Samadhi

Jordan Belson

Jordan Belson (1926-2011) was an American artist and filmmaker.Over the course of six decades, Belson rigorously explored themes ofabstraction, spirituality and cosmogenesis. While Belson is bestknown for making independent films, he made a significant body oftwo-dimensional works from the 1940s until his death in 2011. At thevanguard of the San Francisco art scene, Belson worked with hisfriends Harry Smith and Bruce Conner in the late 1940’s at LionelZiprin’s Inkweed Arts when Belson lived briefly in NYC. Belsonreceived support and patronage from Hilla Rebay, one of thefounders of the Guggenheim Museum, where he had his firstexhibition of paintings in 1948.  Belson's 1957-59 "Vortex Concerts,"staged with sound artist Henry Jacobs at the Morrison Planetarium inSan Francisco, were an important influence on the multimedia"expanded cinema" of the 1960s, as was his singular body of filmwork. In the 1970s Belson renounced most public involvement in theworlds of the art and film, when he began a fruitful period of near-seclusion, which he maintained until his death in 2011. AGuggenheim Fellow and Ford Foundation Fellow, Belson also twicereceived American Film Institute grants.