Raymond Salvatore Harmon
Encyclopedia
Raymond Salvatore Harmon (born April 7, 1974) is an American
media artist, painter, and filmmaker. As a graffiti artist Harmon has used the tags BETA (1994–2001) and RSH (2001–current). His street work has appeared in Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, New York, Brooklyn, London, Berlin, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Zagreb among others.
Over the course of the past ten years Harmon has been a proponent of non object oriented art. Utilizing new media, web based content and interactive architecture in coordination with public performance, graffiti style ad bombing, and web based social engineering Harmon's work has carved out an over arching form of contemporary media insurgency.
Harmon's work as a painter references organic yet abstract forms, often very gestural in design. Harmon paints dominantly in the flat (on the ground) walking around the painting in order to remove the "this side up" perspective of painting. His graffiti based outdoor paintings are often very large and can span entire roadways, bridge underpasses and empty lots.
Harmon's film work is abstract, often accompanied by his own electronic compositions as well as those of his various collaborators. His recent works include spray paint based painting, full scale immersive video and sound environments, large format digital prints that are then hand manipulated and painted on, and live video performances. Compared to experimental film maker Stan Brakhage
, Harmon's use of abstract imagery is more directly influenced by the works of Harry Smith
.
His work has been reviewed in numerous magazines/publications, including the LA Times, TimeOut London, Chicago Tribune, Signal to Noise, The Wire
, New York Times, All About Jazz, Downbeat, Jazztimes, and Foxy Digitalis.
His work has been presented and screened at hundreds of festivals and galleries throughout the world including – The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
, Unsound Festival – Kraków, Robert Beck Memorial Cinema, Copenhagen International Documentary Festival, Artist Television Access, Chicago Underground Film Festival
, Cement Media Festival, Athens International Film Festival, RAW Tempel – Berlin, Axiom Theater, Northwest Film Forum, Ann Arbor Film Festival, and The Horse Hospital, London.
As a record producer Harmon has worked with highly acclaimed artists such as Chicago Underground Trio, Andrew Bird, Jim Baker, Josh Abrams, Rob Mazurek, Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre, as well as collaborated on projects with Alan Licht
, David Grubbs
, Wolfeyes, the Magik Markers
, and Spires that in the Sunset Rise
. Additionally Harmon has performed improvised video with numerous musical groups from a diverse background including Exploding Star Orchestra, Rob Mazurek
, Blood on the Wall, Diplo, Wolf Parade, Chicago Underground Trio, Birth Refusal, Mandarin Movie, Dave Phillips, HATI, Mikrokolektyw, and Jason Forrest.
In April 2007 he celebrated the release of Chronicle, a feature length music performance of the Chicago Underground Trio. Which had its theatrical premiere at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival in November.
On March 7, 2008 Harmon presented a 3 channel video performance of Aleister Crowleys Rites of Eleusis.
On November 11, 2008 Harmon premiered Hypnotic Brutality, a new music performance film with the American noise band Wolf Eyes
, at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival.
On September 21, 2009 Harmon's video for Thom Yorke
's "The Hollow Earth" was released. The film utilizes images of the street artist Banksy
. The video garnered heavy press attention (NME, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork) due to a press release stating erroneously that it was an 'official' video. YouTube pulled the video from distribution after 3 days (and 52,400 views) due to copyright claims by Yorke.
In June 2010 Harmon was invited to create a 650 square feet (60.4 m²) graffiti mural for Upfest in Bristol UK.
On June 17, 2010 a program of Harmon's transcendental films titled "Dweller on the Threshold: 3 Films of Transcendence" screened at London's Barbican Centre as part of the Knowledge of the Hidden festival.
In October, 2010 Delmark Records released the feature length performance film Dew Point with the Polish band Mikrokolektyw - produced and directed by Harmon and including Harmon's abstract urban landscape film "Sound in Motion".
In November 2010 Harmon was a member of the jury for the Sound and Vision award of the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival.
On November 2010 Harmon's film First Corruption screened as part of the Mediamorfosi festival in Portici, Italy.
In April 2011 Harmon presented "The Revelations of Maria Sabina" a ritual of light based around the work of Mexican curandera Maria Sabina
at the Ambulante Festival in Oaxaca, Mexico.
On July 13, 2011 Harmon released his book "BOMB: A manifesto of art terrorism" via his website.
label.
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
media artist, painter, and filmmaker. As a graffiti artist Harmon has used the tags BETA (1994–2001) and RSH (2001–current). His street work has appeared in Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, New York, Brooklyn, London, Berlin, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Zagreb among others.
Biography
Born in Jackson, Michigan in 1974 Raymond Salvatore Harmon has lived widely throughout the US (New York City; Savannah, Georgia; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Louisville, Kentucky; Eugene, Oregon, among many other locations).Over the course of the past ten years Harmon has been a proponent of non object oriented art. Utilizing new media, web based content and interactive architecture in coordination with public performance, graffiti style ad bombing, and web based social engineering Harmon's work has carved out an over arching form of contemporary media insurgency.
Harmon's work as a painter references organic yet abstract forms, often very gestural in design. Harmon paints dominantly in the flat (on the ground) walking around the painting in order to remove the "this side up" perspective of painting. His graffiti based outdoor paintings are often very large and can span entire roadways, bridge underpasses and empty lots.
Harmon's film work is abstract, often accompanied by his own electronic compositions as well as those of his various collaborators. His recent works include spray paint based painting, full scale immersive video and sound environments, large format digital prints that are then hand manipulated and painted on, and live video performances. Compared to experimental film maker Stan Brakhage
Stan Brakhage
James Stanley Brakhage , better known as Stan Brakhage, was an American non-narrative filmmaker who is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th century experimental film....
, Harmon's use of abstract imagery is more directly influenced by the works of Harry Smith
Harry Everett Smith
Harry Everett Smith was an American archivist, ethnomusicologist, student of anthropology, record collector, experimental filmmaker, artist, bohemian and mystic...
.
His work has been reviewed in numerous magazines/publications, including the LA Times, TimeOut London, Chicago Tribune, Signal to Noise, The Wire
The Wire (magazine)
The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music...
, New York Times, All About Jazz, Downbeat, Jazztimes, and Foxy Digitalis.
His work has been presented and screened at hundreds of festivals and galleries throughout the world including – The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues...
, Unsound Festival – Kraków, Robert Beck Memorial Cinema, Copenhagen International Documentary Festival, Artist Television Access, Chicago Underground Film Festival
Chicago Underground Film Festival
Chicago Underground Film Festival, founded in 1994, occurs each spring at various venues in Chicago, Illinois in the USA.Over the last 18 years it has become one of the most respected festivals in the USA and is today well attended by critics and programers. The festival's stated goal is "to focus...
, Cement Media Festival, Athens International Film Festival, RAW Tempel – Berlin, Axiom Theater, Northwest Film Forum, Ann Arbor Film Festival, and The Horse Hospital, London.
As a record producer Harmon has worked with highly acclaimed artists such as Chicago Underground Trio, Andrew Bird, Jim Baker, Josh Abrams, Rob Mazurek, Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre, as well as collaborated on projects with Alan Licht
Alan Licht
Alan Licht is an American guitarist and composer, whose work combines elements of pop, noise, free jazz and minimalism. He is also a writer and journalist.-Biography:Licht was born in New Jersey in 1968...
, David Grubbs
David Grubbs
David Grubbs , guitarist, pianist, and vocalist, was a founding member of Squirrel Bait, Bastro, and Gastr del Sol. He has also played in Codeine, The Red Krayola, Bitch Magnet and The Wingdale Community Singers....
, Wolfeyes, the Magik Markers
Magik Markers
The Magik Markers are a noise rock band from Hartford, Connecticut. The members, Elisa Ambrogio, Pete Nolan and Leah Quimby started the band in their basement in 2001. After opening for Sonic Youth on their American tour in 2004, the band gained notoriety...
, and Spires that in the Sunset Rise
Spires That in the Sunset Rise
Spires That in the Sunset Rise is an American Psych folk band from Decatur, Illinois. The four original members of the band grew up together in Decatur, Illinois, eventually moving to Chicago, Illinois where they began to experiment with creating songs...
. Additionally Harmon has performed improvised video with numerous musical groups from a diverse background including Exploding Star Orchestra, Rob Mazurek
Rob Mazurek
Rob Mazurek is an American composer, jazz musician, and visual artist originally from Chicago, Illinois. Mazurek now resides in São Paulo Brazil.-Biography:...
, Blood on the Wall, Diplo, Wolf Parade, Chicago Underground Trio, Birth Refusal, Mandarin Movie, Dave Phillips, HATI, Mikrokolektyw, and Jason Forrest.
Timeline
In February 2001 Harmon was invited to be a guest of the Cement Media Festival in Eindhoven, Netherlands. He presented his large scale video installation Dreamlife of Sleeping Buildings at the Technical University of Eindhoven. This curated installation piece included video works by Brian Frye, Kenneth Eisenstein, Eve Heller, Sean Capone, Alexander Horn, Andrew Personnette, Suji Lee, and Randy Lee Sutherland.In April 2007 he celebrated the release of Chronicle, a feature length music performance of the Chicago Underground Trio. Which had its theatrical premiere at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival in November.
On March 7, 2008 Harmon presented a 3 channel video performance of Aleister Crowleys Rites of Eleusis.
On November 11, 2008 Harmon premiered Hypnotic Brutality, a new music performance film with the American noise band Wolf Eyes
Wolf Eyes
Wolf Eyes is a post-industrial/noise band from Detroit, Michigan, United States.-History:Wolf Eyes began as a solo project of former Nautical Almanac member Nate Young, with Aaron Dilloway joining in 1998, and John Olson in 2000...
, at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival.
On September 21, 2009 Harmon's video for Thom Yorke
Thom Yorke
Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
's "The Hollow Earth" was released. The film utilizes images of the street artist Banksy
Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique...
. The video garnered heavy press attention (NME, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork) due to a press release stating erroneously that it was an 'official' video. YouTube pulled the video from distribution after 3 days (and 52,400 views) due to copyright claims by Yorke.
In June 2010 Harmon was invited to create a 650 square feet (60.4 m²) graffiti mural for Upfest in Bristol UK.
On June 17, 2010 a program of Harmon's transcendental films titled "Dweller on the Threshold: 3 Films of Transcendence" screened at London's Barbican Centre as part of the Knowledge of the Hidden festival.
In October, 2010 Delmark Records released the feature length performance film Dew Point with the Polish band Mikrokolektyw - produced and directed by Harmon and including Harmon's abstract urban landscape film "Sound in Motion".
In November 2010 Harmon was a member of the jury for the Sound and Vision award of the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival.
On November 2010 Harmon's film First Corruption screened as part of the Mediamorfosi festival in Portici, Italy.
In April 2011 Harmon presented "The Revelations of Maria Sabina" a ritual of light based around the work of Mexican curandera Maria Sabina
Maria Sabina
María Sabina was a Mazatec curandera who lived her entire life in a modest dwelling in the Sierra Mazateca of southern Mexico...
at the Ambulante Festival in Oaxaca, Mexico.
On July 13, 2011 Harmon released his book "BOMB: A manifesto of art terrorism" via his website.
Exhibitions
| Title | Venue | Location | Date | | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sprayed On In Light | Outerpretation Media | Chicago, IL | Sep 1997 | interactive video performance |
| Les Fantomes de Lumiere | Chicago Underground Film Festival | Chicago, IL | Aug 2000 | film improvisation |
| Subliminal Scores for Improvisational Spaces | Around the Coyote Festival | Chicago, IL | Sep 2000 | |
| Dreamlife of Sleeping Buildings | Technical University Eindhoven | Eindhoven, Holland | Feb 2001 | video installation |
| Oneirographers Closet | Feitico Gallery | Chicago, IL | Aug 2001 | micro-installation exhibition |
| Isolated Instances | Open End Gallery | Chicago, IL | Feb 2004 | |
| Isolated Instances | Heaven Gallery | Chicago, IL | Jul 2004 | |
| Transcendental Territories | Inspire Fine Art | Chicago | Apr 2007 | |
| Dweller on the Threshold | Secret Project Robot Gallery | Brooklyn NY | May 2009 |
Filmography
- Sprayed On In Light – 1997
- staticerosion – 1999
- Les Fantomes de Lumiere – 2000
- Tiny Inconsistencies – 2001
- The Koan of Sisyphus – 2001
- Unfolding Urban Algorithms – 2001
- Six Ways Sideways – 2001
- A Map of the City – 2001
- ambientlight – 2002
- Daath – 2002
- Fireflies – 2003
- Cloud of Unknowing – 2003
- The Three Stigmata of Marshall McLuhan – 2003
- Resistance – 2004
- violetsummer – 2004
- Reliquary of Light (for Mr Boyd Lynn) – 2004
- YHVH – 2005
- Plexus Illuminata – 2005
- Tree of Life/Tree of Knowledge – 2006
- Elevated – 2006
- Colorform – 2006
- redlight – 2006
- Secrets – 2006
- Cornerstone – 2006
- Chronicle – 2006
- 11:11 – 2006
- Traces – 2007
- Sigils of the Heptameron – 2007
- 'The Philosopher's Stone – 2008
- Veves + Loas – 2007
- Tactic – 2008
- Aleister Crowley's Rites of Eleusis – 2008
- Hecate's Moon – 2008
- A Story Never Told – 2008
- Hypnotic Brutality – 2008
- First Corruption – 2008
- Colossal Portal – 2008
- Liber O vel Manus et Sagittae – 2009
- Language Virus – 2009
- Choronzon (Dweller on the Threshold) – 2009
- Der Erlkönig – 2009
- Sat Around for Peace – 2009
- Greyscape – 2010
- Hadit – 2010
- Sound in Motion – 2010
- Dew Point – 2010
- At Night's End – 2010
- The Revelations of Maria Sabina – 2010
Lectures
| Title | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| The Dynamics of Social Change: The De-evolution of Art in America | Olivet College, Olivet, MI | July 1993 |
| Environmental Sound Design and the Virtual Installation | Jackson Community College, Jackson, MI | November 1997 |
| Cumulative Response: The Manifestation of Technology in Public Art | New School of Art, Marin, CA | October 1998 |
| Deviational Iconography and the Blank Screen: A Search for the Pure Image | Carnagie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA | May 1999 |
| Unpremeditated Appearance : Context and Content in Film Presentation | Around the Coyote Arts Festival – Chicago, IL | May 2000 |
| Implementing a Dialog: Proposal for Corporate Curatorial Program of Media Art | Royal Philips Laboratories, Eindhoven, Holland | August 2000 |
| Sublimate the Pretext: Delineation of Familiar Architectural Roles in our Environment | Cement Media Festival – Eindhoven, Holland | February 2001 |
| Evolution vs. Revolution: Socio-communicative Developments Inside the Art Paradigm | Expressions School of New Media – Oakland, CA | June 2002 |
| An Empire of Signs Without Meaning: Marshall McLuhan and the Media Revolution | University of Oregon, Cultural Forum – Eugene, OR | October 2003 |
| Transcendental Cinema: Abstract Light and the Nature of Visual Meditation | New Nothing Cinema, San Francisco CA | July 2007 |
| Painted in Light: Experimental Film and the Advent of Improvised Cinema | Goldsmiths University, London, UK | February 2008 |
| Painted in Light: Experimental Film and the Advent of Improvised Cinema | University of Lodz, Poland | December 2007 |
| On the Nature of Light: The Cinematic Experience as Occult Ritual | Secret Project Robot Gallery, Brooklyn NY | May 17, 2009 |
Album production
Harmon has worked as a record producer for over a decade, primarily for the Delmark RecordsDelmark Records
Delmark Records is an independent American jazz and blues record label, based in Chicago since 1958. The label originated in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953 when owner Bob Koester released a recording of the Windy City Six, a traditional jazz group, under the "Delmar" imprint.-History:Born in 1932 in...
label.
- Ein Sof – When We Tried We Failed (Bewhiched 201) – 1999
- Kevin O'Donnells Quality Six – Heretic Blues (Delmark 521) – 1999
- Kevin O'Donnells Quality Six – Control Freak (Delmark 511) – 2000
- Subliminal 3 – Decidedly Against Going (Bewhiched 258) – 2002
- Josh Abrams Quartet – Cipher (Delmark 547) – 2003
- Kalaparusha and the Light – Morning Song (Delmark 553) – 2004
- Jim Baker – More Questions than Answers (Delmark 562) – 2005
- Chicago Underground Trio – Chronicle (Delmark 578) – 2007
- Bog – The Philosopher's Stone (Bewhiched 289) – 2008
- Rob Mazurek Quintet – Sound Is (Delmark 586) – 2009
- MikrokolektywMikrokolektywMikrokolektyw are an experimental jazz and improvised duo founded in Wrocław, Poland.-Biography:Kuba Suchar and Artur Majewski founded Mikrokolektyw after the end of their former group Robotobibok...
– Revisit (Delmark) – 2010 - Mikrokolektyw – Dew Point DVD (Delmark) – 2010