Written by Jennifer
March 14, 2009
It's an odd blend of art house cinematography, serious art history, and wonky Hippie vibes.
The Cool School is an edgy little documentary that takes a look back at L.A.'s emergence as a respectable force in the art world during the Fifties and Sixties. It's an odd blend of art house cinematography, serious art history, and wonky Hippie vibes. Given the subject matter, it's a perfect marriage of form and content.
Narrated by Jeff Bridges and featuring interviews with Dennis Hopper, Dean Stockwell, and a variety of eccentrics from the art world, The Cool School offers a firsthand account of the events that put L.A. on the map. The documentary focuses on the influence of The Ferus Gallery (founded by Ed Kienholz and Walter Hopps), which showcased the work of revolutionary young artists between 1957 and 1966. With the gallery's backing, they transitioned from starving artists and beach bums into some of the most respected talents of their time. Furthermore, the gallery was instrumental in launching the careers of struggling New York artists Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jasper Johns.
Though the documentary will probably be of greatest interest to hardcore art enthusiasts, it does an excellent job of profiling these colorful characters and showing the cultural development of Los Angeles. It's easy to forget how young the city is, and it's surprising to see how unsophisticated the art scene was just fifty years ago. Most importantly, The Cool School illustrates the importance of encouraging and legitimizing artists. Mainstream America and McCarthyists may not have been ready to embrace Abstract Expressionism or Pop Art, but with the Ferus Gallery's unwavering backing, these artists were allowed to feed off one another and, ultimately, to flourish. Given the fact that it's impossible to know who the next Andy Warhol will be, this sort of support is crucial to budding artists.
DVD NOTES
Bonus features include Walter Hopps discussing "Walter Hopps, Hopps, Hopps" by Ed Kienholz, "The World of Ed Kienholz", and a "Ferus Artist Reunion".
