 December 2009. It was held at the Walker A ...

'' show at the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History The Walker Art Gallery's collection dates from 1819 ...

"International Stuckists"

. Retrieved August 20, 2009. during the

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Since its launch in 1998, Liverpool Biennial has commissioned over 380 new artworks and presented work by over 530 artists from around the world. ...

. He said of his exhibited work, ''Nightlife'': "This came out of heavy drinking and loneliness. New Haven's social scene is entirely going to bars, so it was my only way to meet new people." Richards reviewed the Biennial and the Stuckist show, where he found

Joe Machine Joe Machine (born Joseph Stokes,Buckman, David (2006), ''Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945''. p. 1018. ''Art Dictionaries''. Bristol. . 6 April 1973) is an England, English painter and poet. He is a founding member of the Stuckism, Stu ...

's ''My Grandfather Will Fight You'', "one of the best Stuckist paintings. Machine's work is the epitome of raw, real expressive painting."Richards, Jesse
"Liverpool Biennial: Stuck In Liverpool"
''NYArts'', November/December 2004. Retrieved August 20, 2009. He said that Stuckist Photographer Andy Bullock's work was "silly installation photography" which was "trying to be trendy." In 2005, 160 paintings from the Walker Art Gallery show, including one by Richards, were offered as a donation to the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

gallery, but rejected by Sir Nicholas Serota, because "We do not feel that the work is of sufficient quality in terms of accomplishment, innovation or originality of thought to warrant preservation in perpetuity in the national collection".Alberge, Dalya
"Tate rejects £500,000 gift from 'unoriginal' Stuckists"
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', July 28, 2005. Retrieved February 1, 2008. In 2005, Richards was a co-ordinator of, and participated in, ''Addressing the Shadow and Making Friends with Wild Dogs: Remodernism'', the first

Remodernism Remodernism is an artistic and philosophical movement aimed at reviving aspects of modernism, particularly in its early form, in a manner that both follows after and contrasts against postmodernism. The movement was initiated in 2000 by stucki ...

exhibition in the US to include work from all of the Remodernist groups, including the Stuckists, the Defastenists, Remodernist Film and Photography, and Stuckism Photography."Addressing the Shadow and Making Friends with Wild Dogs: Remodernism"
stuckism.com, 2005. Retrieved on August 20, 2009 from the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

of August 3, 2005. The show took place at the

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in the East Village, Manhattan, East Village in Manhattan, New York City. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for ''Cou ...

313 gallery. In 2006, Richards was one of the artists in ''The Triumph of Stuckism'', a show at

Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University (abbreviated LJMU) is a public university, public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This ...

Hope Street Gallery, curated by

Naive John Naive John (born Ian Wylie; 18 October 1962) is a British artist and figurative painter. His work shows attention to detail with subjects that combine elements from popular culture alongside the mythic and mundane. He has also in the past been ...

at the invitation of Professor Colin Fallows, Chair of Research at Liverpool School of Art and Design, and part of the Liverpool Biennial 2006. Richards left the Stuckist movement in 2006. Sherwin, Brian
"Art Space Talk: Jesse Richards"
Myartspace, November 24, 2006. Retrieved May 4, 2008.

Shows

Stuckist group shows organized or featuring work by Richards include: * 2002 ''We Just Wanna Show Some Fucking Paintings'' –

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

* 2003 ''War on Bush'' – New Haven * 2003 ''Stuck in Wednesbury'' –

* 2003 ''The Stuckists Summer Show'' –

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

* 2004 ''

'' –

* 2004 ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian In the Toilet'' – New Haven * 2005 ''Addressing the Shadow and Making Friends with Wild Dogs: Remodernism'' –

* 2006 ''The Triumph of Stuckism'' – Liverpool Biennial

Film and photography

Richards has worked on films with Nicholas Watson since 1996."Home"
, New Haven Stuckists Film Group. Retrieved August 27, 2009. Their film noir, ''Blackout'', was premiered at the event ''Stuck Films'' at the New Haven Stuckism International Center in 2002. In 2003, Richards co-produced '' Shooting at the Moon'', a short film premiering at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. In 2008, the film made its London premiere at

Horse Hospital The Horse Hospital is a Grade II listed not for profit, independent arts venue at Colonnade, Bloomsbury, central London. Its curatorial focus is on counter-cultural histories, sub-cultures, outsiders and emerging artists. It organizes undergroun ...

during its FLIXATION Underground Cinema Club event. Richards said that his films had previously often contained nudity, but this time he wanted to do the opposite and the two leads do not quite even kiss: :While making this film I guess the main thing we were thinking about accomplishing was to express this emotional experience, and have people really feel it, and not to get too complicated with story or anything that would distract from this feeling we wanted people to have while watching the film. A book of

pinhole photography A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens but with a tiny aperture (the so-called ''Pinhole (optics), pinhole'')—effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side. Light from a scene passes through the aperture and projects a ...

called "Dark Chamber", featuring new work by Richards as well as work by

Wolf Howard Wolf Howard (born 7 April 1968)Evans, p.36. is an English artist, poet and filmmaker living in Rochester, Kent and was a founder member of the Stuckists art group.Milner, p.80. He is also a drummer who has played in garage and punk bands, cu ...

Billy Childish Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper; 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer, and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing, and visual art. He has ...

and others was published by Urban Fox Press in May 2007.

Brian Sherwin Brian Sherwin (born January 22, 1980) is an American art critic, writer, and blogger with a degree from Illinois College in 2003. Sherwin is a founding Management Team member of the artist social networking site myartspace, where he also served as ...

said of Richards that his work was "Street truth": :His work may seem crude to some, but at least it is honest (sometimes brutally honest.) This honesty is captured by his ability to convey human behavior and struggles with each shot from his camera. In February 2010, the Australian film magazine

Filmink ''FilmInk'' is an Australian film magazine published by FKP International Exports. It was founded by current publisher Dov Kornits and Colin Fraser in July 1997, in Sydney. The magazine has been through many changes over the course of its exist ...

announced Richards' participation in a compilation feature film by the

Remodernist film Remodernist film developed in the United States and the United Kingdom in the early 21st century with ideas related to those of the international art movement Stuckism and its manifesto, Remodernism. Key figures are Jesse Richards and Peter R ...

movement. The film is scheduled to premiere in New York in December 2010.Cara Nas
"Cinema with soul", Filmink, February 25, 2010
Retrieved February 28, 2010 In December 2010, Richards joined the Board of Directors of Cine Foundation International. Richards currently lives in

Granby, Massachusetts Granby is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,110 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metropolitan area, Massachuset ...

Remodernist film movement

In 2004, Richards and fellow filmmaker Harris Smith co-founded

Remodernist Film Remodernist film developed in the United States and the United Kingdom in the early 21st century with ideas related to those of the international art movement Stuckism and its manifesto, Remodernism. Key figures are Jesse Richards and Peter R ...

and Photography, a new Remodernist group attempting to introduce Remodernist/Stuckist values into film and photography. In 2008, Richards published a Remodernist Film Manifesto, calling for a "new spirituality in cinema" and the use of intuition in filmmaking.Richards, Jesse
"Remodernist Film Manifesto"
When the trees were still real, August 27, 2008. Retrieved August 20, 2008. He described Remodernist film as a "stripped down, minimal, lyrical, punk kind of filmmaking",. Point four of the manifesto is: :The Japanese ideas of

wabi-sabi In traditional Japanese aesthetics, centers on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. It is often described as the appreciation of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete". It is prevalent in many forms of Japanese ...

(the beauty of imperfection) and

mono no aware , , and also translated as , or , is a Japanese idiom for the awareness of , or transience of things, and both a transient gentle sadness (or wistfulness) at their passing as well as a longer, deeper gentle sadness about this state being the re ...

(the awareness of the transience of things and the bittersweet feelings that accompany their passing), have the ability to show the truth of existence, and should always be considered when making the remodernist film. There were also criticisms of

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...

, digital video, and

Dogme 95 Dogme 95 (; Danish for "Dogma 95") was a Danish avant-garde filmmaking movement founded by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the "Dogme 95 Manifesto" and the "Vows of Chastity" (). These were rules to create films based on the t ...

. In late August 2009, an International Alliance of Remodernist Filmmakers was started by Richards in order to promote discussion and collaboration amongst those following the manifesto. The filmmakers include Jesse Richards, Harris Smith, Christopher Michael Beer, Dmitri Trakovsky, Kate Shults, Peter Rinaldi and Khurrem Gold of America, Roy Rezaali of the Netherlands,

Rouzbeh Rashidi Rouzbeh Rashidi (; born 23 December 1980 in Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian-Irish avant-garde filmmaker and founder of Experimental Film Society. Since 2000, Rashidi produced experimental feature films and numerous volumes of instalments for the ...

of Iran and Dean Kavanagh of Ireland. In October 2009, with the intention "to further develop and explain Remodernist film concepts", a series of articles by Richards, Peter Rinaldi and Roy Rezaali were published in the magazine MungBeing In Richards' two essays in the magazine, he explains the development of cinema in terms of

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

postmodernism Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, Culture, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting ...

and

remodernism Remodernism is an artistic and philosophical movement aimed at reviving aspects of modernism, particularly in its early form, in a manner that both follows after and contrasts against postmodernism. The movement was initiated in 2000 by stucki ...

, and discusses remodernist film craft as involving filmmakers "teaching themselves to paint pictures, to try acting in their own movies and those of others (especially if they are shy), to be nude models for other artists, to meditate, worship if they are religious, to do things that affect their levels of consciousness, try things that make them nervous or uncomfortable, to go out and be involved in life, to find adventure, to jump in the ocean. I think that is the exploration of craft"."Remodernist Film", MungBeing, October 4, 2009
Retrieved October 5, 2009 He also relaxes the criticisms made in the manifesto about digital video, claiming that can "have a place in Remodernist cinema", but with a "new language" and not in the way it is used now, which he says is to "mimic film".
Retrieved October 5, 2009 He describes his specific approach to Remodernist filmmaking as well:

... my own interests are a little more specific. I'm interested in Japanese aesthetics, Tarkovsky's ideas on "sculpting in time", an emphasis on moments. But there's something else I've really been thinking about lately. I believe that the most effective way to really make subjective and authentic work involves an "addressing of the shadow" (as Billy Childish and Charles Thomson have described it). Now what does this mean exactly? It might mean that you are really obsessed with pubic hair, or maybe you are really embarrassed by a physical or mental disability that you try to hide, or like Billy Childish, you were abused as a child. These things, these "shadows" that we are hiding within ourselves, need to be brought forth into the light of day – in our films, in our work, in our poetry. It's necessary for us to share these parts of ourselves so we and the people we share with can grow into complete, honest human beings. Now, this kind of brutal honesty about ourselves shown through imagery that isn't shy, has been explored to a degree in the work from the Cinema of Transgression, and is advocated by Antonin Artaud in his writings about the Theatre of Cruelty, and his later writings on cinema. But I don't think it's quite as simple as just that. As human beings, we are also full of beauty and love and poetry – we can see this in ourselves and in others and in the world around us. So this beauty must be explored as well, and in combination with the exploration of the shadow. The funny thing is that if we would just be honest as filmmakers, or painters, or as whatever we happen to work with, if we could be this honest, this approach would happen automatically. But we are told again and again- these things don't go together, don't tell people about that thing that you can't get out of your head- that image is inappropriate. We've become very afraid of just expressing ourselves honestly, of removing the desperate attempts to appear clever, we've been afraid of showing our true selves out of fear that others will think us fools. So this is where Artaud, the Cinema of Transgression, and even Andrei Tarkovsky have not gone quite the distance. The cinematic exploration of spirituality and transgression together – pubic hair, blood and shit and love and the green grass and the dying cherry blossoms, falling snow, passing trains – every single fucking beautiful piece of life – that is what my conception of Remodernist film is.

The articles also broaden the aim of the movement, explaining the common bond among Remodernist filmmakers being a search for truth, knowledge, authenticity and spirituality in their work, but having different approaches on achieving that goal.

Filmography

* ''Frank's Wild Years,'' 1994/1995 * ''I Wonder'', 1996 * ''Sex and Lies'', 1998
stuckfilm.com. Retrieved August 27, 2009. (destroyed except for trailer) * ''Blackout'', 2000 * '' Shooting at the Moon'', 1998. Re-edit 2003 * ''Yugen'', 2009 * ''Wonder about Patterns in Your Head'', 2009 * ''So Tell me Again'', 2009 * ''Nothing: December 2, 2009'', 2009 * ''Orphans'', 2009

Notes and references

External links

Official blog and art of Jesse Richards
*

* * ttp://www.bakiniz.com/remodernizm-jesse-richards/ Interview in Turkish film magazine Bakiniz (in Turkish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Jesse 1975 births Living people American experimental filmmakers Punk filmmakers Film theorists Stuckism 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists Artists from New Haven, Connecticut University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni People with spina bifida People from Granby, Massachusetts