As the series unravels, however, they seem less and less happy and show no signs of having even mild political, cultural or intellectual interests. Their oldest son was gay, however, and was probably the first ‘out’ gay person on television. I was glued to the tube once a week to watch the first-ever show about nothing

"My project, entitled Gone, is a videotape based loosely on the story of Episode #2 of the series. In this episode, Pat Loud who is the wife, mother, and backbone of the family, visits her son Lance in New York. Lance, who has been living at the Chelsea Hotel, is aimless, has rather sketchy plans for the future, and seems unable to remain active and engaged even in the presence of the filmmakers. Pat spends a week in New York staying at the Chelsea, and throughout the episode has one alienating parental experience after the other, interspersed with seemingly joyless occasions of sightseeing. Lance lives with a young man named Soren who may be his lover, but who is never so identified. He and Soren take Pat to see a Jackie Curtis drag show on her first night in town, she is appalled and offended, and the story takes its first dive into disaster.

"The closet plays a crucial thematic role in this episode, revealing the architecture for the entire series: a chronology of family interactions on a long-term daily basis where topics of substance are rarely mentioned, and where a cocktail frequently provides a

welcomed distraction to interpersonal encounters. The series demonstrates a truly artful dodge by the players and the filmmakers alike. Every consequential aspect of daily life is denied in conversations and through silences, infusing casual mundane life with perceptible pain. As I analyze my obsession with this series, I realize that the Loud family, while originally seeming nothing like my own, becomes more familiar all the time."

The above quote is from a description I wrote of this piece about 3 years ago. It has taken me about 2 years to shoot this tape, and another year to edit. While the description is still accurate, the work has evolved. Originally envisioned as a single channel tape, it is now a work for 2 channels, to be projected side by side. The people I have chosen to portray the characters in my tape are artists whose community is essentially underground, having little voice or influence in mainstream culture. Working with these artists has had enormous impact on my original idea and the tape is now about them, about art making, about survival on the edge of culture in an America that has always been suspicious of real creativity and seldom welcomes originality or social criticism in the form of artwork. ‘Family’ is still basic to plot, action and characterization, and continues to act as a very sticky thematic glue. The city is a metaphor for refuge from family, and frequently from self.

Other issues I am working with both visually and in the process of making Gone are those of documentary video and filmmaking, ethnography, and social anthropology. The issues of cultural investigation, family life, reconstruction of reality through artifice, and the emergence of a truth no one was anticipating mesh so completely as to be not only inseparable, but also paradoxically supporting and even responsible for one another. I have spoken to Mr. Craig Gilbert about his original project. We talked mostly about the silences that occur in his 1970s documentary - the short, clipped conversations, the glossing over of crisis with casual comments directed at no one in particular. I explained my own understanding of the series and talked about its relationship to Gone. I am not attempting to create a re-make or a parody of An American Family. I am deeply indebted to Mr. Gilbert for his groundbreaking documentary, and am fortunate now to have his blessing in making this tape.

Gone is a continuation of an investigation into themes of family, community, psychology and documentary which have always been present in my work. This tape reflects what I expect most from video - the ability to create an emotionally charged yet transparent expression of contemporary life.