Colin Marshall: The Ubuweb Experimental Video Project: 36. Skip Arnold's Punch (1992)

June 03, 2010

The Ubuweb Experimental Video Project: 36. Skip Arnold's Punch (1992)

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Punch. 0:10 min., color, silent, 1992. By Skip Arnold. Ubuweb's description:

Arnold's slight build heightens his physical provocation, as in Punch from 1992, where the artist asked an athletic man to punch him in the stomach.

I'd heard Skip Arnold's name before, but knew nothing whatsoever about the guy or his work. The bio on his web site helps, somewhat, by providing what's hilariously titled "Skip's Manifest":

The emphasis is on space and how/what my body does or can do. The work ranges from being extremely physical to extremely passive.

To explore the relationships between self, place, and particular time.
To explore fundamental gestures and concepts.

My interest is the image and nothing else.

I work in media that are evanescent, transient, consumed in passing, not collected.

What is common to all my work is "Skip." Skip is the artwork. The act of doing, my actions, my choices.

My mind always translates this sort of artist's statement, perhaps unfairly, to "dude, nude." As I recall, Vito Acconci was also pretty into his own body. Most of Punch's ten-second runtime is occupied by a straight-on shot of what appears to be a nude dude's torso. Just when I've had time to think, "Welp, I guess that's Skip, the man and the artwork," some guy lunges up and socks him one in the solar plexus.

Since it took me so many tries to get a screen capture at the moment of impact — and I still didn't quite get it — I can't help but include it: