How To Draw A Bunny (Documentary)
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: B- Documentary: B-
Ray Johnson was a more significant artist of the 20th
Century than even I thought, but the recent John Walter/Andrew Moore
documentary How To Draw A Bunny (2000) shows just how far he went to
produce his art. Often, this was in the
form of puzzles that were not as simple as they first seemed. Then there were his signature “bunny” sketches,
which with little difference was used to portray just about everyone he knew or
knew of.
Though this would indicate he saw us all as more similar
than different, not to consider the wily nature of bunnies, he was a part of
the art community at large and the many artists interviewed (Roy Lichtenstein,
Billy Name, Chuck Close, James Rosenquist, Norman Solomon, Richard Feigen, et
al) offers further consideration of where he was coming from and what may have
happened to him when he died under odd circumstances on January 13th
1995, which happened to be a Friday.
Some of the program felt like things we have seen and
heard in several previous such documentaries, but does it well enough just the
same for those who have not seen such programs before. I got just enough out of it to recommend,
but some of it just did not work and some of the people and their ideas were on
the pointless side that distracted from learning more about Johnson. It is still referential enough curious
enough about the artist who is the subject.
The letterboxed 1.78 X 1/16 X 9 image originated on NTSC
video of the time and has dated slightly, but the mix of black and white with
color images is often as abstract as Johnson’s usually colorful work. The reenactments of certain events are the
weak point. The Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo has some Pro Logic surrounds and is not bad for its recent age, but the
tape source shows a few fidelity limits.
Extras include a slightly talky commentary by the directors, a Ray
Johnson Memorial Show that takes about 5 minutes to tour a building featuring
his work while no one is visiting, seven deleted scenes of more interviews that
includes some who did not appear in the main feature including more key artists
that runs another 20 minutes, trailers for this and other Palm DVD releases,
and a few dozen stills of his art with identifying captions. That is a plus supporting a main program
that needed it. That makes the DVD of How
To Draw A Bunny the best way to catch it.
- Nicholas Sheffo
