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Article: Cameron Jamie. (Openings).(his films)(Critical Essay)
- Article from:
- Artforum International
- Article date:
- June 22, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Artforum International Magazine, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Years before I saw any of Cameron Jamie's work, the artist Larry Johnson had told me about "this guy who does 'apartment wrestling'"--or at least performance that takes that softcore-porn subgenre as its point of departure. Eventually I met the artist and he agreed to send me a copy of his film BB, 2000, but it would be months-- and many missed connections--before the eighteen-minute extravaganza of suburban teenage acting-out would arrive in the mail with two shorter videos, La Baguette, 1997, and The New Life, 1996. Wildly different from whatever I'd imagined, they were truly odd, riveting in a bewildering way.
BB, I knew, documented the "backyard wrestling" ...