The Madness of Olivier de Sagazan

I've been meaning to post something about extraordinary French performance artist Olivier de Sagazan for quite some time, but I never followed through. His art is captivating but disturbing. So it seems appropriate to share it with you during a season that is dedicated to the macabre, the disturbing, and the frightening.

But please don't misunderstand: Olivier de Sagazan is not a "Halloween" novelty or a "horror show" trope. His art is based on the physical and psychological transformation of the human being. He layers clay, paint (only black and red, and pointedly so), hair, and dirt onto his face and body in a transformation that is truly a descent into a state of madness, a state of complete and total surrender. It is the transformation of the logical, rational, controlled modern human into a kind of ferocious, visceral, animalistic, ancient state. Along with whispered or shouted ranting and startling pre-language vocalizations, he contorts his face and body into grotesque, deformed shapes, rendering the human form down into featureless components, or into what could be tribal masks and body modification from indigenous cultures or ancient races.

"I am flabbergasted in seeing to what degree people think its normal, to be alive. Disfigurement in art is a way to return to real life!" says de Sagazan.

In this way, I feel that de Sagazan's art goes beyond "scary" or "frightening" because it plays not on our fear of monsters, ghosts, vampires, or serial killers, but on our universal fear of the dissolution of ourselves, the loss of our identity and minds, of who we are, reverting to some primal state. I might even venture to say that, by extension, his performances are also connected to our fear of death itself, of the idea of ultimate transformation. And of course this is so effective precisely because we all still have this primal, raving creature inside us...and we all must reconcile ourselves to our final transformation. His work is shocking and penetrating because it's about what is INSIDE of us, not something scary or frightening "out there."

He appeared in the classic film "Samsara" (previously here) in a short sequence that encapsulates his ideas.

Here is a version of his foundational performance, "Transfiguration."

And in one of his most mind-boggling, horrific performances, he just collaborated with English designer Gareth Pugh (a protégé of Rick Owens and Michele Lamy, previously here and here) in a film presentation of Pugh's Spring/Summer 2018 collection. Their performance together takes the first six minutes of the film. It's intense...forewarned is forearmed.

http://olivierdesagazan.com/

Just watched...

..."Samsara," Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson's 2011 follow-up to "Baraka."

Samsara is a Buddhist word that refers to the cycle of birth, life, death, and reincarnation. It carries with it a connotation of being attached to this physical plane, with all of its associated possibilities of pain and joy, love and suffering... of being unenlightened. Samsara is the opposite of nirvana which is true freedom from pain, suffering, and the individual experience of the outer world. And Fricke and Magidson chose themes, images, and sequences for this film that dramatically support this difference.

This film, like "Baraka," is hard to describe. It is more--or perhaps less?--than a documentary. Just like "Baraka," it is a meditation, a wordless experience that presents and suggests very large, even overwhelming ideas that are core to the human condition. It is like a dream, presenting images without words or explanation... and because of this form, the images resonate on a deeper level than if such ideas were to be written about or spoken of.

Filmed over nearly five years (the filmmakers started in 2006, after "Baraka") in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on glorious seventy-millimetre film, "Samsara" shows sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders. It shows scenes of love and tenderness, scenes of technological and societal alienation, scenes of creation and destruction, scenes of lush forests and desolate deserts, and scenes of great beauty juxtaposed against the violence, hopelessness, and death inherent in the human experience.

And like "Baraka," we see some familiar sights. We return to Mecca, we return to many temples in Asia... but I am not complaining. While the concept and execution might not be revolutionary, what the filmmakers do is truly transcendent. The camera work is of course stunning. The way scenes are framed and tracked is gorgeous: one could remove any frame from this film and the result would be an exquisite work of art. And returning from "Baraka" are composer Michael Stearns and renowned singer and composer Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance) who created the musical score. For "Samsara," the musical process was a little different. The film was edited in silence and given to Stearns, Gerrard, and composer Marcello De Francisci who composed the music in direct response to the visuals.

The result is a sense of mono no aware (see previous post here), the knowledge that what one is seeing is impermanent, transcendent, part of a world which will one day be destroyed. In this film, we are witness to all the good and bad that is possible, the beauty and torture, all the tender things, love, and lives that are lived and lost.

Recommend? Absolutely. This is about as perfect as any film can get. Like I mentioned earlier, this is a wordless meditation and requires an open mind and heart to fully appreciate the experience. If you need a film to be "about" something, perhaps this is not for you. But if you can immerse yourself in a stream of consciousness triggered by the world itself, you're in for a treat.

http://barakasamsara.com/

"Samsara"

Wow.

Filmed over five years in twenty-five countries on 70 mm film stock by Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson, the creators of "Baraka."
Starting August 24th, 2012: VERY limited US release dates here.

http://www.barakasamsara.com/