LOVE - A FILM BY LARRY WESSEL: THE ART OF BETH MOORE-LOVE by Larry Wessel (2013)
"You have to understand where I'm coming from. I come from America, which is a killing field, a racially tense, hypocritical wasteland of plains, deserts, swamps and cities, where people kill each other, hang each other and lie to each other." (Henry Rollins on "MTV", early 1990's)
Here it is, right in my hands, fresh out of the air-cushioned envelope. Delivered directly from one of America's finest and most dedicated documentarists, Larry Wessel. He caught my attention when he announced his mammoth project called "Boyd Rice: Iconoclast", which he released in 2010 as a three-DVD-package, running four (!) hours altogether, leaving not one single question unanswered about the infant terrible of the international industrial muzak / noise scene, whether it be the ongoing and unnerving accusations towards his said-to-be political / darwinist viewpoints, his (now defunct) friendship with Charlie Manson or the relationship to the late Anton Lavey and his Church of Satan. "Iconoclast" to me is an undisputed monument of loads of information, a necessary example of contemporary filmmaking and an in-depth look at America's most extreme and controversial counterculture. As for LOVE, Larry returns with another information-packed documentary, an intimate insight upon another very special artist who unfortunately remains almost unseen and unknown in Europe, although she had lived for several years in Berlin. Larry's research had spanned over nine years until he could finish his project and release it on this year's Valentine's Day, zero o'clock sharp. Beth Moore-Love, who I would describe as the female counterpart of Brooklyn-based Joe Coleman, gives the viewer an opportunity to look over the artist's shoulder, describing every single aspect of meaning behind her overwhelming and intriguing paintings. And we're talking about tiny square inches here. There are so many countless details in her pictures that the use of a magnifying lens should be advised. Miss Moore-Love's understanding of art is just what our society in which we live is in great need of, and I'm not kidding. Like the aforementioned Joe Coleman, Beth's works depict the ugliness, the violence and madness of our lives by using some of the most trusted motifs most of us may know from our earliest days of childhood. Some of her paintings resemble vintage greeting cards for religious holidays or children's' birthdays. If there weren't these gruesome and shocking, yet fascinating details of total human degeneration. Her art is of a transgressive nature which knows neither taboos nor boundaries. Thank you Larry for your excellent work, and all the best for your future!