"A Family Finds Entertainment" (2004), Ryan Trecartin
"A Family Finds Entertainment" (2004), Ryan Trecartin
I’m sure that you’re sick of hearing about Ryan Trecartin–he’s kind of everywhere at the moment. Deemed by The New Yorker’s Peter Schjeldahl as “the most consequential artist to have emerged since the nineteen-eighties,” Trecartin anticipated and formed the decadently glitchy A(DHD)esthetic of the Youtube and Vine generation before it had even undergone puberty. I admit exasperation with the slew of less masterful imitators that have risen in proportion with his success. On the other hand Trecartin’s uninhibited delight in being the freak and the goofball leaves me with a high. The artist plays with taboo and stereotypes without affectation, darting past snobbishness or malice and resisting simple labels i.e. ‘queer video artist.’
Though far(?) from his present production values, “A Family Finds Entertainment”, Trecartin’s senior thesis while at RISD, is a must-watch for anyone (full film linked). It is a bildungsroman for the post-literary experience inhabited by painted manic figures whose bizarre behavior fuses atavistic ritual and StumbleUpon.
Warning: male members, fake cutting, cyber chaos + analog holocaust. Now enjoy.
