Call me Trash, sure, just as long as you call me Artist

Those were heady times, the film festival days. I should work on getting into it again. Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Those of you who know my Little Movie That Could "Mars Needs Bibles" (and if you don't, what's your problem?, it's on my profile, check it out) know it to be a loving slice of good-natured neo-con bait and 1950s scifi pastiche, as well as a testament to my trash-chic esthetic.

That's right, I said trash, and proud of it. I've long embraced the concept of turning my limits into a strength, taking cardboard and spraypaint and turning them into a magical medium that will represent anything I wish. If you buy into that, my movies are a tickle. If you don't, they aren't. And I'm well aware that to many, they aren't -- I've heard grumblings that "Those Light-Fingered Kellys" isn't "real" enough, and even director of photography Russ Ansley still doesn't get "Mars Needs Bibles," despite his efforts having turned it into something far more beautiful than I ever could have accomplished on my own. But critics have generally been kind, comparing my work favorably to Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space," and praising my "attention to detail in its pursuit of bargain basement, 50's era special effects." At least, I choose to believe that's praise.

But whatever else you can say about it, "Mars Needs Bibles" is now capital-A Art.

The Seattle True Independent Film Festival will be screening it next month. They've not only given it an award (the STIFFY for "Best Title," and to whom else could it be given?), but they are projecting it in... the Seattle Museum of Art. That's right, an art museum, judging by the name, THE art museum of Seattle. (If this is in fact someone's garage, I don't want to know about it, it's still a museum.)

And whatever else your definition might include, it's hard to argue that something displayed in a museum is anything but art.

If you're going to be in Seattle, or near Seattle, or interested in taking a road trip to Seattle, go check it out. Sunday, June 3 2007, 4:00 pm.

At the Seattle Art Museum. It's art. I'm an artist.