Date of Submission

Fall 2018

Academic Programs and Concentrations

Film and Electronic Arts

Project Advisor 1

Peggy Ahwesh

Abstract/Artist's Statement

#LonelyMovie or the Continuation of our Brand and the Good Feelings It Produces

A Senior Project submitted to

The Division of the Arts

Bard College

By Theodore Rosen

#LonelyMovie or the Continuation of our Brand and the Good Feelings It Produces

A Senior Project submitted to

The Division of the Arts

Bard College

By Theodore Rosen

#LonelyMovie or the Continuation of our Brand and the Good Feelings It Produces

A Senior Project submitted to

The Division of the Arts

Bard College

By Theodore Rosen

#LonelyMovie Artist Statement

Artist’s List:

  1. Stevie Wonder

  2. Mario

  3. Bowser

  4. Cartoon Network

  5. Jack Link’s

  6. Takashi Murakami

  7. Gatorade

  8. Taco Bell

    1. Cheesy Gordita Crunch

    2. Baja Blast

    3. Cinnamon Delights

    4. Locos Tacos

  9. Cory Arcangel

  10. Josh Kline

  11. Laura Owens

  12. Katherine Bernhardt

  13. Kalup Linzy

  14. Kanye West

  15. Ariel Pink

  16. Lil Uzi Vert

  17. Nina Simone

  18. Ratchet & Clank

  19. The attempt to recapture a kind of “pure” way of seeing in art, like how a child might approach something (PROUST, -suki), and how in execution that turns into something far more sinister than innocent, because u can’t just shove yourself back into that state of being, you look like the hulk in child world

  20. The Bro Painters of the 2000s: Dan Colen, Dash Snow (photographer), Joe Bradley, Nate Lowman, Joe Bradley, a lot of that was also about living in spaces and a forced state of immaturity

  21. Sometimes I have to inhabit things I’m suspicious of, like those painters or that childlike point of view

  22. Long Diner Menus with almost every cuisine under the sun on them

  23. John Maus

  24. Daft Punk

  25. Rihanna

  26. Drake

  27. Lil’ Peep

  28. Trippie Redd

  29. Cardi B

  30. Lil’ B

  31. Waka Flocka Flame

  32. The way hip-hop specifically as a contemporary music genre so seamlessly communicates engaging with music on the internet in the way that the borders of a song are more loose and malleable

  33. Odd Future

  34. Frank Ocean’s “Channel Orange”

  35. Andy Warhol

  36. What do the 14 year olds of today enjoy?

  37. What did I enjoy as a young person? Say, from the formative ages of 9 to 15?

  38. What would I think if I were in that age range today?

  39. Abstracify that!!!

  40. Those Keep Calm and Carry On shirts that have probably gone out of style by now

  41. Ed Hardy

  42. The Jersey Shore Reunion where Mike the Situation keeps talking about how he’s going to court for tax evasion in really vague terms

  43. When I was younger I used to cry a lot thinking about the moment in the Spongebob Squarepants movie where they cry while singing the goofy goober theme song

  44. Hayao Miyazaki

  45. Katamari Damacy

  46. Kid CuDi

  47. Kurt Cobain

  48. Joni Mitchell’s “Hejira”

  49. Ann Hirsch

  50. Ellsworth Kelly

  51. The Beatles

  52. Haim Steinbach

  53. Mike Kelley

  54. Paul McCarthy

  55. Cosima von Bonin

  56. David Hammons

  57. Glenn Ligon

  58. Henry Taylor

  59. Todd Rundgren

  60. Guitar Solos

  61. Metal

    1. Heavy Metal

    2. Black Metal

    3. Death Metal

    4. Speed Metal

    5. Thrash Metal

  62. Internet Subcultures of the past ten or so years

    1. Seapunk

    2. Normcore

    3. Witch House

    4. Soundcloud rap

    5. Dirty Style? Is that right?

  63. Instagram

  64. Monster-based games for children (Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokémon, Creepy Freaks)

  65. “7-Rooms of Gloom” by the Four Tops

  66. Ryan Trecartin

  67. Bjarne Melgaard

  68. Darren Bader

  69. Sarah Charlesworth

  70. Philip Guston

  71. Mariah Carey

  72. Celine Dion

  73. Missy Elliott

  74. Lauren Cornell

  75. Kynaston McShine

  76. Massimiliano Gioni

  77. Grimes

  78. Lana Del Rey

  79. Donna Summer

  80. Giorgio Moroder

  81. Martin Kippenberger

  82. Cindy Sherman’s Instagram

  83. Elon Musk

  84. Donald Trump

  85. Facebook

  86. The question of whether or not art should be intending to help people, or simply communicate with others, or maybe it should be more internal, about working something out that’s personal and intimate, or…

  87. Oliver Laric

  88. Elaine Sturtevant

  89. David Guetta

  90. Bernie Sanders

  91. Hillary Clinton

  92. Donkey Kong

  93. Wario

  94. Waluigi

  95. Boo

  96. Luigi’s Mansion

  97. Fortnite Scammer gets scammed video genre

  98. YouTube comps of footage set to music I’d watch when I was little

  99. Repo Man

  100. Ren & Stimpy

  101. Mickey Mouse

  102. R. Crumb (creep in retrospect)

  103. Jimmie Durham

  104. Kendrick Lamar

  105. Kingdom Hearts

  106. Brian Eno

  107. Julia Holter

  108. Oneohtrix Point Never

  109. Elliott Smith

  110. Fiona Apple

  111. OutKast

  112. Jimi Hendrix

  113. “Weird” Al Yankovic

  114. My Uncle Alan playing me a vhs tape compilation of all the great Michael Jackson videos

  115. Alan showing me Beatles parody the Rutles on dvd

  116. Adam Sandler

  117. Rob Schneider

  118. Vince Vaughn

  119. Ben Stiller

  120. Will Ferrell

  121. Seth Rogen

  122. Jonah Hill

  123. Bro Painters = Bro Comedy Actors

  124. Dia Beacon

  125. Steve Roggenbuck

  126. Rupi Kaur

  127. Marvel Movies Expanded Universe

  128. Young Thug

  129. When I was little I was really into animals and I wanted to be a vet

  130. Chris Burden

  131. Death Grips

  132. Puppet Works

  133. Brie

  134. Chicago, Illinois

  135. Brooklyn, New York

  136. Ottsville, Pennsylvania

  137. Los Angeles, California

  138. Sebastopol, California

  139. Jordan Wolfson (kind of a villain)

  140. Princess Peach

  141. Pope.L

  142. Patti Smith

  143. Prince

  144. Tina Turner

  145. Sly and the Family Stone

  146. Sufjan Stevens

  147. Astrology

  148. Garbage

  149. The act of cleaning

  150. Hygiene

  151. Amateurism

  152. Skidoo!

  153. The Big Lebowski

  154. The Scary Movie series

  155. EDM movies such as Spring Breakers, Good Time, Mandy, We Are Your Friends, Nicolas Winding Refn movies, Enter the Void, all problematic and by and large terrible, but a predominant trend in contemporary cinema, involving psychedelic and neon color schemes with anhedonic camera work and focus on sinister drug use and partying lifestyles

  156. Tauba Auerbach

  157. Jacolby Satterwhite

  158. Mary Heilmann

  159. Michael E. Smith

  160. Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn

  161. Peggy Ahwesh

  162. Dave McKenzie

  163. A. Sayeeda Moreno

  164. Wade Guyton

  165. Trenton Doyle Hancock

  166. Cao Fei

  167. Rachel Harrison

  168. Mariko Mori

  169. Terence Koh

  170. Robert Rauschenberg

  171. John Baldessari

  172. Abbas Kiarostami “A Taste of Cherry”

  173. Judd Apatow

  174. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island

  175. Frankenfish

  176. Creature from the Black Lagoon

  177. Jaws

  178. Howard the Duck

  179. Comedy

  180. The Oscars

  181. Adult Swim

  182. Anime

  183. South Park

  184. Family Guy

  185. The Simpsons

  186. Making things via means that are accessible to everybody

  187. Fusion-Era Miles Davis

  188. My Friends and Family, specifically thinking about how to be better to them

  189. A general sense of brokenness and disorderliness in the way stories are told and worlds are built

  190. Inclusivity

  191. Making things expressly FOR kids and not about them from a distance

  192. Feelings

    1. Fear

    2. Shame

    3. Guilt

    4. Sadness

    5. Love

    6. Joy

    7. Euphoria

  193. Tierra Whack’s “Whack World”

  194. Raw Tuna

  195. Richard Hamilton

  196. Ray-Man

  197. Marcel Duchamp

  198. Lady Gaga

  199. Psychedelia

  200. Gummy Candy

CREDITS:

Written, Directed, Produced, Soundtracked, Curated, Edited, Revised and Activated by Theodore Rosen, who is still under the impression that he’s not an egomaniacal control freak.

Part 1 MOM - Footage sourced from: Dagoba Heavy Metal Festival, 3D rendering of heart for medical purposes, Frankenfish a SyFy original film

Part 2 DOG FARTS - Starring Lily and Teddy as BubbleBerry and BlossomPossum, footage of birds from the falconry showcase at the Rhinebeck Steampunk festival.

Part 3 GRINDLEGRUMPS SHOWZ - footage of water from a free relaxing water video on YouTube, music from there too, one of the only time’s it’s not my soundtrack

Part 4 BBBP Prerecorded Live Stream - Lily and Teddy again, thanks also to Diana Elizabeth Mouette and Jose Maria Marquez Stefani for letting me utilize the star power of their dogs for my own creations, lots of still images that are decontextualized, let’s keep it that way

Part 5 MS. CASINO - Starring the inimitable Cluno Bruno as Ms. Casino, who ad-libbed about the entire scene, amazing, also Julian Dime who plays NarMar and Brandt who played the HatBoy, shot in the basement of 89 Broadway in Tivoli, using 3D public domain footage as well as 3D renderings of people harvesting the pink slime often used in fast food burgers, and news footage of a “suspicious” playground fire in New Jersey with no victims

Part 6 EDN - Footage of a Renaissance fair, shot by my friend Alejandro Montalvo “Alex” Hardy off of my tv, improptu, while hanging out after eating BBQ, soundtrack “I Have a Dream” by ABBA

Thanks to: Peggy Ahwesh, Louis Rosen, Charlotte Maier, Ephraim Asili, Dave McKenzie, Scarlett Sinay, Lisa Krueger-Chandler, Brandt Rhode, Cluno Bruno, Alejandro Montalvo Hardy, Matteo Waldinger-White, Julian Dime, Catalina Bulgach, Suki Sekula, Emily Tomasi, Williamsburg Vintiques, Jason Sinay, Diana Elizabeth-Mouette, Jose Maria Marquez Stefani, Lily & Teddy, the city of Los Angeles, Ruth Turk, Aaron Turner, and all the free stuff you can download off of YouTube!

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Creative Commons License

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