Paul Clipson

{{Short description|American experimental filmmaker (1965–2018)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}

{{Infobox person | name =  | image =  | alt =  | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = 1965 | birth_place = Cleveland, Ohio, USA<ref name=fact/> | death_date = February 3, {{Death year and age|2018|1965}}<ref name=kqed/> | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = {{hlist|Filmmaker|projectionist}} | spouse = Yelena Soboleva<ref name=obit/> | children = Anya Kamenskaya<ref name=obit/> | years_active = Early 1990s - 2017 | known_for = | notable_works = }}

'''Paul Clipson''' (1965 – February 3, 2018) was an American experimental filmmaker and projectionist based in San Francisco. He is best known for his collaborations with musicians, such as Grouper and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma.<ref name=kqed>{{cite web|url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/13823720/paul-clipson-visionary-filmmaker-and-projectionist-dies-at-53|title=Paul Clipson, Visionary Filmmaker and Projectionist, Dies at 53|access-date=October 1, 2024|date=February 5, 2018|author=Jones, Kevin L.|website=KQED}}</ref> Clipson's work usually took the shape of "hyper-imposed improvisations" edited live while his musical collaborators performed. Only later would he go back to edit a performance into a film.<ref name=mubi/> 2019 saw the release of ''Landscape Dissolves'', a DVD by Re:voir and Students of Decay featuring 14 of Clipson's films from 2009 to 2014.

==Early life== Clipson was born in 1965 in Cleveland, Ohio to Scottish designer Ann Gemmell Clipson and professor of architecture Colin Clipson.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/scotsman-obituaries-ann-gemmell-clipson-artist-designer-and-champion-of-change-at-the-national-trust-for-scotland-4189604|title=Scotsman Obituaries: Ann Gemmell Clipson, artist, designer and champion of change at the National Trust for Scotland|author=Horrocks, Hilary|date=21 June 2023|access-date=10 November 2024|newspaper=The Scotsman}}</ref> He grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and moved to San Francisco in the 1990s.<ref name=fact/>

==Career== In 1995 Clipson filmed his friend and performance artist Adam Heavenrich publicly improvising in San Francisco. The footage was captured on Super 8 film and largely edited in-camera. This resulted in ''BUCKY'', a series of two-minute-long short films released over the next few years.<ref name=sfmoma/>

Clipson's work often took the shape of collaborations with musicians and sound artists. Inspired by musicians' "freedom to create on a whim", he used Super 8 and 16mm projectors to layer his film footage in a live environment.<ref name=kqed/> This type of work started in 2003 when Clipson began composing the visuals for the live performances of Cantu-Ledesma's band Tarentel.<ref name=frieze/> The two had been friends and colleagues since Clipson hired Cantu-Ledesma to work at the SFMOMA in 2002.<ref name=fact/> They discussed the ways music and film can work together and started performing together.<ref name=FD>{{cite web|url=https://foxydigitalis.zone/2021/07/03/within-mirrors-an-interview-with-paul-clipson/|title=Within Mirrors: An Interview With Paul Clipson From 2011|author=Pickowicz, Natasha|date=3 July 2021|access-date=10 November 2024|magazine=Foxy Digitalis}}</ref> Three years later Clipson officially joined Tarentel as their full-time visual artist.<ref name=fact/>

Clipson has been working as head projectionist and AV manager at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art since around 2000.<ref name=fact/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sfmoma.org/event/tribute-paul-clipson/|title=A Tribute to Paul Clipson|access-date=10 November 2024|website=SFMOMA}}</ref> In 2014 Clipson released ''REEL'', a book composed of drawn and written notes from 1999 up to 2013 composed by Clipson for his colleagues at the museum. The book was published by LAND AND SEA.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mubi.com/de/notebook/posts/paul-clipsons-reel--2|title=Paul Clipson's "REEL" |date=March 9, 2014 |access-date=October 1, 2024 |website=Mubi's Notebook |author=Clipson, Paul}}</ref> The book came with a 20-minute found footage film.<ref name=reel/>

In 2015 Clipson collaborated with Harris on an experimental feature-length film called ''Hypnosis Display''. The movie was a commission for Leeds Opera North. For the music Harris employed field recordings and cassette tapes.<ref name=HDkqed>{{cite web|title=Interview: Grouper and Paul Clipson Discuss 'Hypnosis Display'|author=Dayal, Geeta|url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/10540951/interview-grouper-and-paul-clipson-discuss-hypnosis-display|access-date=October 1, 2024|date=April 7, 2015|website=KQED}}</ref>

In a 2017 Interview, Clipson details his creative process. He usually records footage without a purpose in mind to later use it in live collaborations with musicians, calling these sessions "hyper-imposed improvisations". Clipson goes on to describe his short films as "crystallizations of particular sections of footage I’ve become close to".<ref name=mubi>{{cite web|title=Parallel Worlds: An Interview with Paul Clipson|url=https://mubi.com/de/notebook/posts/parallel-worlds-an-interview-with-paul-clipson|author=Wheeler, Otie|date=September 21, 2017|access-date=October 1, 2024|website=Mubi's Notebook}}</ref>

Paul Clipson died on February 3rd 2018.<ref name=fact>{{cite web|url=https://www.factmag.com/2018/02/06/paul-clipson-tarantel-grouper/|title=Remembering Paul Clipson, the filmmaker who brought the music of Grouper and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma to life|author=Twells, John|access-date=10 November 2024|magazine=Fact}}</ref>

==Influence== In a 2017 interview, Clipson names American filmmaker Bruce Baillie as an influence.<ref name=mubi/> A 2018 obituary written by personal friend Max Goldberg and archived by SFMOMA shines a spotlight on Clispon's knowledge of film history. Goldberg goes on to mention the many influences of Clipson: Baillie, Otto Preminger, Chantal Akerman, Jonas Mekas, Stan Brakhage, Orson Welles, Frank Stauffacher, Saul Bass and Elia Kazan, among many others.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sfmoma.org/read/eye-beholder/|title=Eye of the Beholder: Paul Clipson (1965–2018)|author=Goldberg, Max|date=June 2018|access-date=11 November 2024|website=SFMOMA}}</ref>

''Zabriskie Point'' by Michelangelo Antonioni was one of Clipson's favorite movies.<ref name=HDkqed/>

==Reception== Otie Wheeler, writing for MUBI Notebook, calls Clipson "an experimental, lyrical filmmaker in the tradition of Stan Brakhage".<ref name=mubi/>

Clipson's death has been mourned by many artists worldwide, but especially in the local bay area scene. Scott Barley called Clipson an "inspiration" and an "unsung luminary of the moving image".<ref name=kqed/> In an obituary, William Basinski was quoted saying "He is brilliant. I adored his work the minute I saw it."<ref name=frieze>{{cite web|url=https://www.frieze.com/article/paul-clipson-1965-2018|title=Paul Clipson (1965–2018)|author=Dayal, Geeta|date=February 12, 2018|access-date=October 1, 2024|magazine=Frieze}}</ref> "It was at times quite remarkable how he could uncover through his visual medium things that I never would have heard in my own music," says Sarah Davachi. Another collaborator, Gregg Kowalsky, noted that Clipson's excitement was palpable to all of his collaborators.<ref name=frieze/>

==Filmography== {|class="wikitable" ! Year ! Title ! Notes !scope="col" | {{abbr|Ref(s).|Reference(s)}} |- |rowspan=2|1996 |''BUCKY 1'' |rowspan=5| |rowspan=5|<ref name=sfmoma>{{cite web|url=https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2010/06/paul-clipson-and-adam-heavenrichs-super-8-bucky-cycle/|title=Thursday Night! Paul Clipson and Adam Heavenrich's Super-8 BUCKY Cycle Performed Live!|author=Andersch, Brecht|date=June 2, 2010|access-date=October 1, 2024|website=SFMOMA}}</ref> |- |''BUCKY 2'' |- |rowspan=2|1998 |''BUCKY 3'' |- |''BUCKY 4'' |- |1999 |''BUCKY 5'' |- |rowspan=3|2004 |''Bump Past Cut Up Through Windows'' |rowspan=3|Music by Tarentel |rowspan=38|<ref name=sfc>{{cite web|url=https://www.sfcinematheque.org/writing/cinema-for-the-inner-eye-on-the-films-of-paul-clipson/|title=Cinema for the inner eye: On the films of Paul Clipson|author=Browne, Dan|access-date=October 1, 2024|website=San Francisco Cinematheque}}</ref> |- |''Big Black Square'' |- |''Put It On The Ground'' |- |2005 |''Two Suns'' |Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma |- |rowspan=5|2006 |''Earthlight'' |rowspan=2|Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma |- |''Over Water'' |- |''Watercolor Night Montage No. 7'' |rowspan=3|Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma |- |''The Lights and Perfections'' |- |''Constellations'' |- |rowspan=7|2007 |''Passageways'' |Music by Tarentel |- |''Corridors'' |Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma |- |''Sun Place'' |rowspan=3|Music by Tarentel |- |''Echo Park'' |- |''Tuolumne'' |- |''The Phantom Harp'' |Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma |- |''Bend Sinister'' |Music by Metal Rouge |- |2008 |''Within Mirrors'' |rowspan=3|Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma |- |2008–2009 |''Sphinx On The Seine'' |- |2009–2011 |''Chorus'' |- |2009–2012 |''Origin'' |Music by Che Chen |- |rowspan=2|2010 |''Union'' |Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma |- |''Light From The Mesa'' |Music by Barn Owl |- |rowspan=5|2011 |''Compound Eyes No.1'' |rowspan=7|Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma |- |''Odonata (Compound Eyes No.2)'' |- |''Diptera and Lepidoptera (Compound Eyes No.3)'' |- |''Araneae (Compound Eyes No.4)'' |- |''Caridea and Ichthyes (Compound Eyes No.5)'' |- |rowspan=5|2012 |''Speaking Corpse'' |- |''Another Void'' |- |''The Crystal Text'' |Music by Young Moon |- |''Absteigend'' |Music by Evan Caminiti |- |''Landscapes Dissolves'' |Music by Alex Cobb |- |rowspan=3|2013 |''Other States'' |rowspan=3|Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma |- |''Difficult Loves'' |- |''Bright Mirror'' |- |2013–2014 |''Light Year'' |Music by Tashi Wada |- |rowspan=9|2014 |''Transparent Things'' |Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma |- |''La Paloma'' |Music by Austin Cesear |- |''Hypnosis Display'' |Music and sound by Liz Harris |<ref name=HDkqed/> |- |''REEL'' |Collection of found video clips featuring cue marks |<ref name=reel>{{cite web|url=https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2014/09/the-sketch-artist/ |title=The Sketch Artist: Paul Clipson's REEL |date=17 September 2014 |access-date=27 January 2026 |author=Bloch, Judy |website=SFMOMA}}</ref> |- |''Pulsars e Quasars'' |Music by Arp |rowspan=5|<ref name=sfc/> |- |''The Liquid Casket / Wilderness Of Mirrors'' |Music by Lawrence English |- |''Made Of Air'' |Music by Grouper |- |''Trajections'' |Music by Arp |- |''Love After Love'' |Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma |- |rowspan=3|2015 |''Come On'' |Music by Ilyas Ahmed |rowspan=3|<ref name=sfc/> |- |''Distorting With A Shadow'' |Music by Alex Cobb |- |''Lighthouse'' |Music by King Midas Sound and Fennesz |- |rowspan=4|2016 |''Fell on My Face'' |Music by Young Moon |rowspan=2|<ref name=mubi/> |- |''Feeler'' |Music by Sarah Davachi |- |''Love's Refrain'' |Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma |rowspan=8|<ref name=sfc/> |- |''Headache'' |Music by Grouper |- |rowspan=6|2017 |''Cruel Optimism'' |Music by Lawrence English |- |''Spectral Ascension'' |Music by Byron Westbrook |- |''Total Fiction'' |Music by Shinya Sugimoto and Jeremy Young |- |''Tenderness'' |Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma |- |''at hand'' |Music by Sarah Davachi |- |''Black Field'' |Music by Zachary Watkins |- |}

==Further reading== *[https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/parallel-worlds-an-interview-with-paul-clipson "Parallel Worlds: An Interview with Paul Clipson"] by Otie Wheeler for ''Notebook'' *[https://www.sfcinematheque.org/writing/cinema-for-the-inner-eye-on-the-films-of-paul-clipson/ "Cinema for the inner eye: On the films of Paul Clipson"] by Dan Browne for the ''San Francisco Cinematheque''

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clipson, Paul}} Category:1965 births Category:2018 deaths Category:American experimental filmmakers

Paul Clipson

Connections

Linked from

Links to (42 total)