James Crump, the Cincinnati Art Museum’s chief curator/photography curator who was a key figure in the planning and programming of the first FotoFocus festival in 2012 and then resigned from the museum in early 2013, has re-emerged as the director of a new documentary, Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art.
It tells the story, with plenty of archival footage, of three restless New York artists in the who — as part of the 1960s/1970s rebellion against materialistic values sweeping American culture — sought to create epic art that was one with the outdoor environment, especially in the open and hard-to-access spaces of the west. That, they thought, would make it hard to buy and own.
Robert Smithson created “Spiral Jetty” in Utah, Walter De Maria made New Mexico’s “Lightning Field,” and Michael Heizer did “Double Negative” in Utah and is still working on “City.” (The other two are deceased.)
Other artists featured in the film are Nancy Holt (who has an environmental artwork at Miami University), Dennis Oppenheim, Carl Andre and Vito Acconci.
In an exchange of emails with CityBeat, Crump said he is hoping for the film to show at festivals and then get a limited theatrical release in fall, followed by availability on other distribution platforms. He also said his sales agent, Submarine Entertainment, represented Citizenfour and Finding Vivien Maier.
Before coming to Cincinnati, Crump made a documentary about Robert Mapplethorpe’s relationship to Sam Wagstaff, Black White + Gray.
He has provided CityBeat with a link to Troublemakers‘ trailer:
Trailer courtesy Summitridge Pictures. © RSJC LLC, 2015.
This article appears in May 13-19, 2015.