Suggestions: Jonathan Knobel

This weeks suggestion article is packed full of cool stuff.  Jonathan Knobel tells you about a film featuring burning oil fields, a photographer named Boogie, Nietzsche, an illustrator with a morbid sense of humor, and a graphic novel based in 1980′s Iran.

Jonathan is a photographer/artist/musician living in Davidsonville, Maryland.  He plays bass in the post-rock band Sawhorse who recently released a new album entitled Cover it in Asphalt. He plays guitar in the screamo band Age Sixteen who also just released a new album entitled Open Up Finders, Please (which I reviewed HERE).  You can check out Jon’s photography work HERE.

Boogie

this guy has been blowing my mind for a few years now. every photo i’ve ever seen by this guy is amazing. he actually doesn’t fail at the fact that he’s a street photographer, shooting black and white, long after the heyday of the small format leica guys. seriously, this guy, wtf.

Frederick Nietzsche

so this guy pretty much single handedly invented post-modernist thinking. bad rep for a while because the nazis used some of his writings out of context as propaganda. i could go on forever about nietzsche, it’s like reading freud, swift, and rousseau all at once. subject matter ranges from truth and lying to the role of religion in our time, nihilism, whatever. look up any work by this guy, it will change the way you think about well… thinking, seriously.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

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marjane satrapi writes about her life growing in tehran, iran during the fundamentalist revolution and the iraqi invasion in the 80′s. yea it’s a graphic novel, so even if you don’t  read a lot you can probably finish it in 2 hours tops. it’s one of my favorite books i’ve ever read. she also directed the film made from the  books, which is seriously incredible. so if you wanna see a girl in the 80′s buying banned michael jackson and iron maiden tapes, getting arrested for wearing nike high tops and back patches and also learn about what life is actually like “over there”, read this, the books are fun, really well written and illustrated.

here’s a trailer for the film:

Aurel Schmidt

i will never get over this girl’s work. just look at this stuff. reminds me of the inside of grunewald’s isenheim alter piece a lot. i have one of her books and i bought a print of her’s for sean a while ago. stuff is even more unreal up close.

Werner Herzog – Lessons of Darkness

okay, ive saved the best for last. here herzog films post desert shield/desert storm iraqi and saudi arabia. the bulk of the film is the burning oil fields, filmed from a helicopter and the ground; there are also some short interviews. herzog narrates a good portion of the film, and creates a documentary that feels like some historic war that took place on a dead distant planet.  music is all wagner and other epic classical shit. this thing is a monster, immediately changed my perspective on what a fine art documentary could be. changed my mind about a lot of things pertaining to film really. lets just say if you watch end up watching this stoned or tripped, you’re probably going to need to leave the room at least a few times.

here’s a clip from the film: