Jack Scardino Artist Presentation - Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham grew up in Suffolk in England.  As a child, he loved films such as Alien, Blade Runner, and The Elephant Man.  “I was obsessed to the point where I could have told you who worked as the gaffer on those films,” he said.  Cunningham also developed a passion for electronic music, likely influenced by his father who played him Pinky Floyd and Tomita records when he was young.  “I immediately connected with the tones and the textures and the fact that you were entering a parallel world when you listened to them.”

Cunningham’s career started in the mid-1990s with work on animatronics and costuming for the 1994 film Judge Dredd.  His work on the ABC Warrior and Mean Machine impressed filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, who sought-out Cunningham for an upcoming film that Steven Spielberg would later finish (A.I.).  After working on this project, Cunningham left to pursue directing, and broke-through with the music video for electronic musician Aphex Twin’s song “Come to Daddy”.  Cunningham has primarily directed music videos and other short films since 1997, many of which feature Aphex Twin’s music.  He also produces and writes music today.

Many of Cunningham’s works maintain a dark, disturbed, or distorted sensibility to them.  He says he enjoys visuals that are stripped-down and minimal, which he attributes partially to his growing-up.  The house he grew-up in was not a heavily populated area, and was also close nearby an active air-force base.  In a way this is the opposite of the setting of Blade Runner, yet as Cunningham explains the atmosphere of the film is such a strong statement: “So melancholy, and the strangest feeling of nostalgia for a place and time that never was.”  This understanding of setting and the relationship between visual pacing and sound is something that Cunningham maintains in his work.  Many of his videos including those for “Come to Daddy”, “Windowlicker”, and Rubber Johnny, create distinctly unsettling feelings due to the marrying of visual and sound.  Cunningham also has a strong affinity for the human form, which he features in many of his works including the video for Bjork’s song “All Is Full of Love”.  (Incidentally, it is worth noting that the android featured in the Bjork music video was conceived of and created years before the popular Will Smith film I, Robot was made.)

            Cunningham has had his art featured in galleries such as Barbican Centre (London), Royal Academy of Arts (London), the Venice Biennale (Venice), and 5^th Gallery in Dublin.  He has also directed some commercials for brands such as Gucci, Levi’s, Nissan, and PlayStation.  Many people have been able to view his work online, particularly his music videos for artists such as Bjork, Aphex Twin, the Auteurs, Squarepusher, Portishead, and Madonna.

Chris Cunningham is known for being very experimental, and there is variance in the visual styles of his works.  He has also pursued many interests, and at the age of 44 he has created props for feature films, directed music videos, edited videos, and written and produced music of his own.  As such, describing an overarching artistic “evolution” is difficult to do, but here are two popular pieces that appropriately represent Chris Cunningham as an artist.

“All Is Full of Love” – Bjork, 1999

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0cS1FaKPWY

An excerpt from the short film Flex, featuring music by Aphex Twin, 2000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb2kKjnCA6A

Finally, I recommend looking-up the music video for Aphex Twin’s song “Windowlicker”, which is essentially the reason why I chose to study Chris Cunningham.  I find it both hilarious and ingenious on multiple levels.  Notice: You might not want to play it at work.