Guest Author - Rain Battle

With his wife, Björk, contemporary visual artist Matthew Barney has created a new experiment in cinema. Separately, two Westerners arrive and board a Japanese ship and become part of an elaborate look at the relationship between tradition and change. It is a love story of the most surreal kind.

Prior to the arrival of the two guests, the ship was loaded with petroleum jelly, still hot from the oil refinery that delivered it. The petroleum was poured into a prepared mold and sits on deck, where it will be continuously manipulated throughout the voyage.

Once on the ship, the two passengers are elaborately prepared for a traditional Shinto wedding ceremony in garb that deviates slightly from the tradition. Right above their heads on the deck of the ship, the crew works and reworks the massive amount of petroleum jelly into an abstract sculpture. Occasionally, the petroleum melts and runs, finally enveloping the ship's two guests in a warm, liquid bath.

The film is filled with close-ups of intricately detailed traditions: from nimble fingers wrapping boxes to a nearly silent tea ceremony shared by two. The film has only a few lines of dialogue and boasts a soundtrack composed and partly sung by Björk. There is also a subtle message about the morality of whaling, although the focus of the story is that of the relationship between the two passengers or "guests," as they are called.

Matthew Barney is probably most well known for his "Cremaster Cycle" films, which are on exhibition at the Guggenheim. Barney also has work featured at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan and had an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art before he was 25 years old. He was recently hailed as one of the most important artists of our time by the New York Times. Björk is the Icelandic musician best known for her ability to manipulate music and her own voice to create truly unique sounds. Her most recent release prior to the film's soundtrack was her all-vocal album, Medúlla. The two are married and have one daughter together.

As an art installation, "Drawing Restraint" is an extremely limited release, so watch for screenings at museums or art houses in your area.