Portrait of an Unknown Artist (2025)
An intimate portrait of New York-born artist Tom Schurr, living in Berlin as he navigates the grips of Parkinson's disease. Through archives and raw reflections, the film explores the questions of resilience, success, and the passage of time in the face of physical decline.
Background
From behind the wheel of a New York City cab, Tom Schurr spent the better part of a decade mastering the art of observation, turning the city’s ceaseless energy into a silent apprenticeship. I first met him in 2013 through Berlin’s filmmaking community and a few years later, my brother came to know the side of him that lived for art, a commitment that has been tested since his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2018. The film we wanted to make was not so much a biography about Tom or a film about Parkinson’s disease in particular. We wanted to spend time with a man who felt he was “born to do” one thing: make art. The life explored is one of fragmentation, marked by a restlessness that finds its counterpoint in patient, repetitive artistic practice.
Editing this documentary was less a process of linear construction than an act of excavation through hundreds of hours of video archives from the 1990s—fragments from formative years that carry an abundance of observational qualities as well as personal meaning. These videos are mostly taken from a sprawling, self-renovated loft in a derelict 19th-century mill in Greenpoint—a relic of a New York that drew artists from all over the world. My aim was to preserve the roughness and details found in the footage in order to invite viewers to be a part of this time period, framing the intimacy of these moments as an invitation to partake in the process of recollection.
At the heart of Portrait of an Unknown Artist is the question of what happens when the body, the very instrument of creation, begins to act up on the artist. Tom’s personal reflections, rendered with at times particular vulnerability, are central to this film’s existence and our friendship with him allowed us to capture these moments with a unique level of trust and understanding.
Stills Gallery
Screenings
The film is not yet available online as it is currently on the festival circuit. If you would like to view the film or organise a private screening, please get in touch at owen@gothill.be.