. . . (ellipses) Part 11998

This work is in five reels (numbered, but called "reels" so that they don't take on the connotations of "Parts" – thus each simply a part of the "trail" of colored scratches. white scratches ((on black & white leader) which suggests, to me, a passage). The third "reel" combines these scratches with some motion picture film, mostly of the ocean. The fifth reel is the only one which has a sound track; but of course that makes the whole work a "SOUND film" because the audio track must be turned-on from the beginning. –S. B. "Brakhage's new series of scratch-and-stain films, known as (. . .) or ELLIPSES, are, among other things, a visual analogue to Abstract Expressionism. The onrushing imagery and the spatial conundrums it creates evoke not only Pollack but also the work of Franz Kline, William De Kooning, and even Mark Rothko – that is Pollack at al, at 24 frames per second. Eschewing the camera, Brakhage scrapes away the film emulsion to create a thicket (or sometimes a spider's web) of white lines and rich, chemical colors. Some segments of the original footage appear to have been printed on negative stock or perhaps solarized – so that the blue and pink lines are inscribed on a white field. In any case, (. . .) is a cosmos. Rich without being ingratiating, the effect is one of rhytmic conflagration." (by J. Hobarman – Perfectly correct, S. B)