Salazar 2000
Distributed by Chip Taylor Communications, 2 East View Drive, Derry, New Hampshire 03038-4816; 1-800-876-CHIP
Produced by Chip Taylor Communication
Director n/a
VHS, color, 45 min.
High School - Adult
Art, Biography
Date Entered: 11/09/2018
Reviewed by Joan Stahl, University of Maryland, College Park, MD"His name reflects the spirit of his art," reads the publisher's blurb that appears on the video box. The promotional text tends to excess, as does this film.
Salazar is a biography of the contemporary artist, Roland Salazar Rose. Rose, who professionally uses the name Salazar, paints in an abstract expressionist style in water media, mixed media, acrylic, and oil. He divides his time between Mexico, where he has exhibited and had artist residencies, and his home in Maine.
The artist speaks about his love of both geographic areas and references "The Four Seasons of the Master Myth," consisting of 1,000, 4" x 6" works-on-paper, that he painted between 1989-1990. He discusses his mixed Jewish-Christian heritage, discusses a mixed-media technique he developed that is non-reactive and permanent, and reveals the ways in which art enables him to find himself and find truth. The viewer learns that Salazar often chooses to work in series and his use of color is both expressive and lyric.
Unfortunately, the filming is unimaginative and static, with the artist in a handful of postures, speaking to the camera. His comments are interspersed with on-screen quotes about art and art making by the most well known artists (Matisse, O'Keeffe, Picasso, Escher, Wilde), and visuals of some of his art. He is intelligent and thoughtful, but an uninspired speaker, who shares largely unremarkable opinions, musings, and observations. Salazar's comments are long-winded and some judicious editing would have created a film with greater impact. The audio track, a leitmotif through the video, sounds like classical guitar in the style of Muzak, and becomes irritating because it is ever present.
This title, available in both English and Spanish, is one in a series of publications on the artist produced by Chip Taylor Productions. Salazar's Four Seasons of the Master Myth, a companion piece to this title, was written and narrated by the artist. Salazar's Millennium Project, the complete set of Salazar's 1000 paintings and mixed media, The Four Seasons of the Master Myth, is available in two formats, video and CD-ROM.