Directed by Patrick Trefz
Unrated
Runtime: 1 hour 18 minutes
In theaters and on demand September 24

by Stacey Osbeck, Staff Writer

One could say anything Jim Denevan does, he does it big. Patrick Trefz’s documentary feature, Man in the Field: The Life and Art of Jim Denevan, follows the artist who made a name for himself crafting large scale earth art and organizing huge dinners. It initially seemed an odd mashup. Covering more than one passion risks losing focus. However, an overarching viewpoint connects these creative outlets which ultimately reframes how one can experience gatherings, the Earth and art.

Denevan specializes in geometric designs, frequently sculpting circles in the sand or natural landscape.  Watching them take shape brings a surprising tranquility, grounding the viewer in the moment. The sheer scale of the art also elicits awe with some taking up a breadth of several miles.   

The opening pointedly sets the tone of the film.  Denevan unrolls a large photo of one of his sand art creations, an expansive spiral.  In mathematics it’s called the golden spiral, bearing equilibrium on its radiating path.  He rushed up a cliff to catch a photo of its sprawling entirety before the tide came in. Ready with his camera, he saw a stranger had come upon his work and stood right at the center.   

Art was created and someone was drawn to it.  There’s a beauty in the simplicity of that.  Art can be accessible, as accessible as eating.  Which leads us to his other passion.   

Through Jim Denevan’s traveling restaurant business ‘Outstanding in the Field’, he organizes unique gastronomic events.  Diners sit at an extraordinarily long table in the area where the food they will consume came to fruition.  The circularity of it, enjoying a meal in the same place as the harvest’s origin and endpoint leaves many with a sense of the profound.   

Even though plenty of people at the one long table are strangers, the food is presented family style.  He explains, when people serve themselves or reach for seconds they naturally survey the situation to determine if those around them have had enough before they take more.  That pause is a very human moment, to care about the needs of others.   

It seems the magic of what he creates comes in the layering of these types of micro-experiences.  Combined they bring depth and meaning.  On their own they seem fleeting, easily going unnoticed.   

The paradigm shift his work offers becomes the most intriguing aspect of the documentary.  His work is tied to a place.  That place is always here.  It’s tied to a time.  That time is now.  Wonderful doesn’t have to mean permanent.  Art or a communal meal can both be ephemeral, here and then gone, consumed or washed away by the tide.  The permanence ultimately being what you carry with you.   

Any lingering questions about what drives him are explained later in the film when he examines with raw intimacy his family history.     

Even if art or food do not interest you, the intersection of the two will.  Man in the Field: The Life and Art of Jim Denevan uniquely dives into what holds meaning and how we can cultivate more of it.