Benjamin Kutsko
In Benjamin Kutsko’s work, blood from a slashed neck transforms into rose petals that trickle across the desert floor. A massive yellow moon reminiscent of Georges Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon floats above a boy’s head and threatens to eat him whole. A kiss sends a woman into the galaxy, where she rises as a specter through space. It’s a world of unlimited possibilities – the only boundaries those of imagination.
But then, that’s not surprising; he studied under legendary experimental film pioneer Stan Brakhage at the University of Colorado. There, Benjamin learned the tedious technique of transforming celluloid squares into films, cutting and pasting individual Super 8 frames into 16 millimeter stock. The result, an otherworldly – and entirely handmade – experiment in beauty.
Years later, in Los Angeles, Ben found himself in the world of digital compositing after realizing that it allowed for unlimited creative possibilities.
At the forefront of an in-demand craft, his vfx skills enabled him to straddle the divide of big budget Hollywood projects and the thriving underground art scene. For the former, he spent two years working with director David Fincher on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, where he helped make Brad Pitt grow younger by the year. He’s doctored Robert Downey, Jr. into Iron Man for the film of the same name.
Which is great, and we love hearing stories from the cash-heavy vfx world. But we’re excited to welcome Benjamin Kutsko as the newest Masses director because of the smaller, more handcrafted work he’s done. For Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes and their “Desert Song”, Ben’s turned the aforementioned blood into rose petals, thrust singer Sharpe from desert to dream and back again, has painted the Magnetic Zeroes with colors that don’t seem to be of this planet.
His newest work, for Mexican duo Xiaha Troden, sees Ben carry the two on a mystic voyage through outer space, where they float through the cosmos like 16th Century ocean explorers. It’s a seamless project, difficult to tell where reality begins and imagination ends. Ben’s work lies somewhere in the middle… of this world, but only barely.