Matthew Barney: No Restraint

Creating a Narrative Sculpture

How does artist Matthew Barney use 45,000 pounds of petroleum jelly, a factory whaling vessel, and traditional Japanese rituals to create an art project? Barney plowed the waters off the coast of Nagasaki to film his massive endeavor, Drawing Restraint 9 (2005). The immersive documentary Matthew Barney: No Restraint journeys to Japan with Barney and his collaborator Bjork as the visual artist creates a narrative sculpture, telling a fantastical love story of two characters that transform from land mammals into whales.