For those not familiar with artist, writer and filmmaker Ethan Minsker — and unless you’re plugged into the New York underground art scene, you probably don’t know him — “Man in Camo” is a great introduction. This lively documentary, which ultimate DIY artist Minsker wrote, directed and edited, traces his childhood in the 1970s when the divorce of his parents and a diagnosis of dyslexia proved to be pivotal in his creative pursuits. “Film was like a salvation for me,” he says, backing up that statement with an inspiring cavalcade of clips from the many Super 8, Beta and VHS films he made as a kid and a teenager. These films set the blueprint for the art Minsker has made all his life: highly personal, quirky, anti-corporate, anti-establishment, infused with a punk rock sensibility even before Minsker became part of the rowdy, sometimes violent, nihilistic early ‘90s punk rock scene in Boston and in Washington, DC.
He found an outlet for his passions, aggressions and creativity in producing Psycho Moto Zine, a fanzine still in production that highlights the work of edgy artists, musicians and filmmakers. That led to a move to New York’s East Village where Minsker founded the Antagonist Movement, Inc., a consortium of artists, writers and musicians with the credo that art needs to be rooted in building community, a rejection of the slick gallery scene that elevates elite artists and dilutes power of personal art. He returned to guerrilla-style filmmaking with the documentary “Anything Boys Can Do …” (1997) about the triumph and travails of women in punk rock. That lead to others including “The Soft Hustle” (2003) and “The Dolls of Lisbon” (2011) that played festivals and underground venues.
Minsker merges his life with his art, constantly creating and pushing boundaries right down to his ever-present camo suit and tie. It's his fashion statement that “art is combat” as well as a playful twist on the white suits favored by writers Truman Capote and Tom Wolfe. There are other talking heads in the film, but it’s Minsker who dominates “Man in Camo.” That’s just who his is and the art and film worlds are better for it.