Richard von Sturmer

Richard von Sturmer (born 1957) is an artist, poet, playwright, film-maker, and musician from New Zealand.[1][2][3] He was born in Devonport, North Auckland.[4]

The Plague performing at Nambassa Music Festival 1979; Richard von Sturmer in blue body paint

His poetry and prose has appeared in journals such as The New Zealand Listener, brief, Landfall, Sport, and Zen Bow.[5]

In music, von Sturmer fronted New Zealand punk/art band The Plague, continued with The Humanimals,[6] Avante Garde[4] and wrote the lyrics for Blam Blam Blam's anti-Robert Muldoon song There Is No Depression In New Zealand,[2][7][8] which has been described as a 'classic alternative national anthem.'[9] The Plague are particularly known for their 1979 performance at the Nambassa festival, where four members (including von Sturmer) appeared naked apart from body paint.[10]

Richard von Sturmer is a Zen Buddhist, who gave up eating meat when he was 16.[2] He studied for ten years at the Rochester Zen Center in New York.[8]

Von Sturmer is married to Sensei Amala Wrightson (previously Charlotte Wrightson),[11] with whom he co-founded the Auckland Zen Centre.[2][12]

From 2014, von Sturmer has worked with film-maker Gabriel White as the duo Floral Clocks, with von Sturmer writing lyrics which White set to music.[13] These songs were released as an album Desert Fire, mostly performed by White alone.[14] A second album, A Beautiful Shade of Blue was released in May, 2017.[15]

Plays and film scripts

Von Sturmer was involved with the following plays and film scripts:[4]

  • 1976. Circadian Rhythms (dir: David Blythe)
  • 1980. The Green Lion
  • 1981. The Search for Otto

Published collections of writing

Von Sturmer has published the following collections of writing:[1][16]

  • 1988. We Xerox Your Zebras
  • 1991. A Network of Dissolving Threads
  • 1998. Images From The Center (with photographer Joseph Sorrentino)
  • 2005. Suchness: Zen Poetry and Prose
  • 2009. On the Eve of Never Departing
  • 2011. The Book of Equanimity Verses
  • 2016. This Explains Everything (memoir)

Exhibitions

Von Sturner has had the following exhibitions:[1]

  • 1987 The Search for Otto in “Recent New Zealand Films”, Japan.
  • 1990. The Search for Otto in “Images in Motion”. New Plymouth.
  • 2007. 24 Tanka Films. Wellington. New Zealand Film Institute.
  • 2010. Rubble Emits Light. Auckland. (Retrospective).
  • 2011. The Stone Age Dream of Headstones. Auckland. (Group show)
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References
  1. "Richard von Sturmer". CIRCUIT Artist Film and Video Aotearoa New Zealand. 3 January 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  2. "Richard von Sturmer: A career on the vanguard of NZ arts". Radio New Zealand. 11 February 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  3. "Richard von Sturmer – New Zealand Book Council". www.bookcouncil.org.nz. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  4. "nzepc – 12 Taonga – Richard von Sturmer – Dreams". www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  5. "Best New Zealand Poems 2003 – Richard von Sturmer". www.victoria.ac.nz. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  6. "Richard von Sturmer". New Zealand Poetry Society. 14 November 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  7. "No depression in New Zealand | NZHistory, New Zealand history online". nzhistory.govt.nz. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  8. "Richard von Sturmer on punk rock, buddhism and the missing Silver Scroll". Stuff. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  9. "There is No Depression in New Zealand | Music Video | NZ On Screen". www.nzonscreen.com. NZ On Screen. Retrieved 16 August 2017.CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. "The Nambassa Festivals and the counterculture movement – AudioCulture". www.audioculture.co.nz. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  11. "Our teachers and lineage – Auckland Zen Centre". www.aucklandzen.org.nz. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  12. "New Zealand | New Zealand's Buddha Boom". www.buddhistchannel.tv. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  13. Mills, Amanda (February 2015). "The Floral Clocks: It's time for... The Floral Clocks – NZ Musician". nzmusician.co.nz. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  14. Mills, Amanda. "The Floral Clocks: Desert Fire". nzmusician.co.nz. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  15. "A Beautiful Shade of Blue". The Big Idea. 29 May 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  16. "Launch: Richard von Sturmer, This Explains Everything | brief". brief. 8 November 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
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