On reading today of the death of Chris Marker I find that I am deeply moved, not by sadness but gratitude. Marker has been a hero of mine for several decades. His cultivated anonymity and his demonstrations of nomadic thought gave me a model for thinking about contemporary art making. He was wonderful at drawing connections that no one else seemed to make.
One of the reasons I went to Japan, where I lived for four years, after graduate school was the dreaming lens he pointed on Japanese society in San Soleil. His work was also an antidote for the cult of youth I saw around me in the Los Angeles fine arts scene. Japan was a pivotal experience for me. It taught me to see with new eyes. In Japan I married and my son was born.
I like to think that Marker’s thoughts and spirit will continue to drift through our culture for a long time. He and his work are parts of my genealogy and that of many other artists and thinkers that I admire. The conversations that he helped propel will continue.
Thank you Mr. Marker. I hope that we might find each other in the Zone.
- Justin Lincoln
