JULY 27, 2016

I must create to thrive. And I strive to serve. To create I must ask questions, and in understanding myself I understand my neighbor. What future do we leave if we cannot move beyond the individual to the collective?

This film was born out of asking questions, the central inquiry being: What values can we gain for ourselves and offer others when we slow down, discover the world around us, and counteract the problematic impulses prevalent in our age of immediacy?

This question matters a lot. I spend a lot of my time thinking about what we are collectively forgetting, and losing touch with in the chaotic wake of anti-intellectualism, the destruction of diversity, and the fearful move inwards; all of which operate within a society driven by external, immediate goals and gratifications.

Embedded in On Guardian Mountain are the tenets of my philosophy on living a life of meaning which is rooted in the necessary continuation and integrity of the dialectic. For what has become of the art of inquiry and the debate into the gray and the subtle?

My primary concerns as a filmmaker and thinker are the development of skills and models for thinking thoughtfully, learning to learn holistically, and offering one's gifts to the world selflessly. 

To think thoughtfully is to cultivate the art of attention. To learn holistically is to acknowledge the past, be mindful of the present, and ask the right questions for the future. And to offer one's gifts to the world selflessly hinges upon minds producing individuated - not regurgitated - thoughts and actions.

I have tremendous hope because I refuse to assume the incapacity, or inability of another. We must flip the status quo and start assuming the tremendous capacity of ourselves and of others. And part of embracing one’s capacity is taking a stand for personal accountability. For the sake of that which we are losing, and corrupting, we must make this move from individual interest to collective responsibility.

May the film incite feeling and thought; of what it means to love, what it means to have lost, and what it means for the sake of the future to offer one’s gifts free of attachment to the world. 

MARCH 20, 2015

I first heard about Kenneth’s work from a mutual friend of ours, and former collaborator of mine, Alex Truesdell, who called me in August of 2010 to inform me about a series of incredible geometrical drawings that he was making. 

My original interest in Kenneth was thus catalyzed by the body of work he was amassing far from the public eye at his home in Woodstock, New York. But when I first met both him and his wife Gioia Timpanelli the following winter, it was clear that this work, however magnificent and important, would be a jumping off point for what would ultimately become a larger portrait of a man and his passion.

At the time of our first discussions I was nineteen and Kenneth was seventy which immediately offered a richness and complexity to our working relationship as director and subject. I was drawn to his persona which was at times characterized by overwhelming moments of passion and emotion from the simplicity of a single hand-drawn line to the mere presence of a tree in the autumn light, and at other times shrouded by a reclusive weariness of sharing his passion with the world.

We immediately connected over our mutual concern for what I might call a widespread ‘disembodiment’ that seems to gain momentum with each passing day: the disconnect between body and nature. Spurred often by the spread and dominance of technology within our lives, there is a quality of numbness which pervades my generation especially; a numbness perhaps to a kind of sensitivity found in establishing meaningful connections with ourselves, others, and the natural world around us. While it was never my intention to make a film specifically or exclusively about this theme, it nevertheless runs as a current throughout Kenneth’s story as he believes strongly in the benefits of establishing a harmonious relationship with his natural world.

And just as Kenneth seeks a sense of unity with his surroundings so too does he strive for a natural authenticity in the process of creating his work. As a filmmaker, and artist in the general sense, I have always tried to maintain a sense of authenticity as well, which for me takes root in my intentions behind my actions. While it was important to stay truthful to Kenneth’s story, it was equally as important that I stay honest with myself and this is perhaps where most of my personal struggles still reside when it comes to learning how to love this work for what it is, and not for what a part of me wished it could have been.

With all of that being said, my hope all along has been that by maintaining this sense of authenticity and honesty with the process I would in the end have a story that could connect with people in a meaningful and substantial way. I hope viewers are touched by his story in whatever form that may take, whether they are inspired to learn a little bit more about circles, triangles, and squares, or just simply swept up by the beauty of a light ray as it hits a wall, the excitement of Kenneth’s wise, bushy eyebrows, or his sensibility and appreciation for that which is all around us and yet so often goes unseen.