Savage Art 101: A Year of Ken Russell

For an entire year and a day, July 3rd, 2011 until July 3rd 2012, I am going to be blogging every single day about the life, the art, the insanity, the genius, the sparkling blue eyes and much, much more of Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell, easily the world's greatest film director and auteur.

As discussed in the lead up post, I've decided to "go back to school" and learn from the best there is sharing the positivity, craziness and great knowledge that any scholar of Ken's has to delve into. I'm going to live some of it too. I've become far too nebulous and soft as an artist after having my first child and need a swift kick in the arse. I probably know about a third of what Ken's done (his history and work is mammoth) so while I'm a diehard fan I'm not an expert which makes this a true project. Much of my blogging will be biographical of Ken and what inspires him. This will include daily snippets of film history, quotes, artwork, music and a few surprises. I plan on introducing many of my teen/early 20 something friends to him as well and publish their responses. Ken Russell's books "A British Picture" and "Fire Over England" are highly recommended and will be referenced here though I will avoiding the half dozen or so, as yet unread to me, Ken Russell bios. Biographers often favour a tell-it-like-it-was account that make their subjects accessible human beings rather than pedestalized deities-I prefer BOTH and all that lies in between.

So I do hope all Ken Russell fans who are on blogger will join in. I hope to make new fellow Ken fan friends and create many converts to his art as well. There is truly no one else like him and his work speaks to everyone. For those of you who love Ken Russell, he is on Facebook here and here and his official website is Savage Messiah run by Iain Fisher. His wife Lisi Tribble is one of the most delightful people I've ever met online. Lisi and Ken have kindly allowed many of his clips onto You Tube and even his most obscure and rare work lives again. I do ask all my fellow Ken fans who can afford it to please buy official copies. All artists need to get paid and if there is a Ken Russell "boomlet" then film budgets will follow.

There will be a scholarly weekly in-depth essay and a "Ken Russell Physical Fitness" challenge here too. (The latter may involve donning art deco hair and makeup and playing croquet in Commedia dell'arte costumes whilst drinking Moet Chandon.) I'm also working on a Ken Russell encyclopaedia (please contact me if you'd like to help) though due to how voluminous his oeuvre is and how eventful all the names, dates and places connected to him are the limitations of publishing on blogger may preclude me from offering it. Once I passed 500 entries I realised that I should seriously consider going back and finishing my degree. After all if there are punters getting PHDs on the socio-political implications of working at Starbucks and the engineering of inverted firkins then why not a Doctorate in Ken Russell?!!

SO HERE WE GO!!!! Lace up your toe shoes, pop a fig, grab a thigh bone off the Klaus barbie, let your bits sway in the sunshine meadows and run in terror from the movie theatre when the plucked chicken appears (actually an iguana)!! LET US RESURRECT, RE-EXAMINE AND RE-SKEWER THE GREATS JUST AS KEN HAS! Let there be no classical composer or artist neglected and nary a silver phallus left unturned!!

WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF CHAMPAGNE AND THOSE WHO WATCH CRAP TELLY AND RUBBISH FILM MUST BE SAVED-- OR LIQUIDATED! PREFERABLY ON A DEVIL'S POSTPILE IN BORROWDALE!

HELP CREATE A WORLD LESS TIGHT ASS NOT MORE JACK ASS!!

KEN RUSSELL IS GOD!!!!!