Cremaster 3 is actually the final piece of this five-part epic film from Matthew Barney: The Cremaster Cycle. He felt pretty certain that ending the cycle in the middle would be the way to finish. C 3 shows Barney’s affinity for architecture and sexuality, and much of all the symbolic iconography in he movie involves Celtic mythology and phallic references. He appears himself in the movie as the Entered Apprentice, and the artist Richard Sera plays the role of the Architect Hiram Abiff (who is the Biblical architect of the Temple of Solomon) represented in the film as the architect of the Crysler building in NYC (where big part of the film is set up).
The film is spatially driven rather than a narrative piece. It is a display of visual effects and impulses with very little to no dialogue. The top spire of the Crysler Building in NY is the meeting of all dreams in Cremaster 3. The building is a character itself in the movie, and the centerpiece of Matthew Barney’s piece, exploring artistic creation and destruction. It is in fact, a potent symbol of demonically ambitious creativity in a film that celebrates the parallel urge to build and to destroy as inseparable (and irrational) compulsions.
The Architect, the Apprentice, The Novitiate and the Crysler Building are the main characters in the film, and they can all be seen as reflections of each other.
Barney intertwines the story of the erction of Crysler Building with Masonic lore and rituals. Candidates for Masonic initiation must pass through 3 degrees: Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason. At the culmination of the Masonic initiation, Masons reenact the murder, burial, and resurrection of Hiram Abiff.
The film begins and ends in Ireland where the Barney’s character (and the artist himself) actually comes from, and contains a big range of iconography related to the country such as the green white and orange colors of the Irish flags which stand for Catholics, Protestants and white the peace between them.
The film is spatially driven rather than a narrative piece. It is a display of visual effects and impulses with very little to no dialogue. The top spire of the Crysler Building in NY is the meeting of all dreams in Cremaster 3. The building is a character itself in the movie, and the centerpiece of Matthew Barney’s piece, exploring artistic creation and destruction. It is in fact, a potent symbol of demonically ambitious creativity in a film that celebrates the parallel urge to build and to destroy as inseparable (and irrational) compulsions.
The Architect, the Apprentice, The Novitiate and the Crysler Building are the main characters in the film, and they can all be seen as reflections of each other.
Barney intertwines the story of the erction of Crysler Building with Masonic lore and rituals. Candidates for Masonic initiation must pass through 3 degrees: Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason. At the culmination of the Masonic initiation, Masons reenact the murder, burial, and resurrection of Hiram Abiff.
The film begins and ends in Ireland where the Barney’s character (and the artist himself) actually comes from, and contains a big range of iconography related to the country such as the green white and orange colors of the Irish flags which stand for Catholics, Protestants and white the peace between them.
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