April 9, 2012

June in San Francisco ushered in an exhibition for the underground filmmaker and visual artist Mike Kuchar. “Mike’s Men: Sex, Guys, and Videotape!” was held at Magnet, a city-funded STD clinic in the heart of the Castro, that supposed gay mecca. In fact, the event proved to be one of the most successful attempts at bringing together queer men during Pride month. Superbly curated by Eric Smith, Mark Garrett and Margaret Tedesco, “Mike’s Men” was a collection of illustrations and four video shorts. The exhibition served both as a tribute to his lifelong career in avant-garde art, and an acknowledgement of Mike’s recent loss.

June 16, 2012

A little while back we profiled The Secret Life of Wendel Sampson, a psychedelic gem from the mind of pioneering queer filmmaker Mike Kuchar, who along with his twin brother, George, inspired generations of indie directors, including John Waters and Guy Maddin.

While George was the more prolific of the two, Mike still cranked out a stream of flicks, including A Tub Named Desire (1956), Sins of the Fleshapoids (1965) and The Craven Sluck (1967).

Now Mike has a solo exhibit running at Magnet gallery in San Francisco through the end of the month. “Mike’s Men: Sex, Guys and Videotape!” features the underground legend’s drawings, videos, posters and limited-edition prints from the 1960s to the mid-2000s. “As an illustrator, my aim is to amuse the eye and ‘spark’ imagination,” says Kuchar. “To soothe with sensual lines and excite with color. To create titillating scenes that refresh the soul and put a bit more ‘fun’ to viewing pictures.”

October, 2010

Mike Kuchar made his first films as a teenager, in collaboration with his twin brother George, in the mid 1950s. He achieved legendary underground status for the fabulously original and trashy send-ups of Hollywood B movies which he made in the mid 1960s, such as “Sins of the Fleshapoids.” John Waters and many other filmmakers cite Mike Kuchar as a seminal influence.

Not many filmmakers who began over fifty years ago are still making new work now, and very few indeed could be said to be making their most radical, visionary, and most successful work, but Kuchar is doing just that. In his late 60s, he is producing a string of experimental video works at a dizzying rate that are not only unlike his previous work, they are unlike anyone’s previous work. These videos, typically featuring the performance of a collaborating actor, writer, or dancer, are brimming with visual inventiveness, musical sophistication, humor, and they show the stamp of the Kuchar’s mastery of the art of film in every frame.