1932-1989
21 1ST AVE.
JACK SMITH IN RETROSPECT
ESSAY ON JACK SMITH AND ANDY WARHOL
FLAMING CREATURES, A FILM BY JACK SMITH
CLIP FROM JACK SMITH AND THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS, A DOCUMENTARY BY MARY JORDAN
Jack Smith was born in Columbus, OH and raised in Texas, a pioneer of underground cinema, and generally acclaimed as a founding father of American performance art. He helped to create the "trash cinema" aesthetic, using his no-budget means of production as a component of his aesthetic, rather than an obstacle. He created his first film Buzzards Over Baghdad in 1952 at the age of 20 and moved to New York City a year later. His film 1963, Flaming Creatures, scandalized New York and a great deal of the rest of the country when authorities seized Smith's prints of it at its premiere, labeling it "pornographic." His work greatly influenced Andy Warhol and John Waters, among others, and galvanized the efforts of a multitude of future transgressive filmmakers. It's also credited with creating drag culture. In his mid-30’s Jack Smith created costumes for John Vaccaro’s Playhouse of the Ridiculous. He was 57 years old when he died.