Art Show: Tony Conrad

February 05, 2013


As an artist, Tony Conrad has done a little bit of everything all the time, producing films like The Flicker, which eschews narrative structure for flashing lights and music; collaborating on a 1973 album called Outside the Dream Syndicate, one of the finest, most influential drone records ever made; and even, according to urban folklore, helping to inspire the naming of The Velvet Underground. It's no surprise, then, that when we visited him at his new show WiP at Greene Naftali Gallery in Manhattan, he turned our interview with him into just another way to experiment, leading our camera around the space in a zig-zag, playing peek-a-boo with the camera and spouting knowledge like a sage. We talked to him about the new show, which centers on a film he made in 1981 starring friends like Tony Oursler and the recently-deceased artist Mike Kelley. Here's what he had to say.

Art Show: Tony Conrad