Re:The Premature Birth of Video Art

I rememeber Les Levine's Iris. It was so far ahead of it's time
conceptually. I was a kid at the time when it was shown. There was a
really interesting aluminium foil work as well ( I remeber the experience
as formative).
In 1972 I was a young artist at his opening at the Isaacs Gallery in Toronto.
I took a photo of him talking to Pat Kelly, painted it, and it got me in
to NSCAD.
The thing about Levine was that he could smile and be dead serious at the
same time.
He has created some great works over the years.
Paik was always better connected. Levine was an ex-pat from Belfast ( I
think, I should look it up…) and moved to New york from Toronto sometime
in the mid 60's. He was always on the cusp, but never the headlines.
He was approachable, and funny as well.
Underated to this day.
His work laid the pavement for much of the ideas behind interactive art,
and we haven't exactly made great headway since.
Eric