Product Description

Richard Tuttle’s extraordinary work has exuded vitality and energy for over four decades–a remarkable feat, particularly since his art is so modest, vulnerable and daringly simplified. An elegant iconoclast who never hesitates to take risks, Tuttle uses frail and transitory materials such as plywood, tissue, wire, cloth–even shadows–to create entire worlds of thought, while challenging the ‘super-size’ aesthetic with his minor-scaled works.

From his early years as assistant at the famed Betty Parsons Gallery in New York to his major retrospective launched in San Francisco in Summer 2005, Tuttle’s commitment to the small, the anti-heroic, the barely visible, has inspired generations of younger artists to follow one’s own personal vision.

Filmed in New Mexico, New York, San Francisco, Miami and Los Angeles, this engaging production takes viewers into the studio and life of a most distinctive artist, while exploring issues of commitment, communication and controversy, the relationship between size and value, the language of materials and learning how to "see" art.

Featuring Richard Tuttle, Marcia Tucker, Madeleine Grynsztejn, Roy Dowell, Connie Butler, Herb & Dorothy Vogel, Angela Westwater and others

Music by Tom Waits, Umiliani, Steve Jaqua, Ted Greene

Subtitles: English, Spanish, Italian, French, German

Bonus track

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43223 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-08-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Director's Cut, DVD, Full length, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 32 minutes

Robert Rosenblum, professor of Art History, NYU
"Fascinating visual tour of the art and career of maverick Minimalist always pushing the envelope of what art can be."

Brice Marden
"This view into the work, life and thinking of Richard Tuttle is a rich gift. Complex, mysterious and resonant.

Richard Lacayo, TIME Magazine
"Richard Tuttle is increasingly recognized as a genuine, if highly idiosyncratic, American master."

Customer Reviews

Never not fascinating
Chris Maybach's documentaries are the most intimate studies of artists I have come across. Whether or not the artists he examines are to your taste, his calm approach to each profile tells you a lot about the artist's work and intentions, his or her personality and ambitions. For the curious there are insights into the artists' lifestyle. Yet as gentle as Maybach's touch seems to me, I don't get the feeling that he's trying to steer me toward a favorable opinion of his subjects. This approach is perfectly suited to the artist Richard Tuttle, who, like his work or not, is the real thing. The making of art is a mysterious process as varied as humanity, and the impulses that drive artists are largely ineffable. This superbly crafted documentary helps us get as close to the answers as we are likely to get when dealing with such a singular and challenging body of work like Tuttle's.

challenging - a necessity for broadening the narrow confines of "ART"
there's more to art than the "ART" world would have most people know. to deny the vision and creativity of outsider art, "non"-art, other-art, crafts people, grafitti writers, mixed and multi media artists, photographers and so on is a "the world is flat" mentality.

before judging artwork as unworthy, ask yourself some questions! what is the artist's reference/frame of mind? what materials are used here & how are they being used? what's different about this work than other installations/images i've seen? why is the artist doing this work rather than something i'm more familiar with? what does it say/where does it stand next to other artwork i like & don't like?

art can't be compared and contrasted in the same ways one chooses a brand of coffee or a sweater! you can't compare pieces of artwork anymore than you can compare human beings. we all have preferences but there's no way to slot completely unique organisms into the same box just because they fall under the same cultural or linguistic heading: coffee - sweater - art - human being...

there's no need to "like" a piece of artwork in order to appreciate its significance or impact. recently i reviewed a book about/work by the semi-legendary sculptor eva hesse. some of her work looks (through snap-judgement glasses) like something i've seen at our local landfill. rather than stubbornly refusing to dig further into the artist and her life and work i chose to push out against my own limitations. essays and interviews showed a woman fascinated by the absurd and the convergence of opposites and a fascinating personal history. second to these very interesting discoveries was the revelation that some of hesse's sculpture is literally disappearing because of the materials she used. it might be easy to clap one's hands in juvenile fashion and shout, "goody!" when something one doesn't "like" is removed from view, but such behavior speaks volumes about the audience...not the artist or the art.

if you really want to learn something, start looking at more things you don't like. rather than thinking outside the box, do what grafitti writer banksy recommends...take a knife to the (expletive deleted) box. it's healthier than blanket disapproval.

A nutty genius, or a clever con?
An excellent documentary that illuminates a guy who's obviously 'weird,' but charismatic and a strong influence on other artists today. Tuttle isn't a natural when it comes to being interviewed. That's why you didn't see him on the Dave Letterman Show during his nationwide retrospective. That he's relaxed, a total 'natural' here makes this DVD a rare viewing pleasure. I once attended a museum lecture of Tuttle's and, sadly, found him so inarticulate that nothing was making sense. I left before the lecture was over. So I bought this DVD with some fear, thinking I'd at least get to see his art in closeup and hear about his life in Santa Fe. I was astounded how fantastically clear, concise and humble he comes off -- and,yes, articulate as can be. I now have insight into how he thinks and works. Is he a nutty genius, or a clever con? People are divided. But you won't ever get a better chance to find out for yourself.