How does artist Matthew Barney use 45,000 pounds of petroleum jelly, a factory whaling vessel and traditional Japanese rituals to create his latest art project? Barney ploughed the waters off coast of Nagasaki to film his massive cinematic endeavour, Drawing Restraint 9. The documentary ‘Matthew Barney: No Restraint’ journeys to Japan with Barney and his collaborator Bjork, as the visual artist creates a “narrative sculpture” telling a fantastical love story of two characters that transform from land mammals into whales. It provides a compelling insight into the working process of this unique artist.
Matthew Barney is widely considered to be the most important American artist of his generation. Born in 1967, he graduated from Yale University in 1989 and since then has created work that fuses sculpture with performance. In 1994 he began work on the celebrated Cremaster Cycle, a series of feature length films, directed, written by and often starring Barney alongside sculptures, drawings and photographs related to the cycle. Drawing Restraint 9 is part of his latest series of work that again spans numerous art forms and demonstrates Barney’s ability to inspire audiences around the world.