The latest New York Close Up film is now available for your viewing: Tommy Hartung Is Off and Running.
How does an artist find relief from the pressures of the studio? In this film artist Tommy Hartung leaves his Ridgewood, Queens studio and takes an extended run through the streets and woods of the surrounding neighborhoods. As he jogs, Hartung discusses how running is a necessary physical and mental break from the daily challenge of his intensive in-studio filmmaking practice. Hartung’s cramped space—filled with the architectural and figurative models that populate his experimental films—evinces his long hours spent working in the studio. (His 2011 work Anna is featured here.) Running along the unpaved footpaths of Forest Park, Hartung draws a connection between the contemplative isolation of jogging and a childhood spent in the woods near his family’s farm in far Western New York. Hartung eventually completes a full loop, having run from his studio to Forest Park and back, a distance of nearly ten miles. Having initially tried running as a way to quit smoking, Hartung now has bigger athletic ambitions: building up the distance and frequency of his runs in preparation for possible marathon races.
Watch the full film on the New York Close Up website at Art21.org.
Tommy Hartung (b. 1979, Akron, Ohio, USA) lives and works in Queens, New York.
Artist Tommy Hartung running through Forest Park, Queens. Production still from the series New York Close Up. © Art21, Inc. 2013. Cinematography by Ian Forster & Nick Ravich.
CREDITS | New York Close Up Created & Produced by: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Editor: Brad Kimbrough. Cinematography: Ian Forster & Nick Ravich. Sound: Nick Ravich. Associate Producer: Ian Forster. Design & Graphics: Crux Studio & Open. Artwork & Additional Photography: Tommy Hartung. Thanks: Stephanie Andreou. An Art21 Workshop Production. © Art21, Inc. 2013. All rights reserved.
New York Close Up is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; Toby Devan Lewis; Lambent Foundation; the Dedalus Foundation, Inc.; and the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Inc. Additional support provided by The 1896 Studios & Stages, and by individual contributors.
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