Throughout the 1970s, William Leavitt composed a series of concisely staged works—16mm films, live performances, suites of photographs, and tableaux—that eliminated conventional narrative. Employing a narrow selection of isolated objects, gestures, and text, the bigger picture dramatically plays out through evocation, variation, and repetition.

Los Angeles-based artist Jennifer West has been making her remarkable 'cameraless' films--in which film stock is treated with myriad substances, from household cleansers to campfire smoke, and subjected to indelicate acts, like being licked, hammered or skateboarded on--for over a decade now. Quinn Latimer talks to West about this alchemical meddling, drugstore culture, riot grrrls, very long film titles, and an even longer list of influences ranging from Dutch masters to Len Lye to the gilded mythology of the Golden State.