At the Intersection of Art, Italy and Disco

I’ve been thinking a lot about the relationship between contemporary art and music video lately.  A lot.  Too much, really.  And the roots of music video really lie in the TV music shows of the 1970′s, of which many, many were devoted to disco.  In some ways, the 70′s golden era of film went far beyond Hollywood, with a willingness to experiment with aesthetics, and an almost absurd self confidence that those aesthetics were meaningful.  The great thing about disco is that it never died, it became so many other things – house music, techno, dance music, much of New Wave all were impossible without disco.  Disco is the hazy, unformed dream of the possibility of the beat in Western Culture.

This post is a bit of a hazy, unformed dream as well, so maybe this just goes into the realm of rants or sharing obsessions, but it’s largely based upon my discovery of the Italian music show Stryx (translated from Italian Wikipedia), an underworld themed TV show from late 1970′s Italy that only aired for six episodes. Apparently the show was controversial not only due to its hell-theme, but also because it featured a fair bit of nudity.  There’s not enough lazy-to-access info on the Internet about the show.  Enzo Trapani, the director of the show, shot himself in 1989.

Amanda Lear, AKA Dali’s muse.  On Stryx she went by the name “Sexy Stryx.”  I wasn’t really specifically aware of Amanda until recently, but apparently she’s this massive, massive presence in European dance music culture, and a colossal gay icon.  A large part of her public persona was the invented rumor that she was a transsexual (it worked to keep folks talking about her, just like it’s working for Lady Gaga today).  She was Dali’s muse (one of many), and here is where the art connection begins.

I love this bit because although it’s one of the cheesiest songs ever recorded, and the unlikeliness of Lear ever going home alone at all, let alone to enjoy an evening with Andy Capp, is positively surreal.

More Amanda Lear.  Writhing.  Lots of writhing going on here.  Whatever standards the sexy music videos of the 1980′s set for writhing were already exceeded in the 70′s.

Again, Amanda Lear.  Queen of Chinatown was her big hit.  Music like this, whether it’s terrible disco, or the Pogues’ excellent Summer in Siam resonates with the same “artist as tourist” vibe that’s present in so many artist’s works, I’m thinking of Drawing Restraint 9 here, in particular, but the whole history of Japonisme and to some degree, the whole of impressionism, as well.  But on to the aesthetics – how many performance/video artists would murder for those aesthetics?  I think I’ve seen a pile of grad student work that kneels at this particular pedestal, although usually it’s produced by Asian women and has an identity politics theme.

Grace Jones, AKA the “Queen Jungle Bitch of Jew York!”, AKA my muse.  Jones was cast on Stryx as “Rumstryx” (Rum = Jamaican reference?) Again, we’re in tourist mode, a strange place where racial reference is king and goes without comment.  Jones, who is Jamaican, spends much of her career in African garb and being the symbol for some kind of “strong Africa” that she neither represents or lays personal claim to.  Jones is more about “recovered Catholic” or “New York is On Fire at Night” than anything related to Africa, but here she plays the part, clad in furs, prowling, like an animal.  No one does “I’m an animal” better than Jones, regardless.

The above isn’t from Stryx, but why is there no footage of Jones’ performing in Keith Haring body paint anywhere on the internet?  It’s one of the coolest art moments of the 1980′s possibly the apex of New York nightlife and art, the moment where the art boom was perfect, beyond criticism and unknowable.  All there is is footage from Vamp, and although that’s an awesome disco + contemporary art + bad film moment, it’s not what I’m looking for, dammit!

Although I can’t find a contemporary art connection, I’m throwing Patty Pravo into the mix, keeping with the Stryx theme.  Pravo was cast as “Subliminal Stryx”, and appeared in a number of their productions.  She was at the heart of Stryx’ nudity controversy, apparently.  Here’s a clip of the awesome raciness.

Pravo gets awesome hair points here, just for showing up.  Again, we’re rooting about in Lady Gaga’s DNA, here.

Away from Stryx, but still in Italy, Cicciolina, AKA Illona Staller, AKA Jeff Koons’ (very temporary) wife.  Known to the art world through Koons’ Made in Heaven series of self-portraits, known also for her “possible only in a post-Nina Hagen world” musical, pornography & political career, in which she sings dumb songs over a soundtrack of what’s basically kids’ music. This counts as 1970′s because much of Europe was still (and is still, frankly) in the 1970′s mode when it was made.  I kind of feel bad going out on Cicciolina, but she’s like a living fossil that just doesn’t know that its time has passed, some kind of atavistic reference to an earlier time where her schitck would have worked.

Staller apparently had a key role in Trapani’s next series, “There Were Two Times”, which had a fairy tale theme.