Luther Price (pseudonym) (January 26, 1962 – June 13, 2020) was an

experimental film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that does not apply standard cinematic conventions, instead adopting Non-narrative film, non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many e ...

maker and visual artist.

Biography

Price was born in

Marlborough, Massachusetts Marlborough is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 41,793 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Marlborough became a prosperous industrial town in the 19th century and made the transition to high ...

in 1962. He received a BFA in Sculpture and Media/Performing Arts from

Massachusetts College of Art and Design Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation's oldest art schools, and the only publicly funded independent art sch ...

, where he studied with Saul Levine. Before taking the name Luther Price, he worked under various pseudonyms, including Brigk Aethy, Fag, and Tom Rhoads. While at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Luther collaborated with students in the

Studio for Interrelated Media A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, espe ...

on many projects including creating events, performance art, music projects and exhibitions. He was an experimental filmmaker whose work has been widely screened in the United States and Europe at such venues as the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, and the

San Francisco Cinematheque San Francisco Cinematheque is a San Francisco-based film society for artist-made cinema. It was created in 1961 by a group of filmmakers, including Bruce Baillie and Chick Strand. This screening program grew into Canyon Cinema before being split ...

. He was an adjunct professor at the

and the

School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is a dedicated art school within Tufts University, a private research university in Massac ...

teaching his popular "Hand-made Films" curriculum. Price's

Super 8mm Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The formal name for Super 8 is 8-mm Type S, distinguishing it from the ...

and

16mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...

s are usually constructed from found footage and often include controversial subject matter, such as pornography, surgical footage, and psychodramatic performances, as well as physical interventions into the actual material of the film stock. Later in his career he began crafting individual 35mm slides shown on slide projectors. His work was featured prominently in the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

Roberta Smith Roberta Smith (born 1948) is co-chief art critic of ''The New York Times'' and a lecturer on contemporary art. She is the first woman to hold that position at the Times. Education and early life Born in 1948 in New York City and raised in Lawre ...

of the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

called him "one of the Biennial's stars."

Ed Halter Ed Halter is a film programmer, writer, and founder of Light Industry, a microcinema in Brooklyn, New York. He currently teaches at Bard College, where he is Critic in Residence. Criticism His writing has been featured in '' Artforum'', '' Th ...

selected his Inkblot films as the Best Film of 2011, noting " is filmsstruggle through the projector with an unsettlingly existential corporeality." His films are distributed by

Canyon Cinema Canyon Cinema is an American nonprofit organization for distributing independent, avant-garde, and artist-made films. After starting in the 1960s as an exhibition program, it grew to include a nationwide newsletter and a distribution cooperative. ...

in San Francisco,

The Film-Makers' Cooperative The Film-Makers' Cooperative (a.k.a. The New American Cinema Group, Inc.) is an artist-run, non-profit organization founded in 1961 in New York City by Jonas Mekas, Andy Warhol, Shirley Clarke, Stan Brakhage, Jack Smith (film director), Jack Smit ...

in New York, and

Light Cone In special and general relativity, a light cone (or "null cone") is the path that a flash of light, emanating from a single Event (relativity), event (localized to a single point in space and a single moment in time) and traveling in all direct ...

in Paris. He was represented by Callicoon Fine Arts. He died at his home in

Revere, Massachusetts Revere (, ) is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Located approximately northeast of Downtown Boston, Revere is the terminus of the Blue Line (MBTA), MBTA Blue Line, with three stations located within the city: Wonderland station, Wonderla ...

on June 13, 2020, at the age of 58.

Selected works

*''Green'' (1988) (as Tom Rhoads) Super 8 mm, color, sound, 36 minutes *''Warm Broth'' (1988) (as Tom Rhoads) Super 8mm, color, sound, 30 minutes *''Sodom'' (1989) Super 8 mm, color, sound, 21 minutes *''Clown'' (1991) Super 8 mm, color, sound, 13 minutes *''Meat'' (1992) Super 8 mm on video, color, sound, 60 minutes, also a 2-hour performance *''Bottle Can'' (1993) Super 8 mm, color, sound, 20 minutes *''Eruption Erection'' (1994) Super 8 mm, color, sound, 10 minutes, *''Jellyfish Sandwich'' (1994) Super 8 mm, color, sound, 17 minutes *''Run'' (1994) Super 8 mm, color, sound, 13 minutes *''A.'' (1994) Super 8 mm, b&w, sound, 60 minutes *''Me Gut No Dog Dog'' (1994) Super 8 mm, color, sound, 42 minutes *''Meat Situation 04'' (1997) Super 8 mm, color, sound, 4 minutes *''Mother'' (1998–1999) Super 8 mm, color, sound, 25 minutes *''Home'' (1990–1999) Super 8 mm, b&w, sound, 13 minutes *''Ritual 629'' (1990–1999) Super 8 mm, color, sound, 15 minutes *''Recitations'' (1999) Super 8 mm, color, sound, 10 minutes *''Yellow Goodbye'' (1999) Super 8 mm, color, sound, 10 minutes *''Meat Blue 03'' (1999) Super 8 mm, color, sound *''Res hat ions'' (2000) Super 8mm, b&w, sound, 10 minutes *''#5'', (2000) Super 8mm, color, sound *''I'll Cry Tomorrow, Parts 1 and 2'' (2000) Super 8mm, color, sound, 20 minutes *''Dead Ringer'' (2000) Super 8mm, color, sound, 3 minutes *''A Patch of Green'' (2004) 16mm, 4 minutes *''Nice Biscotts #2'' (2005) 16mm, 10 minutes *''September Song'' (2005) 16mm, 5 minutes *''Dipping Sause'' (2005) 16mm, 8 minutes *''Turbulant Blue'' (2005-6) 16mm, 9 minutes *''Inside Velvet K'' (2006) 16mm, 10 minutes *''Fancy'' (2006) 16mm, 12 minutes *''Tamponia'' (2007) 16mm, 8 minutes *''Suffering Biscuits'' (2007) 16mm, 20 minutes *''Shelly Winters'' (2010) 16mm, 11 minutes *''After the Garden: Silking'' (2010) 16mm, 6 minutes

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

San Francisco Cinematheque program notes from the Prelinger Archives

Film-makers Cooperative

California College of the Arts Lecture, 2012

2012 Whitney Biennial short: Luther Price

Rain n Shines Labyrinth Demo on SoundCloud

Eulogy from Mostra Internacional de Cinema Periférico organization

Luther Price: Light Window screening at MassArt, 2015

Luther Price MassArt Alumni Award, 2015

Luther Price, from Here to Eternity, 2020
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Luther 1962 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American artists 21st-century American artists American experimental filmmakers Film directors from Massachusetts People from Marlborough, Massachusetts People from Revere, Massachusetts Massachusetts College of Art and Design alumni Pseudonymous artists