Archive for the 'Performance art' Category

Last chance: Liz Magic Laser at Derek Eller Gallery in NYC.

By c-monster on April 19, 2012 in C-Monster, Galleries, New York, Performance art and Video. 2 Comments


A still from I Feel Your Pain, video documentation of a performance piece from last fall. (Image courtesy of the artist and Derek Eller Gallery.)

A man and a woman kiss. They drown each other in flattery. They tell each other that they’re “the one.” They say no one understands. This may sound like the purplest of purple prose scenarios. (And it is.) But it’s actually a live performance that employs the transcript of a Sarah Palin interview by Glenn Beck as its script. Instead of Beck and Palin in the lead roles, however, it’s a couple of young lovers. The words may be the same, but the actions aren’t. It’s grody-fascinating to watch.

For the performance piece, I Feel Your Pain, Liz Magic Laser created more than a dozen theatrical shorts out of television news transcripts (staged as part of the Performa festival last year). Steve Kroft’s 60 Minutes interview with Barack Obama in the wake of the Osama Bin Laden assassination becomes a clubby conversation between two bros sipping soda. It was literally nauseating to watch. Not because the actors were bad. Quite the contrary. The performances are all strong (and Annie Fox, shown above, is particularly riveting to watch). It’s all just a reminder of the uncomfortably cozy relationship between politicians and some members of the media.

For a few pieces, like the ones mentioned above, Laser employs a single interview as script. For others, she weaves together similar language from several Q&As into one cohesive story. Interviews and speeches by Mary Landrieu, Christine O’Donnell and George W. Bush are spliced together into a single work that addresses culpability. It is a riveting work of political theater. Literally. (Though I could have done without the mime-clown character — I mean, why???? — that Laser introduces in a few of the pieces.)

You can catch video of the project at the Derek Eller Gallery through this Saturday, April 21. If you’re a political or media junkie, this represents an intriguing, outrage-inducing intersection. Find the screening times here. And yes, it’s worth it to sit through them all…

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Artist’s Choice: The best YouTube instructional videos devoted to art-making.

By c-monster on March 30, 2012 in C-Monster, Performance art, Sublime ridiculosity and Video. 0 Comments


Creating push-pull a la Hans Hoffman.


How to Jackson Pollock your bedroom while listening to metal.


Glitter poufs. That is all.


Should you sell your art on e-Bay? Or should you listen to that Pink Floyd album one more time?

This is the first post in what will hopefully be a long-running series called “Artist’s Choice.” In which a guest “curator” is invited to share their favorite bizarre/weird/hilarious/absurd YouTube videos. Kicking off the first round is painter Franck de Las Mercedes, who comes through (with flying colors), with a selection of YouTube instructional videos devoted entirely to art.

Thank you, Franck! Now I know what to do with those tired bedrooms walls…

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Photo Diary: Roof Piece, restaged.

By c-monster on June 10, 2011 in C-Monster, New York, Performance art and Photo Diary. 2 Comments

In 1971, Trisha Brown gathered nine dancers dressed in red and scattered them across rooftops in lower Manhattan. For half an hour, the dancers — all of whom stood blocks apart — relayed a series of movements to each other, in the dance world’s version of the game of telephone. The work, called Roof Piece, was staged several times during the early 1970s, but had not been performed in its original rooftop context since 1973.

Last night, Brown’s dance company restaged the piece in the vicinity of the High Line Park on Manhattan’s west side, on the rooftops of office buildings, butchers and trendy restaurants. The weather, initially, did not cooperate. (An end-of-the-world thunder shower — complete with lightning — left all of us spectators huddling under the Standard Hotel shortly before the show was supposed to begin.) But once things cleared, everyoe took their positions. Ironically, the steely skies made a perfect backdrop to the bright red outfits worn by the performers.

There was something beautifully zen/tai chi about the whole exercise, with one dancer’s gesture inspiring another’s and then another’s, over several square blocks, in a rippling chain reaction. If you have a chance, there are still three more performances over the course of the weekend (and they’re free). Find the schedule here. For a good take on the original performance, see this write-up by photographer Babbette Mangolte.

All photos by C-M.

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Walk the Walk: Kate Gilmore in Bryant Park.

By c-monster on May 12, 2010 in C-Monster, Installation, New York and Performance art. 3 Comments


Seven ladies, seven yellow dress, one yellow cube. (Photos by C-M.)

I spent some quality time in Bryant Park taking in Kate Gilmore‘s latest performance piece, Walk the Walk. The bright splash of yellow at the edge of the park was a visual spectacle — especially on a grey day like yesterday. But the ladies looked bored and tired and cold, and, as a result, I felt much the same way after a while.

Find the New York Times review here. Video after the jump. The show runs through Friday at 6:30pm.

Continue reading ‘Walk the Walk: Kate Gilmore in Bryant Park.’

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Cinco de Mayo at Secret Project Robot in Brooklyn.

By c-monster on May 6, 2010 in C-Monster, New York, Performance art, Photo Diary and Sublime ridiculosity. Closed

Spent last night at Secret Project Robot in Brooklyn watching some inter-gender lucha libre — complete with an intermission performance of the Mexican hat dance and a Pee Wee Herman-inspired rendition of Tequila. I also voted in the guacamole contest. A note to whomever made guacamole #1: Never, under any circumstances, or for any reason, must you put curry powder in guacamole. I believe that this is governed by the Geneva Convention. Look it up.

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Austin Frat Party Redux: The Maison Erectheum Group Photo.

By c-monster on May 4, 2010 in C-Monster, Conceptual, Performance art, Sublime ridiculosity and Travel. 1 Comment


The group shot. Taken well before the kegstands got everyone crunky. (Image courtesy of Fluent Collab and Santiago Forero.)

Remember that conceptual art frat party I went to Austin? Well, the group shot is out — and we’re in it. (And I think my hair is bigger than my head. (Dang humidity.) Anyhow, it’s all pretty darn collegiate-looking if you ask me. And all I gotta say is that New York could use more stuff like this (aka free beer and chips and salsa in someone’s backyard). Larry Gagosian, please get on it.

Thanks to the folks at Test Site for the good times (and the photo).

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Roadtrip Diary: Partying like a frat star in Austin.

By c-monster on April 22, 2010 in C-Monster, Conceptual, Performance art, Sublime ridiculosity and Travel. Closed


Partying hearty with the faux fraternity types. (Photos by C-M.)

While in Austin, @ktsmither gave us a tip that Test Site, a city arts lab, was hosting an event by artist Michael Smith (a.k.a. Baby Ikki). He and curator Jay Sanders had transformed a tony home in a well-to-do neighborhood into an art frat house — ΟΣΦ, Omicron Sigma Phi — and were staging a “reunion” party (complete with keg). From what I heard, the neighbors got slightly ruffled at the idea of some possibly vomitous revelry moving into the area. But fortunately this was a gentlemanly fraternity, channeling an a-capella-group-from-Amherst kind of vibe. So, we spent a pleasant afternoon drinking beer in the name of art — and then everyone gathered for a group shot on the front lawn. An all around excellent afternoon, made better by the fact that it’s now been enshrined as art.

Learn more about Test Site here.

Continue reading ‘Roadtrip Diary: Partying like a frat star in Austin.’

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Photo Diary: Marina Abramovic at MoMA.

By c-monster on March 15, 2010 in C-Monster, Museums, New York, Performance art and Photo Diary. 11 Comments

Continue reading ‘Photo Diary: Marina Abramovic at MoMA.’

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Bow to the Art Industry: Art Yoga with C-Mon, this Friday at 2pm.

By c-monster on March 3, 2010 in C-Monster, Galleries, New York, Performance art and Sublime ridiculosity. Closed


Bend over backwards for the sake of your budding career. (Photo by gadgetgirl.)

If you are in desperate need of a yoga class and a few art gags, please join me this Friday, March 5th at 2pm at the Winkleman Gallery for the first (and probably only) session of Art Yoga With C-Mon, part of #CLASS.

Get body and mind ready to navigate the spiritual and physical hazards of working in the art industry with this 75 minute yoga class geared at those who want to re-contextualize the nature of liminal space while doing core-strengthening exercises that will keep them lithe enough to be considered for art/fashion spreads in T Magazine. We will begin with sun salutations to performance artist Marina Abramovic and do spiritual readings from the pages of  ArtForum.

Jokes aside: This will be an honest-to-goodness hatha vinyasa yoga class (yoga with flow) — with plenty of artsy twists. (I am a trained yoga teacher: Om Yoga Center, 2003.) So, if you’re a starving artist type and want a FREE, fun yoga class (or you simply want to cleanse your mind and body after attending all those dirty art fairs), please come!!

Please arrive promptly at 2pm. Bring a mat and wear comfortable exercise clothes. This class is open to all levels. First come, first served.

Art Yoga With C-Mon
#Class
Winkleman Gallery
621 W. 27th Street (btwn 11th & 12th Aves)
NYC
Friday, March 5th @ 2pm sharp

#CLASS is organized by William Powhida and Jen Dalton.

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Get motivated for #CLASS.

By c-monster on February 22, 2010 in C-Monster, Galleries, New York, Performance art and Sublime ridiculosity. 3 Comments

If only all art press releases could be this unbelievably awesome. These are the images that came through with Schroeder Romero & Shredder‘s announcement detailing the motivational speaking of Rod Verplanck CSP. Some of the text from the release:

This extraordinary live event will entertain you, challenge and transform you. Let his words of inspiration give you the tools you need to make it to the top of the Contemporary Art World. He will teach you how to “seize the day!” by acting on every passing impulse no matter how trivial or unkind, in order to unlock the suprising power in your self importance. Step by step, he will lead you to contemporary art’s Holy Grail.

This sounds like a must-see. Plus, it weirdly makes me want to get an ear piece and pretend I’m holding a baby. Catch him at #class at Winkleman Gallery on Saturday, March 6th at 6pm.

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