“The Works” by Larry Cuba
Aka 3-78. Video still from archive.org
Title:
- The Works
Artist(s) and People Involved:
Filmmaker, Video Artist, or Animator(s):
Symposium:
Venue(s):
Creation Year:
- 1978
Medium:
- 16 mm. film, b/w, optical sounds
Duration:
- 6:00
Artist Statement:
This special program introduces the rarely seen, yet widely acclaimed computer animated films by the American artist Larry Cuba. In his artwork Cuba is known for his painstaking strain after perfection. Because of this he has produced relatively few films which have, however, a quite unique esthetic quality. According to Gene Youngblood, “if there is a Bach of abstract animation it is Larry Cuba. Words like elegant, graceful, exhilarating spectacular works characterized by cascading designs, starling shifts of perspective and the ineffable beauty of precise, mathematic structure.” (Video/Arts, Winter 1986)
The Works 1. 3 / 78
Sixteen objects, each consisting of one hundred points of light, perform a series of precisely choreographed rhythmic transformations. Accompanied by the sound of Shakuhachi (the Japanese bamboo flute), the film is an exercise in the visual perception of motion and mathematical structure.
