The Art of Vision1965

Includes the complete DOG STAR MAN and is a full extension of the singularly visible themes of it. Inspired by that period of music in which the word symphonia was created and by the thought that the term, as then, was created to name the overlap and enmeshing of suites, this film presents the visual symphony that DOG STAR MAN can be seen as and also all the suites of which it is composed. But as it is a film, and a work of music, the above suggests only one of the possible approaches to it. For instance, as cinematographer. at source, means writer of movement, certain poetic analogies might serve as well. The form is conditioned by the works of arts which have inspired DOG STAR MAN, its growth of form by the physiology and experiences ( including experiences of art) of the man who made it. Finally it must be seen for what it is. An art of vision possible in a medium which has dominated our century, and which herewith frees itself from dependence on all other art forms. Film has tended, even in the most experimental of intention, culture, pretense, and imitation. Now Brakhage's ART OF VISION exists so utterly free of all that. It is a totality of making so intense it becomes a systemic exploration of the forms and terms of the medium itself. To explore the form without exhausting the form: a definitive making in any art is the health of the whole art, of the arts. Art in its oldest sense is skill, skill of making; THE ART OF VISION is the skill of making seeing. THE ART OF VISION, The Art of Fugue, a presumptuous comparison only so long as we accord film only evidential value. This film makes immediate the integrity of the medium. Climax of the edited film, a new continent of the eye's sway. Mind at the mercy of the eye at last. – Robert Kelly