Raphael Montañez Ortíz

Directing·Jan 30, 1934·Brooklyn, New York, USA

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Raphael Montañez Ortíz (b. 1934, New York) is a multidisciplinary artist perhaps best known for his radical performances of the 1960s as part of the Destructivist movement which he helped to articulate. Not many know that he is also a pioneer of found footage cinema who deserves greater recognition within the American filmic avant-garde. Starting in 1957, he produced a number of singular works by subjecting 16mm prints of commercially- or institutionally-produced films to a cut-up method inspired by Yaqui shamanic practices, a kind of ritualistic chance operation intended to break down their structure and thoroughly undermine their discursive power. In the mid-1980s, Montañez Ortiz continued his critical deconstructions of commercial cinema, this time exploring a novel format: the laser disc. Having created a special interactive setup at the computer lab of Rutgers University, the artist transformed micro-moments from classic films into looping, stuttering choreographies that, through obsessive repetition, reveal the tacit gestualities and subconscious inner dynamics of these seemingly innocent Hollywood scenes.

Film	Credit
Arthur Janov's Primal Therapy2018 · Actor	Actor
Couch Destruction: Angel Release2017 · Actor, Director	Actor, Director
Piano Destruction Concert: Dada con Mama2014 · Actor, Director	Actor, Director
Busy Bodies1997 · Director	Director
It's Coming Up1997 · Director	Director
The Conversation1996 · Director	Director
IIntrospective: Ortiz Art-Work Late 1950s - Late 1980s1996 · Director	Director
Ring Ring Rag Time1996 · Director	Director
PPiano Destruction Concert: Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall1996 · Director	Director
That's Too Much1996 · Director	Director
Dance Number 221993 · Director	Director
Our Thoughts Are Made of Clay: The Horsewomyn of the Apocalypse1992 · Director	Director
Gonna Get Me a Gal1991 · Director	Director
Here's Looking At You Kid1991 · Director	Director
If You Don't Want It Anymore1988 · Director	Director
Man Has Man Has Always1987 · Director	Director
PPushann Pushann1986 · Director	Director
Good and Evil1986 · Director	Director
I Spent My Last Breathe At Thee1986 · Director	Director
You Bust Your Bunns1986 · Director	Director
Couplett1986 · Director	Director
Stop Stop Stop Stop1986 · Director	Director
The First Born Female Child1986 · Director	Director
Welcome1985 · Director	Director
What Is This1985 · Director	Director
Beach Umbrella1985 · Director	Director
The Kiss1985 · Director	Director
DDance Number1985 · Director	Director
Henny Penny: The Sky Is Falling1958 · Director	Director
Newsreel1958 · Director	Director
Cowboy and "Indian" Film1958 · Director	Director
Golf1957 · Director	Director
Ritual Destruction of "Follow Through"1957 · Director	Director