In memory of Jeremy Blake

Beck's "Round the Bend" video with art by Jeremy Blake



from "Punch Drunk Love" color wash scenes by Jeremy Blake



Excerpt from "1906" by Jeremy Blake

From the September Issue of Art in America:

"Jeremy Blake, 35, video artist, is believed to have taken his own life by drowning at a beach in the Rockaways in New York on July 17. A New York police department spokesperson said that his body was found 4 1/2 miles away in the waters off Sea Girt, N.J., on July 22. Blake's death followed the suicide on July 10 of his girlfriend of 12 years, filmmaker Theresa Duncan. The final entry on her blog, The Wit of the Staircase (theresalduncan.typepad.com), was posted the day of her death. The artist was thought to be devastated by Duncan's death. His clothes, wallet and a note referring to Duncan's suicide were found on the beach on July 17, and witnesses reported seeing him walk into the water.

The couple was described by friends as extremely close. In February they returned to New York from Los Angeles, where they had moved about five years earlier. They had collaborated, with Karen Kilimnik, on the 1999 animated film The History of Glamour, which was written and directed by Duncan. Blake also created sequences for the 2002 film Punch-Drunk Love, and at the time of his death was working with Rockstar Games as an in-house designer."

I know I'm not the first to report this, but his absence is a real loss to film and art. I've always loved those color washes in Punch Drunk Love, and the beauty of the music videos for Beck's "Sea change" album.