Originally trained as a painter and photographer, then switched to video; established the first video program at American Film Institute.

"A subject being recorded cannot hide behind his smile for long; thoughts and feelings begin to be exposed without verbal expression."

History of the Video Portrait by Joan Logue

1971 my work in Video Portraiture started while working in Sarcoma, a West African community. One morning while setting up my video portapac, a young boy from the village stood in front of my video camera. He stared silently into the lens and it was at this moment I realized the difference between a photographic portrait and that of a video portrait. What I saw in his face was a continuous flux... the video exposed and made public the sequences of silent thoughts on his face.

Thanks to this experience, I began and continue my work, in video portraits, for me it was a new form of portraiture, a portrait that would one day hang on the wall replacing the still photograph and or painting.

In 1979 I began an experiment in short format portraitures. These works started as 60 second portraits but I quickly realized they were too long so the works became 30 seconds.

The first 30 Second Portraits include John Cage, Robert Ashley, Steve Reich, Michael Nyman, Nam June Paik, Charlemagne Palestine, Maryanne Amarcher, Laurie Anderson, Liz Phillips and Meredith Monk.... and many more... These 30 Second Portraits continued for the next 20 years, celebrating art, artist and people. The series include: York Artist, French Artist, French Writers, Berlin Artist, 5 Composers 5 Countries: Spain-France-England-Italy-America. The New England Fisherman, San Francisco Artist and Traditional World Dancer's in America.

In 1990, with the help of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Cite des Art in Paris provided me the opportunity to concentrate on making my first video self-portrait. Here the video portrait became a non-verbal miniature video triptych built around the years 1971-83. Thanks also to the French Government Artist Grant, I developed my first 3D-16 Century video frame, allowing the viewer to see both the front and the back of a portrait.

00-03 Research and development of the ¨Video Pin¨(wearable art) in collaboration with MIT Media Lab. The purpose the video pin is to preserve and store living¨ memories.

Professorship, Visiting Artist, Fellowships, and Productions:

2006 - Video Opera with Composer Tod Machover and the MIT Media Lab.
01-03 MIT ID/entity Portrait Project - Research and Development of the digital video pin.
96- MIT Visual Arts Fellowship Program (ongoing). 95-96- MIT Visual Arts Program visiting artist and lecturer Video.
93- Le Fresnoy-Ecole Superieure d?Art Tourcoin Fellowship, Hochschule fur Grafik und Buchkunst, Leipzig Germany visiting artist, Ecole Regionale des Beaux-Arts de Nancy, France visiting Prof.Video
91- Ecoles des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, France.
89 -International Festival of Belo Horizonte Brazil - Guest artist co developing workshop in video portraiture.85- International Workshop, Nancy France.
83- American in Paris, Guest Video Artist.
76 - Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, Ca UCLA Video Professorship.
74-72 California Institute of the Arts Video Professorship.
73- Stony brook/Cal Arts: Video Anthropological Research on Polygamy in West Africa.
69-71 American Film Institute, Portrait Artist in Residence and Created the first Video Program for Institute.

Grants and Fellowships:

07-James E Robison Foundation,
01- Massachusetts Institute Technology Video Pin
92- French Ministry of Culture, Paris France. Self Portrait
90-91 Pew Charitable Trust, Philadelphia Pa., National Endowment for the Arts (individual artist), and New York State Council on the Arts. Human Rights portrait and Benjamin Franklin Portrait.
89-90 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship Self Portrait
87-88 Massachusetts Council on the Arts and WGBH Television Grant. 86-87 DAAD Fellowship, Berlin West Germany.
85-86 Ministry of Culture and Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris France.
85- Massachusetts Council on the Arts for Television. NEA and the American Center, Paris France.
84-85 Capp Street Fellowship, San Francisco CA.
80-81 -NEA and New York State Council of the Arts / The Kitchen.
79 -NEA and Corcoran Gallery of the Arts. Washington DC. 78 - NEA and Chicago Center for Video.
77- NEA Individual Artist.
72 - NEA Young Artist Grant

FIRST VIDEO PORTRAIT
1971 West Africa: Outside Looking Inside

VIDEO PORTRAITS FOR INSTALLATIONS
Limited Edition 1971-2003

AMERICAN ARTIST 1975-1989
John Baldessari #1, '76 CA
John Baldessari #2, '76 CA
Manuel Alvarez Bravo '81 CA
Vija Celmins #1 '76 CA
Vija Celmins #2, 76 CA
Judy Chicago #1, 76 CA
Judy Chicago #2, CA
John Cage #1, 78, NY
John Cage #2, 79 NYC
Willem de Kooning #1, 78, NY
Willem de Kooning #2, '78, NY
Richard Diebenkorn #1, '76 CA
Richard Diebenkorn #2, '76 CA
Michael Heizer '80, NY
Lillian Hellman '81 NYC
David Hockney '83 Paris
Takao Iijim Ay-o '79 NYC
Jasper Johns #1 '79 NY
Jasper Johns #2, 79 NY
Shigeko Kabota '76 NYC
Ellsworth Kelly #1 '78 NY
Ellsworth Kelly #2, '78 NY
Ed Kienholz '85 Berlin
Roy Lichtenstein #1, '78, NY
Roy Lichtenstein #2, '78, NY
Joan Mitchell '80, NYC
Ed Moses #1, '76 Venice CA
Ed Moses #2, '76 Venice CA
Catherine Murphy '80 MA
Pat O'Neill #1, 76 California
Pat O'Neill #2, '76 CA.
Nam June Paik '78 NYC
Charlemagne Palestine #1, '77 NYC
Ed Ruscha '76 CA
Robert Rauschenberg #1, '78 NY
Self Portrait with Mother '77 NYC
Studs Turkel '79 Chicago
Big Joe Turner '81 NYC
Duane Valentine '#1, 76 Venice CA
Duane Valentine '#2 '76 Venice CA.
Emmett Williams '78 NYC

CIVIL RIGHTS PIONEERS
Rosa Parks '89
Cesar Chavez '89 CA

FAMILY PORTRAIT SERIES 79-01
Chicago South Side Family:
Mother, Father, Daughter, and Grandmother 1979
Katherine Murphy and Family 1979
Grandmother Grand Daughter: Elizabeth Freedman and Grandmother 1978
Self Portrait with Mother 1978
Mother and Son: Martha Wilson and Son
Mother and Son: Marianna and David
Father and Daughter: John Rockwell and Daughter Sasha 2001

THE NEIGHBORHOOD SERIES 1972-2005
Neighborhood Series: Liberia West Africa The Women of Sucromu 1972
Neighborhood Series: Venice California 1974-76
Neighborhood Series: Little Italy New York 1977
Neighborhood Series: Soho New York 1978
Neighborhood Series: South Side Chicago 1978
Neighborhood Series: Montbeliard Eastern France 1981
Neighborhood Series: Marais Paris France 1982-83
Neighborhood Series: Montpellier Southern France 1983
Neighborhood Series: Saragossa Spain 1983
Neighborhood Series: Renne Western France 1983
Neighborhood Series: Normandy France 1990
Neighborhood Series: Digi Girls 2004
Neighborhood Series: Central Park The Gates 2005

VIDEO PORTRAIT: SELF PORTRAITS
Self Portrait with Mother 1979
Auto Portrait 1972-83
Self Portrait Post 911, 2001
Tribute to René Magritte 1983
René and Georgette and Their Dog After the War, Music Paul Simon
Benjamin Franklin: His Inventions 1989
Nine Portraits 9 Women

HUMANITY:
Homelessness 1989
New York - Brazil Homeless Installation

To Have: Love
Valentine Series: California Friends 1974
"For I loved Him and He Didn't Love Back" 1985


VideoPortraits: Both Sides
In Memory of Dany Block
Portrait of a Young Woman: 3 D Frame
Don Buchla
John Cage
Jacques Derrida

30 Second Video Portraits 1979-1999
New York Artist 1979-82
30 Second Portraits
John Cage, Composer
Meredith Monk, Composer
Arnie Zane and Bill T. Jones Dance
Maryanne Amacher, Composer
Robert Ashley, Composer Writer
Charlemagne Palestine, Composer
Simone Forti, Choreographer
Carles Santos, Composer, Performance
Spalding Gray, Writer Performer
Richard Teitelbaum, Composer
Steve Reich, Composer
George Lewis, Composer
Tony Ramos, Performance
David Behrman, Composer
Charlemagne Palestine, Performance
Alvin Lucier, Composer
Douglas Ewart, Composer
Max Neuhaus, Composer
Joan Jonas, Performance
Steve Reich, Composer
Liz Phillips, Composer Sound Installation
Arnie Zane and Bill T. Jones, Choreographers
Philip Glass, Composer
French Artist 1982-83
Pierre Boulez Composer 83
David Hockney Painter 83
Philippe Sollers Writer 83
Maurice Roche Poet Writer 83
Orlan Performance Artist 83
Andreas Senser Painter
Jean-Claude Eloy Composer
Jochen Gerz Performance Artist
Dominique Desanti, Writer
Robert Doisneau, Photographer
Philippe Sollers, Writer
Verret, Diasnas,Montet Dancers
Takis, Painter
Valere Novarina, Writer Performance
Jochen Gerz Performance Artist
Jean-Toussaint Desanti Writer
Julia Kristeva and Son David
Tod Machover, Composer
Jacques Monory Painter
Ushio Amagatsu Performance Artist
San Francisco Artist 1984
Anna Halprin Dancer
Star Sutherland Video-Artist
Diamanda Galas Composer Performance
Tim Hatch Earthquake
Donald Buchla Composer

French Writers 1985
Jacques Derrida, To See
Florence DeLay, The Basic Kiss
Pascal Quignard, Cello and Bow
Andre Du Bouchet , Light fractures
Danielle Sallenave - Staircase
Michel DeGuy, The Stone
Claude Ollier, Piano
Michel Rio. Café Flore
Pierrette Fleutiaux, The Distance
Claude Simon, Auto Portrait

Berlin Series 1986
Berlin Stories: Everyone is Guilty of Something

New England Fishermen 1984-85
30 Second Fishermen Stories
Dominic Montagnino. The right place
Thomas Randazza, Sea sickness
Romeo Solviletti, Different kinds of fish, like people
John Parisi, 50 years
Kenneth Cotto, An old fish story
Thomas Parisi
Thomas Silveira, Lobster fishing
Thomas Randazza, Vacation on a boat!
Palazola & Marino, Fixing net
Thomas Randazza, No life for a kid
John Quince, I was scared
Joseph Curcuru, Same bate
Anthony Palazola, Telling us
The Maryann, Romeo Solviletti, Mending nets
Joseph Piscitello, Sent the kids to college

Five Composers 5 Countries:
England, Italy, France, Spain and United States 1988
Michael Nyman, England
Carlos Santos, Spain
Alvin Currin Italy
Michael Levinas, France
Tod Machover, USA

Digital Limmings: Gems 2001
The Traditional Dancers are imbedded into a 3D Gem.
Burma
China
North India
South India
Japan
Spain
Hawaii