Real Good for Free: Films About Art @ the Clark Institute

“Artists Now: Documenting Creative Process,” a free documentary film series presented by the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, takes an intimate into the creative process by examining how contemporary artists interact with their art… and each other.

The films will be screened at 2pm on Sundays, presented in widescreen and HD.

Here’s the schedule of screenings:

“Chuck Close”
Sunday, April 15, 2pm
This engrossing documentary by Marion Cajori follows Chuck Close as he creates one of his enormous self-portraits over the span of many months. A beautiful blend of representation and abstraction, this film portrays the community of artists who came out of Yale in the early ’60s. (2007, 116 min.)

“Waste Land”
Sunday, April 22, 2pm
Lucy Walker’s Academy Award-nominated film follows Vik Muniz, an artist famous for his unusual materials – such as a Madonna in chocolate syrup – as he returns to Brazil to create portraits of the people who eke a living out of recyclable materials from Jardim Gramacho, Rio’s largest landfill. (2010, 98 min.)

“Hockney Binocular”
Sunday, April 29, 2pm
A double feature. Bruno Wollheim’s “David Hockney: A Bigger Picture” (2009, 60 min.) follows the artist as he returns late in life to his native Yorkshire to paint large-scale plein air landscapes. Alan Benson’s “Hockney at the Tate” (1988, 52 min.) features an eye-opening interview with the artist at the Tate’s retrospective of his work.

“Beautiful Losers”
Sunday, May 6, 2pm
This documentary by gallerist Aaron Rose and actor Joshua Leonard follows the lives and careers of a group of “do-it-yourself” artists who emerged from the subcultures of skateboarding, punk and graffiti in the ’90s to make an indelible mark on the art world, represented most famously by Shepard Fairey’s iconic “Hope” poster of President Obama. (2008, 90 min.)

“Marwencol”
Sunday, May 13, 2pm
Directed by Jeff Malmberg, this “exhilarating, utterly unique” documentary (Los Angeles Times) is the story of Mark Hogancamp, who was brain-damaged in a vicious attack and recreates his identity by constructing and photographing an elaborate backyard World War II scenario using G.I. Joes and Barbies. When his photographs are discovered by an art magazine and exhibited in a New York gallery, Mark is forced to choose between the safety of his fantasy life in Marwencol and the real world that he has avoided since the attack. (2010, 83 min.)

ADDITIONAL REAL GOOD FOR FREE EVENTS:
The Third Friday Charity Concert Series @ the McKownville United Methodist Church, Albany
The Folklife Center Concert Series @ the Crandall Library, Glens Falls
Second Sunday Concert Series @ the Guilderland Public Library, Guilderland
The New York State Writers Institute Spring Reading & Film Series @ various locations, Albany
Backlot Music Festival @ Waterford Public Library, Waterford