The artist Raymond Salvatore Harmon filmed in action – Intro by Al Woods
It’s rare we get to see an artist creating art and even rarer to hear them talk about the process as they work. This film on the artist Raymond Salvatore Harmon does just that and is a fascinating watch.
As he concentrates and summons up the ideas to forge his latest painting he comes out with a gem. He points to the fact that he never stopped painting. Like many of us he enjoyed making art as a child. The difference is that he never stopped. Many of us, as we grow up, lose that ability, that passion to create. The resulting short film by Andrew Schlussel helps us understand what goes into the creation of a work of art.
WHICH SIDE IS UP from Schlussel Films on Vimeo.
Raymond Salvatore Harmon is an American painter and media artist who has called London home for the past decade. Born in an industrial town in the midwestern US, Harmon has spent his time in London living in the once industrial, now trendy, Hackney Wick neighborhood. An area where plastic was invented in the early 20th century and as recently as 2010 cited as the highest population density of artists in Europe, Hackney Wick has swiftly been gentrified in the wake of the 2012 Olympic development.
As an abstract painter Harmon’s work has covered entire buildings in far flung corners of Europe, and a central premise of Harmon’s creative practice is working outdoors under the open sky.
“At some point you realize you are actually speaking a language made out of pigment and gesture…Working outdoors, it ties you completely to this environment, to the space in which you exist, and it makes you a lot more aware of how the environment effects you and your mood as an artist.” – Raymond Salvatore Harmon, from Which Side Is Up?
Filmmaker Andrew Schlussel visited Harmon in his London garden studio to talk about his practice of painting outdoors, how an artist’s environment effects their creative process, and the nature of creative process as a “language.”
Andrew Schlussel is a filmmaker whose career spans working on fringe underground projects, to working at the largest animation and visual effects companies in the world. His short films have been shown internationally at film festivals, and he has created music videos, documentaries, and industrials. His career has included working at Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, MPC, and now Framestore in London. Andrew loves bringing untold stories to life, and in his role as an educator, helping others succeed.
Composer and sound artist Rob Mazurek has lent his sonic palette to “Which Side Is Up?”, providing a landscape of audio texture ranging from his improvised coronet to various electronic sources. Harmon and Mazurek previously collaborated on the feature length performance film Chronicle.
Watch Raymond Salvatore Harmon discuss his work and practice while painting on camera:
For more information please on Raymond Salvatore Harmon please visit: raymondharmon.com
The artist Raymond Salvatore Harmon filmed in action – Intro by Al Woods
