Issue No. 28 – Control

What is the nature of control? The desire for it—and to be free of it—are essential parts of both life and art.

Film Review: JAY MYSELF (2019) DIR. STEPHEN WILKES

Film Review: JAY MYSELF (2019) DIR. STEPHEN WILKES

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By Belle McIntyre

This film is sort of an ode to glorious excess and an elegy for an era of extravagant artistic creativity which was largely happening in downtown New York and gave birth to SoHo in all of it’s grunge and decrepitude which enabled its anarchic energy to flourish. It is first and foremost a tribute to the huge talent and massive output of one of America’s premier artist and photographers, Jay Maisel. The framing of the film is the impending move of Maisel and company out of the place he has lived and worked in for the last 48 years of his life at 190 Bowery. A former bank built over 100 years ago, containing 72 rooms on 6 floors spread over 35,000 square feet, it is a grand old building adorned with layers of graffiti. Maisel appears to have fully inhabited all of the space with his work, collections, and eventually a wife and a daughter. Forced to sell as the upkeep and taxes have become unaffordable, the building was purchased by art collector and developer, Aby Rosen, for 55 million in 2016, a record-breaking price for a private sale. (This might be seen as a statement on the relationship of art to commerce today).

“Jay Myself”

“Jay Myself”

The director and on-camera presence, Stephen Wilkes who began as an intern to Maisel in 1979 and then became a friend and colleague still remains in awe of Maisel the man and the artist. The period of filming is in the last three-months of sorting through and packing all of his voluminous work output, and possessions of such peculiar and varied objects, as to defy easy justification. Through this process, we are able to see the scope of Maisel’s work from early black and white portraits of jazz greats of the 50’s and 60’s, and his color work, both commercial and artistic. Maisel is a wonderfully gruff and avuncular on camera personality who is not at all self-conscious. What most powerfully come across is his unabashed love of photography and the boundless beauty and fascination which he finds in common things everywhere and all of the time. His enthusiasm is contagious and his philosophy is: “Hey, look” His goal with his art is trying to make others see what he sees. He has such an open-mind to everything in his gaze it is almost childlike in its purity.

“Jay Myself”

“Jay Myself”

As we wander through the organized chaos of his collected and displayed objects and what many would call junk, he refers to all of them with deep affection, many of which have featured in his work as subjects or elements in his photography. It is frankly mind-boggling to go through those endless rooms of stuff and imagine making sense of it to pack and move into a new and much smaller space in a townhouse in Brooklyn. His biggest regret seems to be the loss of the views from this space. He has found endless inspiration from the variety and complexities of the city as seen and photographed from his windows. He knows the light in all of its colors and movement intimately after all of these years. While his photographs appear to be superbly well organized, he expressed to a shrink that he was afraid that he might be getting Alzheimer’s because he was having trouble remembering where some things were. The shrink re-assured him that he was not. He did say: “But you are crazy.” If this is madness, it is certainly a fine one.

“Jay Myself”

“Jay Myself”

From an amazing opening overhead shot of what appears to be an industrial push broom moving through piles of what looks like a room full of sand and then zooms into reveal that is mountains of slides, in unimaginable numbers, and closing with the 35 moving trucks being loaded with the work of a lifetime and the door being locked for the last time, it is a truly absorbing look at the life and work of a fascinating and very human being.

Photo Journal Monday: Saunak Shah

Photo Journal Monday: Saunak Shah

Weekend Portfolio: Meggan Joy

Weekend Portfolio: Meggan Joy