A Personal Vision
Like many other experimental filmmakers of his era, Jordan came into his own remarkable style in the 1960s. His personal vision is symbolized in Duo Concertantes (1964), heavily influenced by Ernst. This nine-minute film used engravings as backgrounds and, while having no story line per se, Jordan linked unconscious chains of events by motion. This moving collage won him many awards at festivals and paved the way for the more ambitious works to come.

The Visible Compendium. Courtesy of Larry Jordan.

While spending a summer with Cornell, Jordan made three short films using soft, lyrical animation--Dream Merchant, Pink Swine and Gymnopede--all using well-known sound tracks. In 1969, he created what is considered one of his best films, Our Lady of the Sphere. The film takes its theme from the Tibetan Book of the Dead and relies on pure intuitive filmmaking in its structure, a technique that works best for Jordan's fine-tuned talents.

During the 1970s, Jordan exhibited internationally in galleries and specialized cinemas. It was a prolific time, in which he made several films of note.

Rime of the Ancient Mariner, based on the Coldridge poem, had Orson Welles as the narrator. Illustrations by Gustav Doré form the visual compositions of the intricate trains of free thought woven into moods and feelings brought about through free association.

Magical and Enigmatic
By the 1980s, Jordan, a master at his craft, single-handedly made Sophie's Place, an 84 minute feature, between 1983-87. The 129,600 single-framed images revolve around the mosque of Saint Sofia in "Constantinople." Again, the complex world of fine art engravings are interlaced with mysterious trees and castles, while objects change objects through rapid montage, leaving the viewer immersed in a visual web of experience. Like a stream of consciousness meditation, this epic reflects on Sophia, godess of wisdom and includes cutouts ranging from Victorian prints to Daliesque dreams. This awesome technique lets the film unfold in a magical and enigmatic way.

At this time, Jordan began to focus on colored engravings. His short interim piece, Masquerade evokes a tragic, romantic mood, while Moonlight Sonata calls forth a lyrical feeling. With every film, Jordan tries to transform objects in space like humans might transform themselves in life. Each cinematic journey uses a set of symbols to elicit thoughts and emotions of transformation. Jordan believes that all his films come from the collective unconscious, not just in terms of archetypes or specific symbols, but in terms of mirror like fragments of ritual, cult and religious practices throughout human history.