“Thank you for your thoughts about Bruce. We have lost an amazing artist… Bruce was firmly opposed to display of his films on-line, and on his behalf as an attorney I made numerous requests for removal. Now that Bruce has died, all copyrights are now held by Jean Conner (Bruce’s wife), and she has explicitly directed that I request and otherwise take action to have all on-line postings of Bruce Conner movies removed immediately.“

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That photo alone! Godspeed Bruce Conner. Writes Mike Plante: “He took film leader, a ‘secret’ part of film, and reedited it as featured content. He reinterpreted found footage into his own heavily political – and often hilariously entertaining – short films… In his shorts, you see the roots of today’s political satire, music videos and commercials, from slick editing that gives meaning under the surface, to landscape emo moments… Successful in the art world, he stayed DIY his entire career. Often fighting for his work to be displayed or projected correctly and with his personal attention, he never sat back and simply sold items…. When hired by San Jose State to teach a painting class, they wanted a set of his fingerprints and signature. He stated he couldn’t sign their forms as his signature made something art, according to galleries. Not to mention his fingerprints and touch appeared on artwork and was his property. They agreed to make a limited edition of his application with fingerprints and signatures, forcing the government to play by new, esoteric rules… Conner was cantankerous and one-of-a-kind. He would wear an American flag pin. When asked why, he said, “I’m not going to let those bastards take it away from me.” Sigh… An obit by Kenneth Baker, art critic at SF Chronicle: “Asked once by a critic to mention some artists who influenced him, Mr. Conner said, “I typed out about 250 names,” and instructed the writer to add that “limited space prevents us from printing the remaining 50,003 names on Mr. Conner’s list of influences.” Mr. Conner announced his own death erroneously on two occasions, once sending an obituary to a national art magazine, and later writing a self-description for the biographical encyclopedia Who Was Who in America.” Conner’s punk portfolio, “Mahubay Gardens,” is up at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archives, and at the link. The Walker Art Center blogs. Conner may have influenced George Lucas. John Yau talks to Conner at Brooklyn Rail. Conner: “ArtNews had a regular series, with pieces like “Jean Dubuffet Makes a Painting.” It included the artist’s signature and photographs documenting the product being produced. As I saw it, it was a product being produced because the camera was there, and, when somebody is observing the performer’s action, that always alters things. I decided it would be interesting to submit an article to ArtNews about Bruce Conner making a peanut butter sandwich, peanut butter being one of my favorite foods and main standbys during periods of economic distress. I also decided that it should be compulsively and precisely detailed… I asked Tom Garver to come to my apartment and take photographs as I built this sculpture and also while I ate it, which I didn’t tell him I was going to do. I set up a tape machine to record the entire process so we could time every action exactly to the second so that, in the article when it says the time is 11:35 and 10 seconds a certain action is happening. By timing the tape after the fact, it was possible to do that as precisely as possible. I then wrote the entire article. I wrote about building the sandwich and then about eating it. I asked Thomas to put his name on it because I knew ArtNews would not print it if it did not have an established, professional voyeur commenting and presenting the event. He said fine. However, he would not put his name to me eating the sandwich, which took place precisely at noon.” Exhibit photos by Steve Rhodes. Conner’s artist page at LA’s Kohn Gallery. Prints at Gallery Paule Anglim. A Conner ink blot. Prints at Magnolia Editions. Bio at Carnegie International. More photos at Flickr.