Al Razutis is a Canadian iconoclast, an artist who was instrumental in the formation of two west coast film distributors, a short lived union of Canadian film artists, a production co-op, separate magazines on fringe film and holography and a much publicized battle with Ontario’s board of film censors . Along the way he taught media production at the Banff School of Fine Arts, the Vancouver School of Art, Evergreen State College and Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University for a dozen years . He has completed some forty odd films and videos alongside various performances, paintings, holograms and intermedia productions. While he has worked hard over the years to secure an institutional base for all aspects of fringe cinema, he is better remembered for his anti-institutional stances. Over and over he has published angry missives against the press, government, art bureaucrats and other artists – decrying in unflinching language the (perceived) abuses of power and privilege. A self-appointed moral standard bearer, Razutis has done much to politicize and galvanize the possibilities of a Canadian avant-garde.
Al Razutis Iconoclast
5 Visual Alchemy by Tony Reif
9 Magnetic North by Bruce Jenkins
12 Under the Sign of the Beast: an interview by David Bryant and Mike Hoolboom
22 Amerika and the Destruction Aesthetic by Eric Fergusson
33 The Films of Al Razutis by Mike Hoolboom
43 Between Agonism and the Autonomy of Art: The Case of Al Razutis by William C. Wees
55 Three Decades of Rage: an interview by Mike Hoolboom
83 Regina vs. by Al Razutis
89 Amerika
100 Visual Essays
105 Films and Videos
107 Al Razutis by Andrew McIntosh
108 Credits