The Magic of Moving Pictures

Mar 28, 2007 at 4:00 am

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If Oskar Fischinger had lived into the 21st century, the German artist would have created YouTube. Fischinger's "stereo paintings," short animated abstractions that star curlicues and whorls moving synchronously with classical music, may have, in fact, created the Internet, much like Brahma unintentionally created the universe through the sparks that shot forth from his divine consciousness. So timeless and beautiful are Fischinger's abstract films that it's hard to believe that they were made in the '30s and '40s — and not just this morning. An extension of Fischinger's abstract paintings, these films unify sound and sight, color and shape, stillness and movement to stimulate the sixth sense: the sense of wonder.

Oskar Fischinger: Movement and Spirit, the new exhibition at Saint Louis University's Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (3700 West Pine Mall; 314-977-7170 or mocra.slu.edu), brings together Fischinger's wonderful films and paintings. At 7 p.m. Friday, March 30, a selection of Fischinger films screens at the Saint Louis Art Museum in Forest Park (314-655-5299 or www.slam.org); admission is $3 to $5. At 2 p.m. Saturday, March 31, the exhibit officially opens at MOCRA and continues through Sunday, June 24.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: March 30. Continues through June 24