Wintercourse

Discovered in the summer of 1985, this film is part of a set of “haiku-imagistic films” made before the artist developed his characteristic style, as seen in *Ray Gun Virus*. Sharits believed he had destroyed all these pre-pure films around 1969–1970, during the time of his separation from his first wife. The film reflects on that marriage, which lasted seven years, and was shot during its first year while Sharits was a painting student at the University of Denver. It is composed of apprehensive themes presented through a montage style that juxtaposes “opposites”: sexuality and religion, seasonal contrasts, and hopefulness undermined by fears of eventual separation (notably depicted in an image of a statue of two women, arm in arm, reading a book). Sharits later found the film visually and kinetically interesting after many years. —Canyon Cinema