{"id":14521,"date":"2016-10-17T13:57:25","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T17:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=14521"},"modified":"2016-10-17T14:06:10","modified_gmt":"2016-10-17T18:06:10","slug":"film-art-bastard-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=14521","title":{"rendered":"Film: Art Bastard (2016)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ArtBastard_poster_s\"Film<\/strong>:\u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0n\/a<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: n\/a<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong> n\/a<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong> n\/a<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0 n\/a<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Documentary \/ Art History<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0Lively portrait of NYC artist and provocateur Robert Cenedella.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0 n\/a<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Originally a project inaugurated by producer Chris Concannon, Art Bastard<\/strong> went through production spurts over several years until veteran editor Victor Kanefsky came on board and supervised its completion, ultimately becoming the film\u2019s director after organizing the footage into a thorough and balanced narrative that traces the life of artist Robert Cenedella.<\/p>\n

\"Cendella_SantaClaus\"Cenedella is quite extraordinary, both in the art world and his personal life, often being a rebel with strong convictions and a wicked sense of humour that sometimes generated controversy (notably his Santa Claus painting, which was quickly yanked from public display after its commission and completion).<\/p>\n

Cenedella\u2019s chief influence and mentor was artist George Grosz<\/a>, a German ex-pat who taught at The Art Student League of New York<\/a> after fleeing Nazi Germany. Grosz\u2019 style was ripe with social and political commentary, aspects that similarly fuel Cenedella\u2019s work which takes raw, satirical pokes at the American political establishment.<\/p>\n

When abstract art became vogue and dealers attempted to influence painters, Cenedella stepped away from painting outright, ultimately landing a \u2018straight\u2019 job with an ad agency where his flair for conceptualizing an idea in stark visual terms proved useful. He then founded a poster company which sold both reproductions of stills, movie posters, and custom posters with more politicized imagery before eventually returning to painting with a vengeance, creating epic works that are characterized as massive friezes of an event \u2013 a street brawl, a boxing match \u2013 and where the meaning isn\u2019t it the painting\u2019s central action, but the reactions of surrounding spectators.<\/p>\n

Part folk art, classicism, social commentary, and irreverent op ed, Cenedella\u2019s art mandates patience, a sense of humour, and a perceptive eye to enjoy the nuances of the myriad characters that populate his portraits. Director Kanefsky draws from archives to support the various interviews, and expertly weaves through Cenedella\u2019s life as a youth, a provocateur, his father\u2019s being blacklisted by HUAC<\/a>, and the familial revelation that to an extent affected his sense of self.<\/p>\n

Art Bastard<\/strong> is also the story of a NYC artist who\u2019s managed to inadvertently preserve part of the city\u2019s urban history that no longer exists after heavy upscale condo and corporate developments, making both the film and the artist\u2019s paintings vivid friezes of an ever- changing cultural environment.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also an expertly edited work, and a textbook example on how to construct a perfectly paced cinematic portrait that informs, entertains, and leaves audiences ready to delve into Cenedella\u2019s art<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coming shortly:<\/em> a lengthy podcast interview with director Victor Kanefsky.<\/p>\n

Art Bastard<\/strong> is currently screening at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema<\/a> until Friday October 21.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2016 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cenedella is quite extraordinary, both in the art world and his personal life, often being a rebel with strong convictions and a wicked sense of humour that sometimes generated controversy (notably his Santa Claus painting, which was quickly yanked from public display after its commission and completion…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[4719,4720,4721],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-3Md","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14521"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14521"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14537,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14521\/revisions\/14537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}