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
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