The Ontological Cowboy

Above: from the film
Below: Marie Losier

Publicity

In “The Ontological Cowboy” Losier trains her nostalgic lens onto Richard Foreman, the renowned playwright and director of the Ontological-Hysteric Theatre based in NYC’s East Village. She films the three principal actors (dressed in period garb and heavy make-up) from Foreman’s play “King Cowboy Rufus Rules the Universe”, a raucous production about a dandyish Englishman who dreams of becoming king of the universe. Through Losier’s cinematography and editing, their live performance is fragmented, slowed down, and turned into her own silent-movie rendition. Foreman is interviewed, from off-screen, in his book-filled home and on the set, where he reflects on various aspects of his work in theatre, having himself become an inhabitant of Losier’s cinematic universe.
– Day for Night, the Whitney Biennial 2006 catalog