Shadowman

A documentary about maverick outsider New York artist Richard Hambleton. The epitome of an artist suffering for his art, often sensational, with little or no boundaries. Hambleton used the city streets as his canvas, embracing the mess of 80s NY. A visual reference for the punk scene, melded with high concept. Banksy is merely a stylised Hambleton. His work was, is dangerous, psychologically disturbing and although celebrated, always on the fringe, in the shadows. Increasingly so as he grew and shunned the scene that simply wanted churned out career friendly copies of his previous work. It's a sad tale of everything pure being tainted by money and ruined by the market. The damning commodification of art and the destruction of the artist behind it... unless like Richard you don't play the game. A nice guy, an inspired artist, working in an unscrupulous world, with zero care for how to navigate it. No compromise. I love this stuff.

Shadowman is a movie about the life of the artist Richard Hambleton, 1952-2017, and his art. The moviemakers do a great job of bringing the viewer into the artists world, showing his work, and providing an understanding of his relationship to the art world, which at first is puzzling but later emerges as understandable. The movie is well-balanced, with a nice mix of background on the artists work, views of the art itself, and comments by various people associated with the artist. There is much footage of Hambleton's interactions with others, mostly pertaining to business. These sequences may be the most interesting ones in the movie, and the ones that provide the most insight into the man. The art itself is very alive in the movie, with scenes of Hambleton actually working, footage of gallery showings, and a good general survey of his styles, which differ significantly from time to time. It's interesting to see him progress from his early street art period which is kinetic and energized by rapidity to a more classical style surprising in it's depth and beauty in comparison to the earlier work, though not necessarily superior. That these two styles were part of the same artist's work is shocking. At that point I knew I was learning about an extraordinary artist. Going forward Hambleton then seemed to return to many elements of his earlier style. Like many artists, the man was a troubled and pained individual, suffering through events and conditions that were sometimes his own doing and sometimes not. His devotion to his work was everything, and seemed to preempt all other goals in life. Financial gain, his own well-being, and his acceptance by the art world seemed to mean nothing to him. As the movie proceeds, it portrays a man who seems hopelessly self-destructive, sabotaging every possible success. He doesn't care about money, relationships, acclaim, health, or anything except working. He only cares about maintaining his ability to work as he wants, unaffected by the outside world. Despite all, he is able to continue creating at a high level until his death. His work speaks for itself. I am no expert, but I feel that as time passes Hambleton's stature will grow. I am guessing that compared to the other artists he is associated with eventually he will become the most highly regarded.