From May 26th

Last night, Jeremy, Marilyn and I went to the free showing of No Restraint, a documentary about Matthew Barney's new film, Drawing Restraint 9. Unlike most of his films, this one was easy to understand and actually shed a little light on Barney and his work.
DR9 is a 2 1/4 hour movie filmed on a Japanese whaling ship. Barney's core idea, one repeated in most of his work, is to self-impose obstacles and other forms of resistance during the creative process. In the past, this meant an odd assortment of tape and tethers, weights, athletic equipment, or using such media as Vaseline, tapioca or rock salt. Again, Barney utilizes the Vaseline, this time creating a gigantic mold of it on the deck of the ship, shaped in what he calls "The Field," which looks like a cross between a wrestling mat/football field and a splayed whale. When the mold is removed, the Vaseline cracks and spreads across the deck over the course of the film.
Meanwhile, Barney and his girlfriend, Bjork, star as the Guests, who after being primped, participate in a tea ceremony while dressed in mammal fur costumes and make out, they then cut each other's legs open to reveal blubber and flipper legs, much like the whales slaughtered on the deck of the ship during whale hunting season. Then they transform into whales. There's also a lightening storm, rooms full of liquid Vaseline, blowholes and confused looking Japanese seamen. Did I mention that there is almost no talking throughout the entire film? And Bjork does the soundtrack (full of lots of whale-like sounds, grunts and moans.)
I still haven't made up my mind about Barney. I really enjoy the stills from his previous Cremaster movies and find his imagery evocative. And who doesn't love giant mounds of Vaseline?? But he's so blatantly inaccessible (he refuses to release any of his films to video, he uses strange and overwhelming symbols and images in his films, most of which are confusing and alienating rather than understandable) and so much of a control freak that I usually end up irritated. It's hard to tell if he's a big wanker fraud or a very good artist or both. I'm going to see the movie on Sunday. More on that later, I'm sure.