Chris Langdon
Chris Langdon, born in 1952, is an American artist based in Los Angeles known for her extensive and diverse body of work across various media, including painting, sculpture, graphics, assemblage, photography, film, and video. She attended the California Institute of the Arts from 1971 to 1976, where she was notably prolific, creating approximately forty 16mm and 35mm films. During her time there, she also assisted renowned artists such as Robert Nelson, John Baldessari, and Jack Goldstein in their film projects.
Langdon's film work is characterized by its satirical take on the conceptual and structural tendencies prevalent in the Los Angeles art scene. Her films often incorporate humor and elements of "low" culture, including corny references and pulp media, to critique and subvert the ways in which audiences consume and interpret images. Notable works include "Bondage Boy" (1973), which uses an absurd bondage scenario to satirize structuralism, and "Picasso" (1973), a mock documentary questioning the authority of images. Other films like "This is the Brain of Otis Crawfield" (1973) critique cultural appropriation and emotional manipulation in cinema.
Langdon ceased her initial filmmaking endeavors around 1976 and retired from art-making in 1994, only to resume painting in 2008. Her films, including "Bondage Girl," "Picasso," and "Choppers," have been preserved by the Academy Film Archive.