The Art of Worldly Wisdom

The Art of Worldly Wisdom

16mm amd Digital, color, sound, 55 min
This is the first composition of material from my ongoing film diaries: from journals kept during 1976–78. Moving Kodak snapshots taken during travels abroad and while at work back home; random ...
Rental formats: 16mm, Digital file

Stills

About

This is the first composition of material from my ongoing film diaries: from journals kept during 1976–78. Moving Kodak snapshots taken during travels abroad and while at work back home; random glimpses of sites seen and persons visited, fragments of afternoon reveries and night dream visions with garrulous non-stop descriptions of education—in family, at school, while ill —trying to make sense of it all. “The dark wood encountered in the middle of life's journey’ (Dante).

“A compelling and revealing exploration of one's person psyche in crisis.”–Linda Gross, Los Angeles Times)

“... a tour de force of psychoanalytic autobiography. Shot with a series of multiple images, the three formative influences Nature, Civilization, Self compete for the viewer's attention.”–Michael Quigley, Hamilton Spectator)

“...our (Canadian cinema’s) most sophisticated extrapolation of personal imagery.” –Seth Feldman, Canadian Forum

“...a meticulously crafted and acutely troubling document shaped around the tritest topic in the book: the artist's telling of his personal and intellectual coming-of-age.” –John Bentley Mays, Toronto Globe and Mail

“... the key new experimental work to be seen in Los Angeles so far this year.” Los Angeles Free Press

“combines elaborate split-screen and multi-voice soundtrack to produce a self-portrait at once satiric and poignant.” Art Gallery of Ontario

Films

  • Other films by this artist in our catalogue

  • Read More
    The Book of All the Dead
    Experimental

    The Book of All the Dead
    Bruce Elder

    Digital, color and b/w, sound, 2520 min
  • Read More
    Breath/Light/Birth
    Experimental

    Breath/Light/Birth
    Bruce Elder

    Digital, black and white, sound, 6 min
  • Read More
    She Is Away
    Experimental

    She Is Away
    Bruce Elder

    16mm and Digital, color, sound, 13 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Literarature / Theater
    • Structural
  • Read More
    Barbara Is a Vision of Loveliness
    Experimental

    Barbara Is a Vision of Loveliness
    Bruce Elder

    Digital, black and white, sound, 8 min
  • Read More
    Permutations and Combinations
    Experimental

    Permutations and Combinations
    Bruce Elder

    16mm, color, sound, 8 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Structural
  • Read More
    Look! We Have Come Through!
    Experimental

    Look! We Have Come Through!
    Bruce Elder

    Digital, black and white, sound, 12 min
  • Read More
    Sweet Love Remembered
    Experimental

    Sweet Love Remembered
    Bruce Elder

    16mm, color, sound, 12.5 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Literarature / Theater
  • Read More
    Trace
    Experimental

    Trace
    Bruce Elder

    Digital, color, silent, 1 min
  • Read More
    1857: (Fool's Gold)
    Experimental

    1857: (Fool's Gold)
    Bruce Elder

    16mm and Digital, color, sound, 25 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Philosophical
    • Literarature / Theater
  • Read More
    Illuminated Texts
    Experimental

    Illuminated Texts
    Bruce Elder

    16mm and Digital, color, sound, 180 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Philosophical
  • Read More
    Lamentations: Part One (Reels 1-5 Of 11) The Dream of the Last Historian
    Experimental

    Lamentations: Part One (Reels 1-5 Of 11) The Dream of the Last Historian
    Bruce Elder

    16mm, color, sound, 210 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Philosophical
  • Read More
    Lamentations: Part Two (Reels 6-11 of 11) the Sublime Calculation
    Experimental

    Lamentations: Part Two (Reels 6-11 of 11) the Sublime Calculation
    Bruce Elder

    16mm and Digital, color, sound, 240 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Philosophical
  • Read More
    Consolations (Love Is an Art of Time) Part 1: The Fugitive Gods
    Experimental

    Consolations (Love Is an Art of Time) Part 1: The Fugitive Gods
    Bruce Elder

    Digital, color, sound, 241 min
  • Read More
    Consolations: Love is an Art of Time
    Experimental

    Consolations: Love is an Art of Time
    Bruce Elder

    Digital, color, sound, 809 min
  • Read More
    Consolations (Love Is an Art of Time) Part 3: The Body and the World
    Experimental

    Consolations (Love Is an Art of Time) Part 3: The Body and the World
    Bruce Elder

    Digital, color, sound, 327 min
  • Read More
    Consolations (Love Is an Art of Time) Part 2: The Lighted Clearing

    Consolations (Love Is an Art of Time) Part 2: The Lighted Clearing
    Bruce Elder

    Digital, color, sound, 215 min
  • Read More
    Flesh Angels
    Experimental

    Flesh Angels
    Bruce Elder

    Digital, color, sound, 86 min
  • Read More
    Newton and Me
    Experimental

    Newton and Me
    Bruce Elder

    Digital, color, sound, 90 min
  • Read More
    Azure Serene
    Experimental

    Azure Serene
    Bruce Elder

    Digital, color, sound, 95 min
  • Read More
    Exultations: In Light of the Great Giving
    Experimental

    Exultations: In Light of the Great Giving
    Bruce Elder

    Digital, color, sound, 90 min
  • Read More
    Burying the Dead: Into the Light
    Experimental

    Burying the Dead: Into the Light
    Bruce Elder

    Digital, color, sound, 90 min
  • Read More
    Et Resurrectus Est
    Experimental

    Et Resurrectus Est
    Bruce Elder

    Digital, color, sound, 135 min
  • Read More
    Surprised By Joy
    Experimental

    Surprised By Joy
    Bruce Elder

    16mm, color, sound, 200 min
    Rental format: 16mm
  • Read More
    Crack, Brutal, Grief
    Experimental

    Crack, Brutal, Grief
    Bruce Elder

    16mm, color, sound, 80 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Philosophical
  • Read More
    Eros and Wonder
    Experimental

    Eros and Wonder
    Bruce Elder

    16mm, color, sound, 106 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Environment / Nature