Videographer/artist Bill Rabinovitch began his studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute
becoming an engineer, and then a USAF jet pilot, and later a scientist working for Nobel
Prize winner in astrophysics Ricardo Giaconni who discovered Quasars.
Bill finally threw
all this to the winds, traded in his Porsche for a VW camper, and moved to San Francisco into the
Haight Ashbury area to become a full time painter, a year before anything was there and it all
exploded into the Hippie movement.
He realized his true calling was in the arts, and after a stint at the SF Art Institute,
attended the Whitney Independent Study Program in studio arts in painting. His paintings
can be seen at www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk.
Rabinovitch was able to combine his knowledge and skills in
art and engineering in the developing medium of video art. He was a collaborator with
Nam June Paik. As a videographer, Rabinovitch has developed the largest video archive
of unique NYC art world material in existence. The archive includes over two thousand
hours of coverage of both high end gallery and museum openings as
well as the alternative NYC art scene he's continuously documented over
the past twenty years.
While there is always prime focus on the art, this two decade long dialogue also
represents a lively, rich and colorful discourse between artists, critics,
curators, dealers and spectators presented in an accessible and entertaining
way. Included are a multitude of museum press events, art symposiums and other
events attracting wider media attention that will prove fascinating for future
viewers. There is striking anecdotal commentary by artists, top curators, museum
directors, major art critics and historians about every facet of the art
world. Coverage includes most all of Leo Castelli's artists openings & exhibitions during the 90's as well as consistent coverage of some 100 other top end galleries & alternative spaces including many spectacular openings & exhibitions at Pace, Gagosian, Boone, Deitch, Exit Art, Feldman, Gladstone, etc., as well as many museum press openings & events at the Guggenheim, The New Museum, NYU's Grey Gallery, etc., from the early 90's thru 2006.
The flash of recognition of seeing the art as it is first presented to the
public in these exhibitions suggests added drama. This dialogue is often
lively as Mr. Rabinovitch actively records interviews not only with the artists,
but exchanges between the artists and others to gain further insights into the
art. In his documentation, the art itself is always the main focus but Mr.
Rabinovitch also records with an eye toward making striking films.
The Museum of Modern Art awarded Rabinovitch a solo evening of selected
segments from his archive which was shown on the big screen in the MoMA
Cineprobe series in the Titus Theater in the spring of 2001. Rabinovitch has since
developed a unique, conceptual framework for culling this content down to
its essence and convening the best of it into a series of interactive DVD's for
future study and enjoyment. A further outgrowth would be a unique series for
PBS, thereby formalizing this treasure trove for posterity and making it
available for global dissemination.
This brief description should explain why this archive will have art
historical importance and why this project will satisfy certain museum and
library needs for content. This archive has been Bill's totally self initiated effort
during the past two decades. It is unequaled in terms of size, consistency, and breadth of scope according to MoMA & many of NYC's most noted art writers, curators, art historians & museum directors.
He's done a one-on-one dialogue with New Yorker Magazine art critic Peter Schjeldahl & another with Artnet's Walter Robinson at the Artist Talk on Art Symposium Series & has been on symposiums with Arthur Danto, Helen Harrison director of the Pollock Krasner House & Study Center & Deborah Solomon of the New York Times.
He's produced a series of prize winning fictionalized multimedia plays for television about artists such as Picasso, Max Beckmann, Frida Kahlo, Egon Schiele and Julian Schnabel. Several have won first awards including his "Picasso and the Weeping Women" done in conjunction with the Metropolitan Museum of Art
|
