Love (2014) Reviews

• Great documentary on an a largely unrecognized female artist.

  adelsouto2014-02-24

  Beth Moore-Love is, to me, a rather unappreciated artist. Her work is spectacular; blazing in color, and containing a fascinatingly morbid tone. If you are unfamiliar with her paintings, imagine the work of a less threatening Joe Coleman, with the sense of humor and style of Salvador Dali. Many of her paintings are vivid, yet personal, recreations of quite a number of grim moments in history, with a tad of added surrealism. Admittedly, with a run time of 112 minutes, I didn't know what to expect, and how it could be so lengthy. As I watched, it became extremely clear, and I not only do I now understand, but was pretty captivated the entire time. While going into her history, as she personally goes through her past, she deconstructs quite a number of her works. Explaining what she used as muse and reference, as well as why. Seeing that her paintings are highly detailed, there is a lot of zooming into her work so as to vividly see the intricacies of her style and struggle. Her efforts pay off, as do Wessel's. Additional anecdotes are provided by a handful who are (were) part of Moore-Love's life, including Dale Caudill, Murrugun the Mystic and Stu Mead. Their recollections are often a hoot, as well as informative on the creation of the art, and even art scene of the 90s through today. I gave it 10 stars, as it was informative, and enlightening, but, most importantly, because it was a really fun watch.

• You can't go wrong with LOVE!

  gageken2014-02-17

  Between juggle-reading Moby Dick and Drucker's Post-Capitalist Society and watching Art Is Art and my DVR-ed monster movies, I managed to find time to pop a new DVD arrival into the player today. It was an advance copy of filmmaker and friend Larry Wessel's newest creation about the art of Beth Moore-Love, simply called LOVE! Let me give you a quick surmise of this 2-hour documentary: Love is a film of exuberant vitality, surveying the life and works of a rarely-seen, world-class artist during her major period. In her own words and irreverent spirit, Beth Moore-Love gives us a painting by painting narrative of her provocative and often disturbing visions, revealing the unknown secrets behind each otherworldly masterpiece. Once again Larry Wessel has brought fire to his lens, showcasing a subject that might seem obscure or underground and then making it instantly accessible and understood -- and proving that the subject is indeed worthy of every exploratory effort. Art collectors, students, fans of the extreme -- you can't go wrong in bringing Love into your life. Highly recommendable!

• LOVE - A Film by Larry Wessel

  agentcmr2014-03-30

  I first came across Larry Wessel and his wildly interesting visions in a featured interview in Panik magazine some years back. Larry is the kind of artist who blasts open the proverbial can of worms with a vaudevillian sense of humor and a Satanic eye for revelation in the details. "LOVE", Larry Wessel's new film documentary about Beth Moore Love, a contemporary American artist, explores the work and creative history of a brilliant painter whose vision comes on like concentrated hits of storytelling delivered in grotesquery; like vivisections of the id where beauty and innocence lie in close proximity, if not chained in some way, to horror, decay and cruelty. I'm convinced only Larry Wessel could have told the Beth Moore Love story as deliberately and with such empathy, skill and subtle precision as he does. Hatched from the personal scars and societal horrors of the Vietnam war, Beth Moore Love's formula came to her in an epiphany one day in 1989. In a conversation with a stranger about American society, the man, a war veteran, said to her, "These people are asleep. They don't know what reality is. What they need is a string of severed heads strung from post to post over the street. That might wake them up to reality." Beth Moore Love delivers more than a string of severed heads with her painting. She takes us by the hand and walks us into the fractured light of the American soul, somewhere near the center of Eliot's Wasteland, where Hieronymus Bosch keeps his garden and Killer Zero leaves his butchered victims to the carrion birds. Wessel's skill as a documentarian begins with his genuine ability to engage his subjects. The interviews in "LOVE" are wonderfully revealing and free of affectation. Each person has their say, offering distinct insights into Moore's genesis and development as an artist. Wessel wastes not a word, expression, or gesture. His cinematography draws us visually into the weird dimensions of Love's paintings and turbo-charges the trip with a delightful use of sound and musical score to a near hallucinatory effect. Get ready to see what can't be unseen. Leave your comforts and consolations at home, they won't help you now. The tour bus is heading for the high desert and Larry Wessel is selling tickets to ride. ~CM Roche

• A must see for the "rest of the story"

  maderi2014-02-26

  Whether or not you like the art of Beth Moore-Love, you will never look at it the same after watching this great documentary on her work. Many documentaries that I have watched on different artists feel scripted and rehearsed. They are often bordering on boring, with nothing really learned about what motivated the artist to create the images they have. Not so with Love. I felt my mind expand with a new appreciation and understanding of her talent. Two hours was leaving me wanting more, yet feeling satisfied that I understood her motivation and what she is conveying in her works of art. I'm constantly curious as to the behind the scenes story of those in the arts, and this documentary gave me that. Informed AND entertained.

• A careful insight on an incredible artist

  trioxin-932-2016192014-03-28

  LOVE - A FILM BY LARRY WESSEL: THE ART OF BETH MOORE-LOVE by Larry Wessel (2013) "You have to understand where I'm coming from. I come from America, which is a killing field, a racially tense, hypocritical wasteland of plains, deserts, swamps and cities, where people kill each other, hang each other and lie to each other." (Henry Rollins on "MTV", early 1990's) Here it is, right in my hands, fresh out of the air-cushioned envelope. Delivered directly from one of America's finest and most dedicated documentarists, Larry Wessel. He caught my attention when he announced his mammoth project called "Boyd Rice: Iconoclast", which he released in 2010 as a three-DVD-package, running four (!) hours altogether, leaving not one single question unanswered about the infant terrible of the international industrial muzak / noise scene, whether it be the ongoing and unnerving accusations towards his said-to-be political / darwinist viewpoints, his (now defunct) friendship with Charlie Manson or the relationship to the late Anton Lavey and his Church of Satan. "Iconoclast" to me is an undisputed monument of loads of information, a necessary example of contemporary filmmaking and an in-depth look at America's most extreme and controversial counterculture. As for LOVE, Larry returns with another information-packed documentary, an intimate insight upon another very special artist who unfortunately remains almost unseen and unknown in Europe, although she had lived for several years in Berlin. Larry's research had spanned over nine years until he could finish his project and release it on this year's Valentine's Day, zero o'clock sharp. Beth Moore-Love, who I would describe as the female counterpart of Brooklyn-based Joe Coleman, gives the viewer an opportunity to look over the artist's shoulder, describing every single aspect of meaning behind her overwhelming and intriguing paintings. And we're talking about tiny square inches here. There are so many countless details in her pictures that the use of a magnifying lens should be advised. Miss Moore-Love's understanding of art is just what our society in which we live is in great need of, and I'm not kidding. Like the aforementioned Joe Coleman, Beth's works depict the ugliness, the violence and madness of our lives by using some of the most trusted motifs most of us may know from our earliest days of childhood. Some of her paintings resemble vintage greeting cards for religious holidays or children's' birthdays. If there weren't these gruesome and shocking, yet fascinating details of total human degeneration. Her art is of a transgressive nature which knows neither taboos nor boundaries. Thank you Larry for your excellent work, and all the best for your future!