PERFORMANCE ART HOUSTON

Sleep Over For ALL by Lindsey Slavin

2011-07-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

There are many interesting events happening this week at the fabulous Skydive Art Space as part of Many-Mini Residency, an ambitious week long non-stop project facilitated by Sarrita Hunn and Ryan Thayer that has invited many artists to present experimental works within the realms of performance and unclassifiable art.

Such is the case of SLEEP OVER FOR ALL, and art event

by Lindsey Slavin.

"Never made a prank call, participated in a massage train or a game of Never Have I Ever? Feel the urge to gush about that cute guy/girl you have a crush on and trust that your secret won't leave the circle? Wear your pajamas, BYOB or alcohol of choice, and get ready for a makeover, because we're going to be best friends after tonight," announces the artist.

Slavin's art event starts tonight at 10pm and it ends tomorrow at 2am, immediately followed by "Home Health Care" by June Woest, another wacky/cool event that promises to sterilize Q-tips and tongue depressors in a mini-chocolate fondue fountain.

Strange enough for you?

Visit the Many-Mini website for a full schedule

at www.manymini.org

and for more info about Skydive visit

theskydive.org

Skydive is located at 2041 Norfolk Street, Houston, Tx

Oh and dont forget to bring ALCOHOL for Slavin's event,

but drink responsibly.

Continuum presents Meditation Lounge

2011-06-15T21:27:00.000-07:00

Houston's newest Performance Art Group has prepared a meditative oasis at HCC Northline. So if you're feeling a little stressy, take some time to go check it out.

With the desire for creating an oasis for the students of HCC Northeast Campus and for the general public to escape the daily routine, Continuum, a new performance art group in Houston, has developed a series of interactive installations called "Meditation Stations" to be on view and functioning at the campus gallery, which is situated in the first floor, dead center in the middle of the building. Some of the stations feature written and audible instructions, allowing the participants to immerse themselves into a state of deep relaxation and self awareness.

The Meditation Lounge will be open to the public Monday through Thursday 8am to 8pm, from June 20th to July 14th 2011. There will not be an opening reception because such an event would defeat the purpose of this exhibition. However, Continuum will hold a BYOP (Bring Your Own Performance) event in the Lounge, in which they will hold initiation rituals for their new members. If you are interested in witnessing these special occurrences, or performing at the event, please email juliaintherye@aol.com.

Gallery Hours: Monday through Thursday, 8am-8pm,
Curated by Jonatan Lopez
Facilitated by Continuum
Special thanks to Tina Kotrla

Continuum's participating members:

Meghan Carey, Koomah, Jonatan Lopez, Raindawg, Hilary Scullane, Julia Wallace, Sway Youngston.

In “A Cleansing Ritual,” Julia Wallace shares a personal practice that she uses before she enters meditation. At the entrance to the Meditation Lounge, Julia offers special water that has been infused with powerful, positive energy through a group performance. Guests are given suggested directions for using the water ritualistically to prepare themselves to meditate.

"In-TENSE-ity" by Sway Youngston aims to completely relax the subject by tensing each muscle group in the body, recognizing the tension that already exists there, and completely releasing it. The subject will then be guided through mental tension liberation wherein negative emotions are acknowledged and released. “In-TENSE-ity” is a guided meditation delivered via audio recording. Subjects will lie on the cushions provided, put on headphones, and drift away.

Zen of Childhood, by Koomah, is a guided meditation that invites people to see the world through the eyes of a child. Video images include playing in a sandbox, bubbles, and washing hands. Accompanying music guides performers into a meditative relationship with the child-self.

In Tea Bliss, Raindawg employs a collection of teacups, stones, wind, and chimes to invite you on a trip to inner space. When you place a stone in a teacup, the sound of wind and chimes will carry you to a place to which there is no road.

About Continuum:

Continuum is a group of performance artists that came together in a performance art workshop facilitated by Julia Wallace in March and April of 2011. They are connected in the desire to help and encourage each other's self discovery through performance, as well as a desire to give the gift of performative expression to others. Continuum aspires to create an encouraging and safe atmosphere for each other as well as the community to explore and express themselves through the medium of performance art. For more information about Continuum please visit www.continuumperformanceart.blogspot.com

Emily Sloan's Southern Naptist Covention

2011-06-11T09:02:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, June 12th! 1:00pm at 14 pews!

The Southern Naptist Convention.

A performance by Emily sloan.

After checking out this video,

you won't want to miss this.

For more information, please contact Emily Sloan at

713-582-1198 or emily@emilysloan.com or visit: www.nappingaffectsperformance.blogspot.com

About Napping Affects Performance: Napping Affects

Performance (NAP) and NAP Church are interactive

performance projects by 14 Pews artist-in-residence

Emily Sloan providing community naps in collaboration

with various performances, including (but not limited to) collaborations with sound, word, touch, and the delivery

of naps to various sites and/or contexts. In May and

June of 2010, NAP operated out of Art League Houston

with six weeks of continuous performances taking place

during Art League’s regular hours of operation. Since

then, followers and napophiles began meeting once a

month for a Sunday naps and naptisms during NAP Church

services.

Napping Affects Performance, Universal NAP Church,

and the Southern Naptist Convention are organizing the

"NAPTURE: Don't be Left Awake!" event to be held in

Houston, October 21, 2011 at 14 Pews. For more

information, please visit:www.nappingaffectsperformance.blogspot.com

About 14 Pews: Located at 800 Aurora St., Houston,

Texas 77009, this Houston landmark is the oldest white

wooden church in the Heights. Built in 1924, it has

housed the Sunset Heights Church of Christ,

Aurora Picture Show, and is now home to 14 Pews.

14 Pews is a non-profit microcinema providing regular

screenings of independent documentaries and feature

films, along with 4 annual film festivals and several

affordable film/video educational classes. For more

information, please visit:www.14pews.org

Artist Profiles: Skippy Cooper

2011-06-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

ATTENTION FOLX: We have a new artist in town! And don't worry, she is way cuter in person (I'm not being insulting, I can say that because the picture above is from a series of photographs that deliberately hide her good looks!) Her name is Skippy Cooper. I can't wait to see what she brings to the mix. From the looks of this video, she has the potential to really shake things up.

She was kind enough to answer a few questions for Performance Art Houston, ENJOY!

Tell us a few fun facts about yourself:

Well, in addition to doing art, I also do stand-up comedy, write, and make music (I play the guitar, keyboard, ukulele, and sing). All of that to say that my prized skills are probably my typing speed of 101 wpm, and being able to juggle.

Where are you coming from?

Mostly insecurity, like a lot of people. I have questions about myself in terms of my racial and social identity, and I try to explore those. I'm half Mexican and half white, so I've always had some kind of struggle with my racial identity. Even just being asked what my race is, I'm never sure how to answer. People are always assigning races to me and I'm currently working on a video performance series on the subject. As far as social identity goes, I'm an adult with insecurities, social anxiety, and a vagina so the possibilities are pretty endless in that realm. At the same time, I'm always afraid to fail in life and have been that way since a young age. Normally, if I don't think I'll be just really great at something around the first time, then I won't even try. So I feel that creating characters like Michellie, where almost everything in her life is a failure, is important - and not just for myself, but for a lot of people. Failure is funny and everyone does it at some point, but normally no one wants to laugh about it when it happens to themselves. Michellie is able to kind of brush off the failures and find a silver lining.

What kind of art do you do?

I went to university for photography, but in my last year of school I was introduced to some really great performance and video artists by way of my mentor and professor (Sensei shout out!). I realized that my passions, questions, and ideas were really best suited for time based media. I still do photo projects that I love, such as On Separation and Glamour with a You, but I mostly use performance and video work these days.

Has Houston influenced any of your performance work yet?

I don't think it's influenced me and my work, really. Although, I'm not sure I'd be able to recognize if it were to influence it. I mean, I don't do a ton of location based work. Although, if I were to do that in the future, I would guess that whatever city I reside in would have the possibility to influence those pieces.

Describe a favorite performance art piece that you have done.

As narcissistic as this may sound, I'm actually kind of proud of a few. My first ever performance piece I did after realizing I loved the medium, was called Hug Jobs 1 . It came about, because I am probably the master at giving the awkward, uncomfortable hug. At the opening, I would sporadically hug visitors for at least one minute a piece. I thought it was interesting how this action and symbol of love and friendship could be turned into something uncomfortable and almost threatening.

My thesis work, Even Out of Adoration , is an exploration of self control and assigned behaviours of women. It was born from my history of feelings I had as a child, and still often have, when I would become frustrated or angry. My grandmother has had a huge collection of Swarovsky crystals that I was never aloud to touch ever since I can remember. When I would get enraged, I always wanted to break them and other things, but never could, so I never did. For the piece, I collected glass pieces that resembled precious keepsakes over the course of several months. I then displayed them on shelves before destroying them with an umbrella while wearing a feminine dress and high heels. I found the fact that this violent act is kept beautiful through my fashion choice and demeanor to be interesting and important.

Name some of your performance art heroes. Who has inspired/influenced your performance art? What is your favorite performance art piece EVER by someone else?

I love Jill Pangallo. She does a lot of character and identity work with an air of comedy, too. I also really love Wynne Greenwood's work, especially her Tracy and The Plastics pieces. Even though she's a photographer, Nikki S. Lee is amazing and it definitely influences my pieces, especially the ones that deal with race and stereotypes - her series "Projects" are definitely performances captured through photography; so I don't think she is only a photographer. William Weggman and Reggie Watts are both just hilarious to me. I tend to gravitate toward works that are funny in some way, but also interesting conceptually. They've all influenced me a lot in my performance work, I have to say. I don't know if I have an absolute, end-all-be-all favourite performance piece, though.

Visit Skippy's website at www.SkippyCooper.com

Maybe drop her a line and welcome her to town!

Alter Egos and Other Loves

2011-06-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

Hi Sexy Houstonians and Performance Art Lovers. My name is Anita Latinlova, I am from Spain but I love America and I love Performance ART. I am a journalist currently working for The Houston Entertainicle (Your must reliable and honest source of news in Houston) and I was recently invited by artist Julia Wallace to write for this blog, and well... I am just so excited, here goes my first post:

Recently there has been an epidemic of alter egos popping out of the conceptual wombs of performance artists in Houston. Such is the case of super sexy Mr.Overdone (currently living inside artist Jennifer Tyburczy) who has been seducing Houston audiences with his unique gender-bending-neo-burlesque style performances .

Mr. Overdone, Courtesy of Loriana Espinel

Another whimsical alter ego is an irresistible macho man named D.R.E.D. (currently living inside artist MilDRED Gerestant) who enjoys highlighting gender issues through a variety of art forms such as spoken word, monologue and drag just to name a few. With his/her work, D.R.E.D achieves to show us what it means "To be yourself" disregarding what society might think.

D.R.E.D. Courtesy of www.blackgaygossip.com

More recently, an investigative performer named Zarvin Mindler (Currently living inside artist Emily Sloan) has been spotted around town. Art Car lovers reported seeing a mysterious looking Mindler closely examining the comings and goings at The Houston Art Car Parade. Mindler also published a report about the alleged doll abuse happening inside the icy white cube gallery called The Kenmore. (I don't know if this is just a coincidence but Zarvin Mindler sounds very similar to Marvin Zindler , a former Houston Press reporter, how strange).

Zarvin Mindler, Courtesy of Zarvin Mindler

And last but not least, there is me. I live inside an artist named Jonatan Lopez who also goes by (the artist that does not want to be named ) and more recently by, Roscoe Lopez. As of now, I only live inside the internet and in printed media, but one day I would love to see the real world. I heard is a tough world but I am a tough girl and I know I can take it.

Anita Latinlova, Courtesy of Hilary Scullane

D.R.E.D and Mr.Overdone will be performing this Sunday 5th at OTHER LOVES: Celebrating Queer Artists. Their performance entitled "We are Each Other's Lover's in Training" will invite us on a journey of gender transformation and share with us intimate moments of love and connection within, between, and outside the gender binary of "man" and "woman."

My alter ego, Jonatan Lopez, is also part of the show. He will dedicate his performance aptly titled "Other Loves" to the loves that could have been but weren't meant to, as he does unspeakable things to their photographs.

Other participating artists are Stephanie Saint Sanchez, Rob Baker, Stallina Villareal and many more.

Location: Houston Institute for Culture, 708-C Telephone Rd.
Time: Sunday June 5th from 6-8pm
For more info, visit www.vbbarts.org

In conclusion, perhaps that show on the cable net called "The United States of Tara" might have something to do with this alter-ego-gender-bending multiple personality madness. Or perhaps there is something in the water that artists choose to drink that is causing them to act this way. One thing is for sure, Alter-ego-ness is innovative, fun, contagious, and its coming your way.

Check out Performances by Continuum at SUMMERFEST!!!

2011-06-02T00:08:00.000-07:00

"Bring Towel in case of accidental orgasm!"

Continuum, a new performance art group that recently sprouted in H-Town is bringing to Free Press Summer Fest a series of performances centered around the body and its potential to heat things up.

Continuum's members Julia Wallace and Sway Youngston attempt to unofficially break a world record with their piece "MASSage Orgy." “Let's come together and release each others tensions,” says Youngston. While undermining the validity of the Guiness World Record, the artists will attempt to surpass it's stated record for a Massage Chain of 430 participants.

Roscoe Lopez (a man from another country) is sharing with us the power of Yoga Sutra. “Yoga Sutra is about recognizing how HOT we all are and about achieving unimaginable positions while having The Sex. We are forces of nature and are entitled to act like nature,” says Roscoe. Continuum's members pitched in to pay for Roscoe's plane ticket, so this is an opportunity you cannot miss to "Sexy It Up." (must bring Yoga mat or towel in case of accidental orgasm).

Continnum's special guest Y. E. Torres (ms. YET) will present a super sexy 30 minute class entitled "Belly Yoga." ms. YET has combined the benefits of traditional yoga poses with bellydance drills and postures to create a singular workout designed to increase flexibility, tone muscles, strengthen the body, open up the breath, and enhance your bellydance or yoga practice.

In addition, Continnum will do spontaneous performances amongst the sexy Houston crowd. Look for them on Sunday June 5th as the afternoon cools down and they heat things up at FREE PRESS SUMMER FEST.

Participating members for this event:

Julia Wallace, Jonatan Lopez, Sway Youngston, Bryce Galbraith, Angela Whitford, Kris Smith, Eric Ling, Raindawg, Skippy Cooper, and Meghan Carey.

Continuum's local guest: Multidisciplinary artist and Belly Dancer ms. YET

Continuum's guest from another country: Roscoe Lopez

Special thanks to the coolest music festival in H-Town: FREE PRESS SUMMER FEST

WARNING,Yoga Sutra will cause the following permanent side effects: Falling in love with yourself, having sexy thoughts while at the gym, public displays of affection, involuntary prolonged erections, promiscuity and a strange European accent.

(Above picture: Yoga Sutra practice with Roscoe Lopez and Sway Youngston, Photo Courtesy of Koomah)

Visit our blog at continuumperformanceart.bl ogspot.com
or follow us at: www.facebook.com/CONTINUUMperformanceART

THE FUTURE IS NOW at Skydive Art Space

2011-05-05T08:02:00.000-07:00

This Saturday May 7th, some of Houston's best performance artists will gather at the Skydive House (one of the coolest art venues in town) to celebrate many versions of "The Future." The event is a fundraiser for the venue, so by assisting you will not only enjoy great art but you'll be supporting the Houston art scene. In addition to performances there will be interactive installations and a silent auction. Many cool artists have donated art including Ariane Roesch, Chuy Benitez and Man Bartlett, who recently did a fabulous social media based performance entitled #24hClerk at the venue. The show is curated by Nancy Douthey, one of the main facilitators of the highly acclaimed Performance Art Lab, which makes this event "A can't miss."

Get yer tickets here: TICKETS
Preview Action Items here: Bad Ass Auction Items

Live Performance and Installations by:
Michael Brims, Genevieve Buentello, Aisen Caro Chacin, Michelle Chen,
CHIN XAOU TI WON, Jonatan Lopez, Claudia Cruz, Nancy Douthey, Ian Fernandez, Melanie Jamison, Brian and Stevie McCord, Richard Nix, Kelly O’Brien
Britt Ragsdale, Alex Tu and James Ciosek

Silent Auction By:
Chris Akin (Houston), Kim Anno (San Francisco), Man Bartlett (New York), Chuy Benitez (Houston), Sasha Dela (Houston), Nancy Douthey (Houston)
Sarrita Hunn (Saint Louis), Jonatan Lopez (Houston), MANUAL (Houston), Richard Nix (Houston), Rosane Volchan O’Conor (Houston), Melanie Pankau (Milwaukee), Brian Piana (Houston), Dana Harper (Houston), Myke Venable (Houston), Jonathan Leach (Houston), Ariane Roesch (Los Angeles) Kristy Peet (Houston), Leah Rosenberg (San Francisco), Chris Rusak (San Francisco) Anderson Wrangle (Clemson), and more…

SPONSORS:
DeSantos Gallery, Lone Star Beer, Green House Collective,
Graham Barnes Distilling, Zoe’s Kitchen, Judy Nyquist, Fredericka Hunter and Ian Glennie

Location: 2041 Norfolk
Time: Saturday May 7th, 6-9pm

SEE YOU IN THE NEAR "FUTURE"

Artist Profiles: Ryan Hawk

2011-05-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

I met Ryan Hawk a little over a year ago when he performed at DEATHSEX and then he moved away. :( He is one of the most enthusiastic and brave performance artists that I have worked with so far! Now he is off getting an education that i am totally jelzz of. I am constantly amazed at the new work he shares, and I am proud to share this interview with you.

So you are originally from Houston, right? Tell us about where you have ended up!

-Yes, I was born in Pasadena and I moved all around the Houston burbs growing up. I started taking classes at Glassell full time when I turned 17 and lived in the Warehouse District and Montrose for a while. I then transferred to The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (SMFA or just the Museum School) and I’ll plan on being here until I finish my BFA. I’m living in a town called Jamaica Plain, its pretty awesome; it doesn’t even feel like I’m in a city!

How have your Houston roots contributed to the things you are currently exploring in your work?

-Well, Houston is my home, the place I grew up ya know… So I feel there is definitely a little appropriation there. A lot of my current work is dipping into memories and previous life experiences, which would be entirely different depending on the city I grew up in. There’s also a lot of great, inspiring art folks in Houston, like yourself, that have played a huge role in my aspirations.

Tell us about some of the performance art lessons/workshops you have experienced at your new school.

-My school is one of the few art universities that actually teach performance and the discourse surrounding it… You have to start with a beginning workshop, which covers the scope of the medium and its history, and then you can move into the intermediate courses which change every semester, exploring themes like: Ritual, Activism, Duration, Site-specific (and several more). There’s also an open studios class for self-directed work that I’ll be engaging in this upcoming fall semester.

One of the best experiences I’ve had so far is a class I took called “Visiting Performance Workshop”. The school invited three professional Performance Artist over a semester’s time to come do week long workshops. The exercises varied in genre and were really damn intensive. The artist I worked with included: Guy Benfield (Australian), Wathiq Gzar Al-Ameri and Ali Al-Fatlawi (Afghanistan), and Amanda Coogan (Ireland).

I heard you are currently working in a performance collective, fill us in on all the detailz!!

-I started a student run performance group at SMFA in which we meet every Friday and critique each other’s work, engage in dialogue, and actually do Improvisational/Durational performances. Were slowly forming into a collective and actually had our first gig located inside an art venue May 1st. We limited ourselves to exploring various colors/types of string in a framed space in relation to our bodily identities. It was successful in our eyes. It’s pretty fucking exciting when you start working collaboratively in performance because you start to realize more about yourself individually as an artist. It’s also nice to have a group of artist engaged in such a medium as performance constantly assessable because crits are always needed!

What kind of solo performance art are you currently/recently working on? Where can we see your work in Houston??

My previous work(s) would be viewed as politically challenging or charged, but recently I’ve been moving away from that work and more into a study of the moral body and examinations of the self, although it seems I’ll always be interested in some study of ethics! I recently constructed a large plaster head-like-thing that’s pretty damn heavy and I’ve been wearing it all kinds of places, investigating my body with the head in the different spaces/frames including random streets and the MFA, Boston. It’s been very physiologically charged, masking my identity to investigate an internal construction of the self… I feel it’s headed somewhere cool, but I’m not sure where yet.

Here is a still from Ryan's piece currently showing at Box 13. Click here to visit Emily Sloan's blog for more info about the show!

I have a video piece in Emily Sloan's space located inside Box 13 in Houston. It’s a show celebrating Texas based Bi-sexual artists, I haven’t been in town to check it out yet, but I hear it is wild. You can also check my website, although its terribly outdated, I hope to have it updated by the start of June 2011. http://www.RyanHawk.weebly.com

WHEN ARE YOU COMING BAAACCKKK!??

I come in town often, like a typical college student, to visit fam/friends and what not. I have two more years left of my BFA and I’m not so sure about grad school yet. I DO, however have my eyes on Glassell’s Core Program located in Houston; hopefully I can sink into that in the future!

Thank you, Ryan! Can't wait for you to bring back some of the awesome performance art power you are gathering up there. So proud you're out there representing H-town!

HIGHSCHOOLERZ PERFORM AT THE CAMH!

2011-05-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

THIS WEDNESDAY, May 4th @ the CAMH from 6-8pm!

Yay! more performance artists being born in Houston!!!

Performance: New Work by HSPVA

Visual art students from Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) will present original performance pieces in conjunction with Perspectives 174: Re: Generation. HSPVA evolved in 1971 from a realization that gifted young artists need highly specialized and rigorous training in the arts to be prepared for the intense competition they will meet in colleges, conservatories, and the professional arts world. The creation of HSPVA represented the first attempt by any public high school in the nation to correlate an academic program with concentrated training in the arts. Ultimately HSPVA became the pilot program for today's magnet school concept.

PAINTING AS PERFORMANCE opening this Friday!

2011-03-24T11:53:00.000-07:00

Painting as Performance
March 25 - April 30, 2011
Opening Reception: Friday, March 25, 2011, 6-8pm

Painting as Performance is a group exhibition that frames non-traditional approaches to painting. Featuring artworks by Melanie Jamison, Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud, Erin Joyce, Rebecca Novak, and Damon Smith, artists use the trajectory of painting as a starting point and embed and extend the medium with performative, sculptural, and sonic... elements. The process of making these works often involves a performative aspect. The artworks jump off of the two-dimensional plane to demand more from the artist/ audience, challenging a typical static experience often experienced in painting and in this way become performative.

Melanie Jamison graduated with a BFA in Illustration from Parsons School of Design. During her years in New York, she became involved with the MELA Foundation Dream House, where she became a vocal raga student of La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela. Melanie continues to practice extended vocal techniques in the Houston girl band of rotating fruit names and rotating members. She participates in the multimedia, seemingly multidimensional prank project “Incoming Call” with Aisen Caro Chacin and Al Eckstue. Melanie has collaborated with Ayanna McCloud on exploring sound textures of the physical and visual realms. Her tactile aesthetics are carried over into recently formed noise band VRS with Mary Sharpe and Erika Thrasher. Melanie works in the warehouse district of Houston where industrial influences are prevalent in her work.

Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud is an artist and writer. Her arts practice which manifests itself in different forms draws attention to the unseen, imagined and forgotten. Born in Houston, Texas, she received a BA in Visual and Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has participated in exhibitions and residencies throughout the U.S., Caribbean, and Latin America. She is founder of labotanica and is currently an Artist-in-Residence at Project Row Houses. http://archipelaga.com/

Erin Joyce is a painter, sculptor, performer, curator and Houston native. She has exhibited in local venues such as labotanica, DiverseWorks, Lawndale Art Center, New Gallery, and Café Brazil. In all her mediums, she creates intimate experiences in which viewers and subjects (and the artist) encounter hidden or suppressed emotions. To add to her self-taught drawing skills and personal sensibility she received a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2008. Erin has also lived, worked, and exhibited in Providence, RI, St. Petersburg, Russia, New York City, and Santa Fe, NM. http://www.erin-joyce.com/

Rebecca Novak is a sculptor and visual artist who began creative endeavors as a musician, and maintains an interest in cross-disciplinary practices. Her work explores natural phenomenon, ecology, and society’s tenuous relationship to nature, often addressing environment in a broader sense. Ongoing projects include contributing to the greenHouse collective, an artist-based gardening and permaculture project at Project Row Houses; co-curating the film series Science on Screen with 14 Pews micro cinema; and an upcoming debut of her composition Siren Song for the reflection pool at Rothko Chapel for the band currently known as Durian Durian. Rebecca has attended artist residencies at Project Row Houses (2009) and labotanica (School of Latitudes #1, 2010). Her work has been shown at Lawndale Art Center, MFAH Glassell School of Art, Project Row Houses, labotanica, Houston Community College, and the Houston Foundry.

Damon Smith's art practice includes sound, painting, video, graphic and traditional scores, photography, sculpture and drawing. His work had been shown Galleries in the San Francisco bay area, MassMOCA, Vienna, Munich and Denton, TX. An ongoing collaboration with artist Daniel Healey is an important project. He studied double bass with Lisle Ellis and Bertram Turezky. He has worked with dance, theater and film including soundtracks for Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man" & "Encounters at the end of the World" and an early performance with the Merce Cunningham dance company. He has collaborated with a wide range of musicians including Cecil Taylor, Marshall Allen (of Sun Ra´s Arkestra), Henry Kaiser, Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald. He has toured Europe, Israel and North America and worked often in the San Francisco Bay Area Creative Music Community before relocating to Houston in 2010. http://balancepointacoustics.com/damon.php

labotanica is a project space in Houston, Texas. key words: reciprocity, exploration, freedom, magical thinking, open-ended, flexibility, de-center, soulfulness. labotanica is part of Project Row Houses Residency and Incubation program. www.labotanica.org

Photo: artwork by Rebecca Novak

http://projects.labotanica.org/#1037855/Painting-as-Performance

GO TO THE CAMH NOW

2011-03-03T21:50:00.001-08:00

So why didn't anyone tell me to get myself to the CAMH already??? I popped in a couple of days ago on a whim, and I left feeling that fabulous kind of INTENSE art jealousy.

You know that feeling: FUCK! I wish, wish, wish, wish I had made that art.

Dear Clifford Owens,

I am sending you vibes of gratefulness for bringing fabulous art out of the collective unconscious and into the physical realm.

I am sending you these vibes in hopes that they counteract all the major art jealous hate vibes I accidentally sent you when I saw how bad ass your art exhibit at the CAMH is.

Sincerely,

Julia Wallace

Clifford Owens gets bunches of people in small rooms and convinces them to do interesting things together, and then he takes these pictures of them and makes you REALLY wish you hadn't missed it.

He also finds really awesome historically significant performance artists and does performance art pieces with them (kinda like Jack White making music with Loretta Lynn). In the show there are pieces that he created with Patty Chang, Joan Jonas, William Pope L., and Carolee Schneemann. Woops, I just sent out more jealousy hate vibes. Sorry, Cliff. (If you ever google yourself and find this, please consider making art an art piece with me, your jealous fan- juliaintherye@aol.com)

Another thing I was happy to see was the Fluxus Lick Piece.

Here is the original-
Here is the Clifford Owens version-

And here is a version that was created for ART LIES in 2005 by 'Participation Art' a class led by Andrea Grover at the University of Houston featuring local performance artists- Emily Sloan, Lindsay B., Patrick Doyle, Nancy Douthey, Sebastian Forray, and ME!!

I felt like this exhibit is very relevant to the performance that has been going on in Houston. I am kind of embarrassed about how positive I am being but, I am just going to say it-

Bill Arning makes cool shit happen in Houston. I like his shows. I am glad he is here.

( To be more specific- No Zoning RULED, and I was a big fan of the Chantal Akerman show that happened at the Blaffer.)

I really should shake my feelings of disbelief that art I like is being shown in big, huge, funded exhibitions and just accept that Houston is way cooler than I thought.

Get over there, the Clifford Owens show is up til April 3!

And I guess I should also mention that there is a pretty rad show upstairs too.

PERFORMANCE ART WORKSHOP IN HOUSTON

2011-03-03T21:33:00.000-08:00

Facilitated by Julia Claire Wallace

March 15, 22, 29, April 5

Entire 4 Session Workshop, only $30

email juliaintherye@aol.com to sign up

SPACES ARE FILLING UP QUICK!

Performance art is pretty much the best discovery I have ever made. It has become one of the most valuable tools in my own self discovery. It is also one of the most intense/tangible/powerful means of self expression. It is a tool for personal change as well as social change. I want to encourage the use of performance art in Houston, and I would love to pass on its power to other people. If I can give people even a fraction of what the gift of performance art gave to me, I will be thrillleedddd. With my performance art workshops I plan to facilitate an encouraging and safe atmosphere for growing artists. It will be full of strange and inspiring experiences that should be very educational.

Visit www.juliaclairewallace.blogspot.com for more information on workshops by Julia in Houston

JUMP- Boby Kalloor the performance artist turns ONE!

2011-02-24T21:08:00.000-08:00

Boby Kalloor is one of my favorite artists in Houston right now, this event should not be missed by anyone but me (because I have to work at the fabulous diverseworks, as they have the very exciting end-of-show sale for Patricia Hernandez's Parody of Light.)

February 26, 2011 marks the one year anniversary of Boby Kalloor's debut as a performance artist!

Please come join us as we jump off the 13+ foot roof of The Jenner House over and over!

YOU can jump too!

We will provide a soft surface to land on and capes!

THIS EVENT IS HAPPENING AT THE JENNER HOUSE FROM 12-6 THIS SATURDAY.

THE BRAYER ROOM, a new Houston gallery and performance art piece

2011-02-07T19:53:00.000-08:00

YES! More people in Houston are making their good ideas into reality.

The Brayer Room (click here to see their site!)is a moving gallery. Each show is in a new spot. I have been dying to see stuff like this happen in Houston ever since I heard that Paul Horn once held a show at Al's Quick Stop (that place next to Rudz with the amazing gyros.).

The next Brayer Room show is scheduled for this Friday, February 12th from 7:30 to 10:30 at 214 Fairview.

Since owner/director Esther Gustein described the moving gallery as a performance art piece, I quickly asked her if she would share some things for the blog!

How does Houston effect your art?
Houston has effected my art in the spaces that it provides for a platform for hosting my shows. The whole of the city is very unique, with no absolute "artist" district.

Who are your performance art heroes?
Yves Klein, Jackson Pollock, Marcel Duchamp, to name a few.

Will you ever include performance art in your shows or have you already?
My are shows are performance art shows. The space I have will always host as a studio well before the actual show takes place, creating an artistic energy in a dormant space. I guess that the kind of performance that I hope to achieve is not one for the audience, but for the artists and the community. Showing how they can mutually benefit each other. The artists in that they can create anywhere, and for the community that any space can be a space for discovery and expression.

Thanks for making something new happen in our town, Esther!! Can't wait to see where The Brayer Room pops up next.

Boby Kalloor's lunch project

2011-02-04T23:13:00.000-08:00

One of the best performance artists in Houston is doing a project you can be a part of!

Here is the blog (click click!).

Here is the info:

Houston Performance Art in Germany

2011-02-04T21:53:00.000-08:00

Last year Galerie KUB, in Leipzig, Germany contacted me about having Houston Performance Artists come to perform at their Performance Art Festival entitled Blauverschiebung No. 3. So in September John Zambrano and I hopped on a flight to Germany. It ended up being one of the best experiences of my life! We got to meet some amazing artists, some inspiring organizers, and some REALLY awesome bartenders.

Leipzig, Germany is a wonderful city, it is actually Houston's sister city. It was amazing to see how much their government and their businesses support the arts. JEALOUS!!! They hooked us up with flight money, food and a hotel room.

The festival was fascinating. Although Performance Art is definitely still considered a bit strange to the normal folk in the same way it is here, the audience seemed to me to be much more open to the time consumingness and strangeness that is so often performance. It was refreshing to be with a decent sized group of people who didn't seem to think twice about watching someone twitch on stage for 30 minutes or rub raw meat on their naked body. It definitely inspired me to push towards more of this acceptance from my audiences.

LOS TORREZNOS from Madrid did one of my favorite performances, they reminded me of our very own Art Guys.

Los Torreznos / Madrid Blauverschiebung No3 / die naTo / 2010 Leipzig from galerie KUB on Vimeo.

They were super nice too!

Here is the piece that I created for the festival.

Julia Claire Wallace / Houston Blauverschiebung No3 2010 Leipzig from galerie KUB on Vimeo.

And here is John Zambrano's piece:

John Zambrano / Houston Blauverschiebung No3 2010 Leipzig from galerie KUB on Vimeo.

The two artists that reminded me the most of what is going on here is Marcel Spurman (check out his blog!) and Elizabeth Wurst.
Does this remind you of anything HOUSTON?

Ohne Titel, Videoperformance, HD, 20 Min, 2010 from Elizabeth Wurst Performance on Vimeo.

And this artist reminded me alot of our Smitty Regula. This was definitely the most exciting performance of the festival-

Jan Rieve, Elias Macke, Harri Heine / Leipzig Blauverschiebung No3 2010 Leipzig from galerie KUB on Vimeo.

Check out videos from the entire festival HERE. There are some really amazing performances!

And if anyone has any desire to try and create a Performance Art Festival here in Houston, let me know! I am so down.

The Galerie KUB was AWESOME, if anyone is passing through Germany any time soon, make sure and stop by.

FUNERAL PARTYYYY!!!

2010-12-24T15:38:00.000-08:00

PERFORMANCE ART EVENT by Emily Sloan

Info from her blog:

Funeral Party for the Living
"Funeral Party for the Living" will take place on New Year's Day at 5pm at 14 Pews. The event will include visitation and drinking, eulogy writing assistance, a funeral service open to the public to speak, sing, etc., a funeral sound procession created by the audience along with whatever instruments they'd like to bring, a funeral pyre for burning symbolic items contributed by the public, and a funeral food pot luck and recipe swap, so bring a dish!

Funeral attire is encouraged.

This event is free and open to the public. Observers are welcome.

Contact info.: emily@emilysloan.com, 713-582-1198

(For more info. visit: www.thelivingwake.blogspot.com)

Please feel free to re-post and share this event!
----

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT HER NEW BLOG!

www.thelivingwake.blogspot.com
www.thelivingwake.blogspot.com
www.thelivingwake.blogspot.com

It has some really amazing performance pieces!!

YOU WERE BEAUTIFUL WHEN I LOST YOU curated by Jonatan Lopez

2010-12-24T14:56:00.000-08:00

Houston Artist Jonatan Lopez recently put together a really fabulous show featuring some of Houston's finest performance artists. I asked him to put a little blog post together documenting the show, CHECK IT!!

You Were Beautiful When I Lost You, an experimental show about loss & love, is on view at HCC Northline Gallery through January 2011. Curator Jonatan Lopez allowed artists to freely experiment within the concept of loss related to non-human life, this led to some controversial works. The show featured performance, video, film, installation, sculpture and 2d works.

One of the highlights of the show was Brent Koehn's performance entitled "Banality." Brent's performers wore life vests and lined up to crawl up on a ladder, make eye contact with the audience then jump into a mattress repeatedly. The eerie action called to mind Lemmings jumping into the ocean.

Naz Fall stole the show with her installation/experiment entitled "Blacksheep." Fall created a living environment inside a vitrine in which gold fish were meant to become food for a larger killer fish (The Blacksheep) during the 2 month duration of the exhibit, but due to a request from the curator to change the water before the reception started, the gold fish died during the reception. The incident sparked intense dialogue between the attendees. However, the curator regrets to have lost these beautiful fish so abruptly.

In the performance "Blind, Poultry....Production," Ryan Hawk addressed factory farming in the US by capturing beauty and significance within Ritual Sacrifice. His performance video has been released, CLICK HERE TO WATCH, but be warned, it contains graphic images.

For the performance "Love is Forever," Boby Kalloor slept in his own bed with his own stuffed cat inside the dark room of the gallery during the two hour reception. A hidden video camera recorded audience interaction.

Stephanie Saint Sanchez put a twist on the issue at hand in her film The Talented Mr.Kitty. "Do we really know what lies in store for us when we open our homes and hopeful hearts to our feline friends? DO WE? Sure they are cute but so was Ted Bundy" says the artist. The Talented Mr. Kitty (based on a true story) reveals who really runs the house. CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE TRAILER.

Tina Kotrla and Jonatan Lopez collaborated in "Boogie," an interactive installation that presented Boogie, Kotrla's pit-bull as pet activist with an extensive agenda. Boogie curated a show within the show entitled "Artist To Watch" for which he invited students to donate their animal themed drawings to raise funds for his favorite no kill shelter: www.spindletoppitbullrefuge.org/ He also collected signatures for Prop. Paw 1, No Chaining Dogs in Houston, so far around 200 signatures have been collected.

Seven videos pieces were made by the curator to promote the show, you can watch them HERE (click click!).

The show also feaured the works of Aisen Caro Chacin, Emily Sloan, Daniel Adame, Nancy Douthey, Angel Quesada, Alex tu, Rebecca Novak, James Ciosek, Carrie Schneider, Kimi Hernsberger, Heath Greshman, Hilarry Scullane and Janie Guardiola.

Check out this slideshow featuring these art pieces:

Through Honeyed Eyes Came Prophecy, Rebecca Novak.
Tobacco Neuron, James Ciosek
Straffordshire, Emily Sloan (In homage to Scrappy)
Temporary Animals, Angel Quesada
I Think I Can, Janie Guardiola
Repair/Destroy, Jonatan Lopez

Gallery Hours: Mon- Thurs. 9:30am-10pm, Through Jan. 28th 2011
HCC Northline Gallery 77022

(Alas, Performances are OVER, but you can still check out the visualz til JANUARY 28TH!!)

All pictures in this blog are courtesy of Rebecca Burwell except for Ryan Hawk's image, courtesy of the artist.

ARTIST PROFILE for Jennifer Tyburczy

2010-11-27T10:30:00.000-08:00

LOOK OUT HOUSTON, THEREZASEXXY NEW PERFORMANCE ARTIST IN TOWN!

Everyone give a warm welcome to the FABULOUS JENNIFER TYBURCZY!!

CHECK OUT THIS INCREDIBLY INSIGHTFUL INTERVIEW SHE DID WITH ME:

Tell us what kind of studies you are doing regarding performance? What are your interests?

I received a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. It’s a discipline that views performance broadly, centralizing embodiment and how the body navigates different kinds of spaces. For me, this translates to projects in museums, where I track and analyze the ways in which museum populations interface with objects in space. I’m interested in thinking about how space is sexed through staging particular sexual social relationships between bodies and objects in display environments.

As a discipline, performance studies also views performance as an object and a method of study. Due to my interest in museums that explicitly display sexuality, I couple my analysis of exhibits and my ethnography with museum staff and visitors with curatorial work, programming initiatives, and archival cataloguing.

I’m interested in public sexual culture in general, and when I began to study the ways in which people produce and consume sex, I looked for a way to participate in that process through performance. When I moved to Chicago in 2005, the neo-burlesque scene was really picking up steam. I went to a show organized by JT Newman that billed itself as a queer neo-burlesque show. At the show, the MC (Miss Tamale) announced that Newman would be holding auditions for a new troupe called the Girlie Q Variety Hour. I tried out, made the troupe, and the rest was history.

I fell in love with the neo-burlesque format. As an art form, neo-burlesque is an interdisciplinary, postmodern pastiche that combines diverse performance traditions such as circus arts, vaudeville, slapstick and bawdy comedy, feminist performance art, queer aesthetics (e.g., drag and camp), dancing (inclusive of but not exclusively striptease), spoken word, and social and political satire. As a busy graduate student at the time (and now a busy postdoctoral fellow), I never had the time to devote to full-blown theater projects. Neo-burlesque allowed me to quickly put together pieces and polish those 3-5 minute pieces to my perfectionist liking, but still retain some of the raw excitement of a work-in-progress. It was also really informative to my research. I got the opportunity to hail the gaze in a variety of different ways, via a variety of different dramatic personae (specifically Mistress Overdone and Mister Overdone). I often find myself writing and thinking about those experiences in my scholarship.

What kind of performances have you done? Tell us about your most
rewarding performance experience.

My interest in performance began before I arrived in Chicago. I took classes in the Performance as Public Practice (PPP) program at UT Austin (where I received my master’s in English literature). At the time, I was writing about the adaptation of nineteenth-century gothic novels to the stage, and when I found out the PPP program was offering classes in the oral interpretation of literature, I immediately took them. The most influential class was a course called “Performing Black Feminisms” taught by Omi (Joni) Jones. She taught us how to think critically about performing a character different from own raced and gendered experiences. As a white woman, I found it terrifying, at first, to perform blackness in front of my colleagues, but the experience profoundly changed me and my work. I found it to be a revolution--to learn about difference through embodiment--and I wanted the rest of my life to be devoted to the project of thinking through and with embodiment as a way of knowing. So now I teach classes that invite students to adapt novels and short stories from all over the world as a way of teaching an empathetic kind of critical citizenship.

While at Austin, I was also very fortunate to perform with Linda Montano and a group called Hard Women at the Blanton Museum of Art. Performing in a gallery space as a provocative train conductress with the intention to illuminate gender biases really got me thinking about how performance can interrupt and reconfigure a traditional space for a different purpose.

My time in Chicago was filled with neo-burlesque performance, and I curated and produced two shows--a queer neo-burlesque show at Northwestern and a show called “The Freak Museum,” which combined my two loves of museum installation and neo-burlesque through an examination of historical and contemporary “freakdom.”

Here in Houston, I recently performed at Diverseworks during the “Come As You Are: Celebrate Queer Sex” show (which you, Julia, so kindly invited me to take part in, along with Blake Smith), and more recently at the Glitter Fall Variety Show, a charity event for the Transgender Foundation of America at the Usual Pub.

What performance artists really excite you? Who has inspired you?

Oh, there are so many. I’m really inspired by feminist performance artists of the 70s and queer performance artists working out of drag and camp aesthetic traditions. Carolee Schneeman is a goddess. I’m also really excited by Marina Abramovic, Andrea Fraser, Yayoi Kusama, Yoko Ono, Annie Sprinkle, Saint Orlan, Vaginal Creme Davis, Carmelita Tropicana, Holly Hughes, Tim Miller, Karen Finley, Sandra Bernhard...

The comedy of Bea Arthur and Lucille Ball is also really inspiring, as is the work of my colleagues in neo-burlesque such as JT Newman, Miss Tamale, Matthew Hollis, Vagina Jenkins, and La Chica Boom.

What have you discovered about performance art in Houston since you
have been here?

When people ask me about the arts scene in Houston, I say that it’s incredible, fresh, and exciting. Of course, it's not New York, L.A., or Chicago, and that's an awesome thing for performance art. Artists travel to these other places with work that’s often all sealed and polished up. It’s a finished product. From what I’ve seen so far in Houston, lots of fabulous artists travel here with works in progress to get feedback. This is really exciting because then audiences here actually get to have a stake in the outcome of the piece. It
is also a wonderful place to cultivate homegrown works in progress. There’s a rawness and a freshness to the performance art scene here in Houston like I’ve never been a part of anywhere else. And what’s more, I was immediately embraced and invited to perform. It’s a very open and accepting space with kickass artists doing really cutting edge work with, it seems, a social conscious. For me, Houston is a performance art laboratory.

Do you have any plans or desires for the Houston performance art scene?

I want to continue to entertain and serve my LGBTQ community through my performance art as well as overlap with other queer-friendly performance artists to see what we can drum up. I’d love to bring a little more neo-burlesque to Houston, and I’ve taken some steps to see where that can go. My time here in Houston is just beginning, and I have so much to learn from all the fabulous artists who have been so kind as to give me a space to express myself.

SO GLAD YOURE HERE JENN!! CAN"T WAIT TO SEE YOUR IMPACT ON HOUSTON!!!!

Check out some more info on Jenn at her Rice Profile!!

VISUAL AND PERFORMANCE ART SHOW, NOVEMBER 14th

2010-11-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

HEY BABY
an art and music experience
created in celebration of John & Julia's coming baby

THIS IS AN EARLY, SUNDAY EVENING SHOW, with FOOD and BEER!

MUSIC BY:
MUHAMMADALi
SQUARE & COMPASS
& THE CUTTERS
HOUSTON BIRTH VAGINAL AND BABY VISUAL ART AND PERFORMANCE BY

Brisa Gessinia Jimenez
Eric Ling
Rachel Skov
Bryan Messina
Melissa Juvan
Matt Manalo
Meredith Cunningham
EYESORE
Vanessa Perez
Emily Sloan
Shawna Mouser
Devin Finch
Michael Brims
Al Eckstue
Boby Kalloor
Heili Geistert
Meghan Carey
Ami Gilliam
Julia Claire Wallace
Arthur Bates
Joe Ortiz
George Manzur
Samantha Ruiz
Dirty Jeff
YET
Denis Cisneros
Josh Nolan
Rex Mohammad

DRINKING PROFITS the BABY so bring your cash and get WASTED!

READ WHAT THE HOUSTON PRESS BLOG HAS TO SAY ABOUT THIS UPCOMING SHOW!

STILL ACCEPTING LAST MINUTE PROPOSALS/SUBMISSIONS before the 12th!! EMAIL juliaintherye@aol.com

BABY/BIRTH/VAGINA art show!!!! CALL FOR PROPOSALZ

An art show inspired by the imminent birth of Julia Claire Wallace & John Zambrano's baby.

I would love love love to have you be in my upcoming art show. BABY/BIRTH/VAGINA related art is what I want to see! Video/performance/visual whatever will be very much accepted and appreciated.

This will be a super casual show, with an emphasis on having a great time.

I really want to see what comes from Houston Artists on the subjects of birth/babies/vagina.

Basically, instead of inviting you to a baby shower, I thought I would use the fact that I am having a baby as an excuse to throw a fabulous art show about birth and babies and stuff like that. It should be a really fabulous time, Muhhamadali and Tommy Grindle's new band, Square and Compass, will be playing. I really want this to be a great experience for everyone involved. Beer/food sales will help me and John buy diapers for our new lil baby and stuff, but of course any art/merch sales that you guys make will be all yours yours yours!

It will be an early evening show with FOOD!!! and BEER!!!

November 14th @ ERS Gallery, otherwise known as EL RINCON!

email me @ juliaintherye@aol.com or message me here on facebook if you are down for doing something, and lemme know kinda what to expect, then LETS MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!!

Were you @ Judy Chicago's Dinner Party in 1980??

2010-11-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

SPREAD THE WORD!

---------------------------------

Dear Julia,

I am trying to find the original participants of the Judy Chicago
"Dinner Party" when the show debuted in Houston at UHCL back in 1980.
Would you be able to send out my inquiry to any venues you know of -
especially other online blogs and other media? Please check out our
website and facebook.

http://prtl.uhcl.edu/portal/page/portal/HSH/HOME/HSH%20Programs/Women%20Studies/JudyChicago/index.html

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Setting-the-Table-Judy-Chicago-at-UHCL/149848301725160?v=wall

AD:

Did YOU help bring The Dinner Party to the University of Houston-Clear

Lake thirty years ago?

Thirty-six thousand viewers filed past The Dinner Party, Judy

Chicago’s monumental feminist sculpture, at UHCL from March 8 through

June 1, 1980. An army of community supporters made that exhibition

possible. The University is trying to locate that army of volunteers.

If you were one of them, please e-mail artinfo@uhcl.edu. Or if you

know someone who was a Dinner Party volunteer, please tell her or him

that the University is trying to find the volunteers.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of its hosting of The Dinner

Party, UHCL is planning a major event in the spring, February 19

through April 4, 2011. Test plates and drawings for the 39 place settings will be on loan

here from ACA Galleries, Judy Chicago's representative in New York. As part of that event,

UHCL wants the 1980 volunteers to tell their stories of their

involvement in this major undertaking. If they are willing, they will

be part of a discussion of what it was like to be a Dinner Party

volunteer thirty years ago.

---

thanks very much,
Jane

Emily Sloan WASHez

2010-09-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

Check it out!

Emily is doing a Performance next Saturday @ gallery 1724. 9-5!

Click on that link up there to get all the detailz from her blog.

It looks like its going to be another refreshing performance, just like the fabulous NAP show she did recently!

AWESOME CULTURE MAP STORY

2010-08-05T17:01:00.000-07:00

Nancy Wozny just wrote a great story for CULTURE MAP!

photo by craig hart christie jr.

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT SOME AWESOME PERFORMANCE ART HISTORY STUFFS ABOUT HOUSTON!

It briefly mentions an old collective I was a part of named PERFORMANCE ART LAB, which was an amazing and wonderful collective.

In case you happened to wonder who was in Performance Art Lab and who it was that created all of the awesome art that they made, here is an informative quote from the founder of PAL:

As the founder and original facilitator of the Performance Art Lab, I feel it is important to say that though there were many people who took my Performance Art Lab class during the four semesters of its existence at U of H, there are a few students who I personally consider are the main influential members of the group’s original artistic language. The class organically became a collective by the end of the fourth semester as some of the students repeatedly kept on taking the class. I personally believe that the following students are responsible for the aesthetics developed during those performative formative two-year experiments that ended in 2008. Their names in alphabetical order are: Drew Bettge, Lindsay Burleson, Nancy Douthey, Ian Fernandez, Brian McCord, Patrick O’Brien, Nick Teel, Tyson Urich and Julia Wallace. Three later influential students that joined the group during the last semester of 2008 are: Aisen Caro Chacin, Claudia Cruz and Christian Ochoa.

DEATH SEX on SATURDAY JULY 31st

2010-07-24T19:17:00.001-07:00

I helped put this show together, It will definitely have some elements of Performance Art, and I am pretty excited about it. CUM OR DIE!!!!

MUHAMMADALi
Tour Kick Off
ART MUSIC SHOW EXPERIENCE

5 BUX to get in
EARLY SHOW 6pm
Bring cash for cold beerz

BANDZ-
MAHAMMADALi
Giant Princess
Cosmic Sound
Chemical Mange

VISUAL ARTz-
Arthur Bates
Tommy Grindle
Julia Wallace
Erin Dance

Additional Art Performances by-
Ryan Hawk
Jonatan Lopez
Boby Kalloor

NAP by Emily Sloan

2010-05-20T23:03:00.000-07:00

Emily Sloan, one of my favorite local artists, has put together a really exciting Performance based show entitled NAP at the Art League. YOU CAN GO TAKE NAPS AT THIS SHOW. Isn't that great??

Check out her blog documenting the project!

Here is the info posted about the show from the site:

(NAP) IS A PERFORMANCE AND PARTICIPATION PROJECT PROVIDING COMMUNITY NAPS IN COLLABORATION WITH VARIOUS PERFORMANCE PROJECTS, PERFORMANCES INVOLVING THE DELIVERY OF NAPS TO VARIOUS SITES/CONTEXTS AROUND HOUSTON, TEXAS AND AN ONGOING FREE NAP SITE AT ART LEAGUE HOUSTON. THE FREE NAP SITE CAN BE UTILIZED ANYTIME DURING ART LEAGUE HOUSTON HOURS, MONDAYS THROUGH FRIDAYS 9AM-5PM AND SATURDAYS FROM 11AM-5PM. STOP IN ANYTIME, OR RESERVE A SPOT BY CALLING: 713-582-1198.

I will actually be performing a piece at the show, created especially for the show this Sunday, the 23rd at 2pm. Come check out my performance, or stop by the show another time! Other events created within the show include:

Saturday, June 5---Beth Secor, story time, 1:30pm
Saturday, June 19---Ruby "Lips" Woodward, whistling lullabies, 1:30pm

Here is a pic of a nap performance that Emily did at Performance Art Houston:

EL RINCON SOCIAL SCENE

2010-05-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

A review of PERFORMANCE ART HOUSTON was written by one of my favorite new Houston creators, DEVIN FINCH.

CLICK HERE TO READ DEVIN FINCH's REVIEW

THEN check out his amazing blog MOLOTOV KIDZBOP @ www.devinfinch.com. I seriously think this kid is genius. Check out his recent post 'STUFF I'VE CUM TO' Its my fave so far.

2010-05-08T16:45:00.000-07:00

PERFORMANCE ART HOUSTON

2010-04-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

PERFORMANCE ART HOUSTON was an amazing coming together of young emerging Performance Artists from Houston. Thanks to all of you, artists, photographers, attendees, and El Rincon Social for helping it to become the beautiful success that it was.

photo by Rico Svaughn

Patrick O’ Brien Doyle created two pieces for PERFORMANCE ART HOUSTON, both of them were constructed rooms created out of canvas and PVC pipe. “Randomly Genderated Text” was an octagonal shaped room, lined with Christmas lights. A single camera on a stand stood in the middle at crotch height, and attendees were invited to take an anonymous picture of their genitals. The pictures will be used to create a numerically based photo alphabet. “Meditation Painting” consisted of a rectangular structure, with a blank canvas on one wall, with a chair facing it at the opposite wall. There was a clipboard and a stopwatch. Attendees were invited to meditate on the canvas and record their name and the amount of time that they meditated on the painting. For more detailed information written by the artist CLICK HERE.

photo by Rico Svaughn

photo by Craig Hart Christie Jr.

Daniel Adame placed a large black garbage bag over his head and slowly filled it with his own breath until he finally fell to the ground. For more info from the artist CLICK HERE.

Photo by Rico Svaughn

THE MCCORDS created a FUKBOX, a white box made of PVC and white sheets, in which they had sex during the exhibition. You could see faint shadows through the walls of the box. After they were done the FUKBOX was spontaneously used by other attendees of the show for even more public/private sex. For more more pictures and information from the artists CLICK HERE.

photo by Rico Svaughn

photo by Matthew Glover

Emily Sloan invited the audience for a “cuddle puddle” to rest and get ready for the rest of the show. Attendees followed her up into a loft, and then rested together on the ground as she read them a story. For more information from the artist CLICK HERE.

photos by Craig Hart Christie Jr.

photos by Rico Svaughn

Julia Claire Wallace spanked her ass to Carrie Underwood’s country hit Cowboy Cassanova, and then she, along with volunteering audience members, peed into a glass vase. Then as Jessie’s Girl played loudly over the speakers she attempted to throw pennies into the vase of urine while screaming her own desires.

photos by Rico Svaughn

NICKTEEL spent the first hour of the show lying naked in the middle of the warehouse. Then, in a back room, Nick did repetitive movements as his timed lights went on and off.

photo by Rico Svaughn

John Richie gave a passionate political speech in which he implored the crowd to vote for him as the next World Emperor. For more information about his piece, and a transcript and explanation of his speech, CLICK HERE.

photo by Rico Svaughn

photo by Craig Hart Christie Jr.

Sway Youngston shared a dramatic dance inspired performance about the shifting of power and the loneliness of relationships. Her piece included segments where she watched television while using her lover as a footrest, as well as a sexy strip tease. For more information about her piece, and more pictures, CLICK HERE.

photo by Craig Hart Christie Jr.

Jacob Calle presented two video pieces, one where he drank his own blood, and another where he let his friends repeatedly punch him in the face as he walked down sixth street during SXSW.

Travis Kerschen did a video and sound piece entitled, Il mio amore per te cresce sempre, which “explored being in love and the complex emotions which surround the concept of being in love, including: devotion, adoration, possession and obsession.”

photos by Rico Svaughn

Aisen Chacin had the audience hold onto a large white sheet, and fill it with air like a gym class parachute, and attendees ran beneath the sheet as other audience members covered them with the sheet. A large donut was projected on the video screen.

photos by Rico Svaughn

Melanie Jamison created a piece entitled, [convergence]. The piece “explored a collectively individualized interpretation of sound. Melanie played an electroacoustic track comprised of piano and industrial noise while the audience participated in the repetition of sound-based nonsense lines.”

photo by Craig Hart Christie Jr.

John Zambrano, musician from local band Muhammadali, did a noise/vocal piece entitled, “Chew off my own dick.”

photo by Craig Hart Christie Jr.

Beth Fort cut up a designer bag and created bracelets for the crowd.

To see Rico Svaughn's entire album of Performance Art Houston photos CLICK HERE.

For Craig Hart Christie Jr.'s PAH photos

CLICK HERE and click on the El Rincon Cum Show album.

NEXT PERFORMANCE ART NIGHT

2010-04-20T23:08:00.001-07:00

is on MAY EIGHTH, at El Rincon Social.

Please email juliaintherye@aol.com

with ideas and proposals.

Artist Profile: Jonatan Lopez

2010-04-14T23:31:00.000-07:00

I recently attended the opening of Aisen Caro Chacin's La Lengua Muerta ( which is STILL up by the way, at LaBotanica, til the 15th) and was super impressed by the performance art piece of Jonatan Lopez. Hopefully he will be an artist an upcoming Performance Art Nights. He did a great job answering my questions. Um, Did I mention that you can see a picture of his cock if you go see the show? Yeah, check it out.

How does Performance Art Function for you?

As an artist I am interested in addressing social issues and creating interactive spaces that invite the viewer to become part of the installation and experience it at a deeper level. Experimenting with performance art takes my approach a step further, it allows me to transform an installation into a situation in which the viewer and the performer become equal components of artistic expression.

How does living in Houston affect your performance art work?

Houston is a great place for performance art. Experiencing the performance pieces of artists like, Julia Claire Wallace, Aisen Caro Chacin, Daniel Adame and Emily Sloan has influenced me to make the jump into performance art and join this talented group. These artists are also doing a great job at promoting and helping other artists express themselves through this genre.

Describe a favorite performance art piece that you have done.

So far, my first major performance entitled 'Latin Lover Conservation' is my favorite piece. Within the opening 'La Lengua Muerta' at Labotanica, I presented the idea of launching a non-profit organization with the aim of preserving the "Latin Lover" species and our culture. I auctioned 3 male Latin Lovers for dates and sold romantic services such as "One minute make out sessions" and "Sultry words whispered to your ear" for suggested donations. Our clients were also able to read their sex reviews that were actually written for me. Even though one of the targets of this piece was to manipulate the audience into believing that this operation was legit, some aspects of it became true. Two of my actors found consensual dates at the end of the night and we collected a great sum of money, which was used to pay the actors and as a donation to the gallery. This piece was a social experiment, Labotanica encourages us to make art without having an objective in mind but to find out what the objective is. Not knowing but trusting. And the result was an installation/performance that adressed a myriad of issues including societal classification, sexual liberation, exhibitionism and sexual taboos. I was happy to be able to sell my first performance and to follow Labotanica's mission of presenting art in new formats and through experimental collaborations.

Here are some photos from the event:

and there is also some video footage of the show:
the guys got make out ( sexy man on man actionnnn)
and the girls got romance all for a very affordable price.

Name some of your performance art heroes. Who has inspired/influenced your performance art?

Santiago Sierra, Marina Abramovic, Herman Nitsch, Ellia Arce, Julia Claire Wallace

And a little more about myself

I am an installation artist
Metal sculptor
Filmmaker
Exhibitionist
Ex porn star
I dig performance art
Art talks to me in dreams
I am trampled by religion
Sex rules my life
I aim to carve my name in a book of art history
I love science
I dig performance art, did I mentioned that already?

CHECK OUT HIS WEBSITE
unfortunately it doesn't have much performance art on it YET, but i bet its cummin.

DiverseWorks is bringing PERFORMANCE ART to RUDZ

2010-04-10T13:33:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: THIS GOT CANCELLED DUE TO AIRPORT/VOLCANO ISSUES, HOPEFULLY THEY WILL STOP BY ON THE END OF THEIR TOUR!!

CHECK IT!

PERFORMANCE ART IN BARZ IS ALWAYS GOOD.

Its like ten bucks if you pay at the door,

but pay what you want if you pay online now. (SWEET!)

Action Hero: A Western April 17 & 18, 2010 Location & Time to be determined Presented by DiverseWorks w/ Fusebox Festival (Austin) & British Council Experimental UK Theatre Company Action Hero presents their latest performance A Western to Houston bar goers in April. A Westernis a performance and collaboration between the audience and the actors where the immediacy and intimacy of live performance collide with the epic emotional experience of the cinematic blockbuster, a celebration of failure to capture the true size and majesty of the Wild West. Like any good ol' western, there will be a saloon, a scene where someone walks into a bar and everyone stops talking, cowboy hats and ketchup blood, someone cheating at cards, a whore that begs to be loved, a scene where someone dies in a long drawn out death.

ABOUT ACTION HERO Action Hero make live art and performance that seeks to use audiences as collaborators and co-conspirators. Action Hero are interested in creating work that links audiences together and unifies them as part of the live event, building a temporary community. Their process has been defined by necessity: a raw aesthetic has become central to their work. While exploring the epic, they create performance that is intimate, distinctive and invigorating. Action Hero is the collaboration between artists Gemma Paintin and James Stenhouse. They have been making performance together as Action Hero since 2005, and they live and work in Bristol, England where they are Arnolfini Associate Artists and members of residence. www.actionhero.org/uk

COME AS YOU ARE- call for entriez

2010-04-10T13:18:00.000-07:00

From DiverseWorks:

Come As You Are: HOUSTON, September 2010

Local Performing Artist Open Call, Written Submissions due April 6, 2010

extended!! til April 14th

DiverseWorks Artspace, as part of the Theater Offensive’s national Come As You Are project, issues an open call for Houston-area performance artists from a variety of ages and genders who explore the theme of QUEER SEX: sex in and out of relationships, online sex, sexting, chatting, camming, hookups, bdsm, anonymous sex, trans sex, genderqueer sex, masturbation, sexual fantasy, erotica, pornography, cruising, condoms, toys, sexual addiction, sexual liberation, sex and mourning, long term sexual relationships, role play, sex work, sexual play, sexual lessons, sexual love, sexual sacredness, sexual healing, sexual purity and any other aspect of sex that will contribute to the discourse on Houston’s diverse queer sex cultures and queer sexual values. We seek short, 3-10 minute, original works. Think performance art. Think skits, monologues, dance, song or dialogues. Think not just drag, but the sex behind the drag; not simply spoken word, but the sex behind the spoken word.

Submit your name, contact information, title, and a 500-word description of your performance to blake@diverseworks.org. Deadline for submissions is Tuesday, April 6, 2010.

We encourage you to visit the Come As You Are: HOUSTON facebook page to post discussion about queer sexuality and values, art and sex, questions on these topics you wish to explore with the community, and performance ideas.

Come As You Are is a national project of the Theater Offensive, designed to stimulate a community conversation about sex and sexual liberation on the 40th anniversary of Stonewall. For more about the project, go towww.comeasyouareonline.org.

For more information about DiverseWorks Artspace, visitwww.diverseworks.org.

Come As You Are is supported by The Arcus Foundation, National Performance Network, Flynn Performing Arts Center, Composition, and The Theater Offensive.

Patty Chang in H-TOWN.

2010-04-10T13:02:00.001-07:00

I dunno how i didn't hear about this sooner!

Stoked.

University of Houston Clear Lake

PATTY CHANG – THE TRANSNATIONAL and the ARTIST’S PROCESS

"Contortion” 2003 “Fountain” 1999

UHCL Presentation and Workshop APRIL 13TH, 2010, Two sessions: 11:00 and 6:00 in the Garden Room at UHCL Bayou Building
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
New York-based performance/film/video artist Patty Chang will present her work and discuss the artist’s process in two presentations on Tuesday, April 13th. The workshop is a rare opportunity to gain first-hand understanding of how an artist succeeds in collaborating across artist groups, studios and galleries in today’s globalized field of contemporary art. Chang’s latest video installation entitled “Die Ware Liebe” the Product Love (2009), shown at Mary Boone Gallery in New York, presents a two channel video, running 42 minutes long. The subject of the installation is based on the 1920s Hollywood star, Anna May Wong, who left the U.S. to live in Europe where she captured the fascination of the critical theorist Walter Benjamin – he subsequently met with and interviewed Wong and wrote an article in the literarische Welt in 1928. For “Die Ware Liebe,” Chang hired actors in Shanghai to perform a re-enactment of the fantasy fascination that both Anna May Wong and Benjamin evoked.

Chang undertakes the transnational subject that has long existed in visual culture and renews the concept within the frame of contemporary expression. Her 2006 video/sculptural project entitled “Shangri-La” explores James Hilton’s 1933 “Lost Horizon” by incorporating filmic images of the town in China called “Shangri-La” that was recently renamed by the province to exploit its touristic potential. The video/sculptural project was shown at theUCLA Hammer Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. Chang underscores the rich and complex meanings that are produced when art and ideas cross cultural boundaries in history, time and international locations to become shared amongst a multiplicity of artists/actors, programs, and audiences.

This event is sponsored by the UHCL Arts Association, the Women’s Studies Department, and Student Life Cultural Arts.

Any individual who requires a special accommodation for a specific disability should contact 281-283-3432 at least one week prior to the date of the program/event.
Contact: Jane Chin Davidson, DavidsonJ@uhcl.edu,
281 283 3432

Thank you for an amazing show.

2010-03-28T15:49:00.000-07:00

Performance Art Houston was a huge success, thank you to everyone who came, more info and pics will be posted as they surface.

if you have pics! LEMME KNOW! juliaintherye@aol.com

Check out these great pics from Craig Hart Christie Jr.

Here is his complete album.

Here is his website!

THANKS CRAIG!!!!!!

2010-03-12T01:14:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

PERFORMANCE ART HOUSTON ART EXHIBITION BRINGS TOGETHER NEW PERFORMANCE ART FROM YOUNG EMERGING HOUSTON ARTISTS

PERFORMANCE ART HOUSTON curated by Julia Wallace

March 27, 2010, 8:00-10:00pm (one night only), free

El Rincon Social, 3210 Preston, Houston, Tx 77003

Houston, Texas, March 5, 2010- Performance Art Houston, an art exhibition curated by Julia Wallace, presents new performance based work from young, Houston performance artists on March 27, 2010 at the alternative art space, El Rincon Social. The exhibition will include a number of live art pieces, interactive art experiences, and performance-based video art. The exhibition includes works that explore the shocking, intimate, sexual, provocative, simple and spiritual. This exhibition will bring to light the new performance art that is happening in Houston.

PERFORMANCE ART HOUSTON is a gathering together of performance and performance based work that has been previously presented in alternative Houston art events such as Free Press SummerFest 2009 and Notsuoh’s Performance Art Night, an event that has become notorious for its shocking, provocative, yet often touching performances, often invoking the criticism ‘this is not art’. Performance Art Houston will bring these controversial and exciting pieces together and place them in the context of a traditional art exhibition for the first time.

Artists include: Patrick O’Brien Doyle, Jacob Calle, Travis Kerschen, NICKTEEL, Brian and Stevie McCord, Aisen Caro Chacin, Bethany Fort, Sway Youngston, Julia Claire Wallace, John Zambrano, Emily Sloan, Daniel Adame, John Richie and Melanie Jamison. Many of these artists were involved with sexyATTACK the Houston based geurilla art project that became a viral youtube video, as well as the paint slip and slide that was a huge hit last summer at SUMMERFEST. Julia Wallace and NICKTEEL created the controversial videos that were featured on Wayne Dolcefino’s Houston art expose’.

Patrick O’Brien Doyle will be showing two conceptual interactive pieces that use participants as a medium to create art pieces. Jacob Calle has created shocking video of his “stunts” including drinking and vomiting his own blood. Bethany Fort will perform a piece in which she destroys a designer bag, using its pieces to create multiple wearable items for attendees. Sway Youngston has created a dramatic movement exploring human relationships. John Zambrano will collaborate with local musicians for a disturbing, yet heartfelt noise piece entitled, “Chewing Off my own Dick.” Aisen Caro Chacin has created an interactive video piece, in which audience members are invited under a giant sheet in front of the projection of a donut. Julia Claire Wallace will present performance based video work that shares her quest for spiritual understanding through sometimes shocking means, such as urination and masturbation. She will also do a live interactive performance exploring sex and pride. John Richie will give a passionate speech imploring attendees to vote him as the next World Emperor. Melanie Jamison will enlist the help of attendees to create a participatory sound piece. Travis Kerschen will share video projection piece. Brian and Stevie McCord will have live sex during the exhibition in the privacy of a white “fuck box”. Daniel Adame will share a slow piece, using his breath to inflate a large bag around his head. Emily Sloan will invite attendees to join her in a relaxing ‘puppy pile’ and rest together as a group. NICKTEEL will dress as a black woman and sing a love song.

About the Curator- Julia Claire Wallace is a young Houston Performance Artist, recently graduated from the University of Houston with her BFA in Painting. She made her first exciting television debut as the ‘soda specialist’ in Wayne Dolcefino’s Houston Art expose. She is one of the founding members of sexyATTACK, Houston’s favorite geurilla surprise dance piece. She also served as a facilitator for Performance Art Lab, Houston’s most mischievous art collective. She is also the creator and curator of Performance Art Night, a monthly performance art event. She also created the Performance Art Houston Blog located at www.performancearthouston.blogspot.com

Press Contact- Julia Wallace, 832-317-5185 juliaintherye@aol.com.

Directions- El Rincon Social is located at 3210 Preston (between Roberts and Velasco Street) East of Downtown. From 45, exit Scott street and turn North on Scott (away from the University of Houston), continue on Scott as it becomes York Street, turn left on Preston (the small street past Harrisburg) cross over Roberts, El Rincon will be on your right.

Hotter than a dog in HEAT.

2010-02-25T21:15:00.000-08:00

PERFORMANCE ART NIGHT SIX

All those people are performing PLUS i (julia claire wallace) am doing five performances.

I think it will be the best yet.

PLUS Nickteel and Aisen Caro Chacin may perform if we are lucky.

YAY!

ARTIST PROFILE for TEX LONESTAR

2010-01-29T13:26:00.000-08:00

So That guy in the hat is Tex Lonestar and he runs a little thing called Doomsday Wrestling here in Houston.
I don't even know how to describe it except to say that it is some crazy Houston performance art for sure.
CHECK OUT THEIR SHOW TOMORROW!!!

Here are his answers to my questions....

How does Performance Art Function for you?

It gives me an outlet to do something besides work a job and pay rent or go to a bar. A creative outlet purely. I do it purely for expression, not to make it into a scene or anything phony like that.

How does living in Houston affect your performance art work?

We seem to get pretty good crowds at every show. Thank you Houston!

Describe a favorite performance art piece that you have done.

I don't know. I'm really critical on them! I am really proud of Doomsday: World War 3 though. It just came together really well and the crowd bought everything we were selling that night. I don't mean merchandise, I mean the ideas we were trying to get across. Our merch needs to sell better!

Name some of your performance art heroes. Who has inspired/influenced your performance art?
Andy Kaufman. PT Barnum. Neil Hamburger. Plus Mad Magazine and a lot of comic books.

Here is their Website.

Check them out on YOUTUBE.

Next Performance Art Night- Jan. 29th, 2010 10:00 Notsuoh

2010-01-23T17:16:00.000-08:00

and in case you didn't know - Notsuoh is located at 314 Main Street in downtown.

TEN ARTISTS THIS TIME,
That is more than ever!

Facts about each artist-

Daniel Adame once slapped me in the face so that i would give him a painting. This is how we met.
NICKTEEL makes an amazing salad, he cuts vegetables really well.
Beth Fort likes Miranda July.
Emily Sloan has been puppy sitting.
John Richie enjoys reading self help books.
Julia Wallace has withdrawal headaches if she does not have her Dr. pepper by six o clock.
Sway Youngston is searching for the perfect farm in California to call home.
Angela Whitford loves to DANCE!
Jacob Calle was once called fishy, and he did not like it.
Aisen Caro Chacin called her clit her little raisin when she was young. cute!

CUM OUT!

Naked Video Shoot

2010-01-17T01:18:00.000-08:00

Muhhamidali is having a naked music video shoot.

This is one of my favorite bands, not only because the songs are all written about me (kidding), but because they are good. Plus they often have some really amazing performance art to accompany their performances, often involving babies or balloons or fake blood.

Here is all the info:

Hosted By:
MUHAMMADALi And freepress

When:
Saturday, Feb 6, 2010 3:30 pm

Where:
freepress warehouse
3412 yupon
houston
Texas
77008

Muhhamidali says, "Well we need is for people to come and party and go crazy and get naked while we play a few songs!!! We will supply kegs, trashcans filled with dirt, balloons filled with cool stuff all you need to do is show up!!!!!"

Don't go unless youre willing to get naked, masks are acceptable, and i am guessing you could get away with panties only.

Yeah and if you get a chance to talk to the lead singer, tell him he is a cheating liar.
just kidding again.
i totally forgive him.
go, it'll be great.

.

ARTIST PROFILE for FRANCIS GIAMPIETRO

2010-01-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

I went to school with Francis Giampietro at the University of Houston, and I had the privilege of witnessing the performance pictured above.
Francis rolled this 500 million pound wheel around over and over and over and over until it looked like he was about to die, and then he rolled it over a few more times.
It reminded me of being in P.E. in middle school, when our coach made us run until we threw up.
I hated my coach.
Anyway.
Francis created a powerful experience, it was difficult to watch, in that I-can't-stop-looking sort of way.
I feel like i recognize myself in some of Francis' work, we seem to have a similar discomfort in our own skin.

He is having a show called, "Am I Demon" on January 15th (NEXT FRIDAY!!) at The Temporary Space 1320 Nance Street, Houston, TX, 77002. For more info click here.

He says, "the show on the 15th most likely wont have any live performance work in it. But I do feel that all the work in there is directly related to some task other than the making of the object itself."

Also you can check out his website here. He has a blog!

Here are his answers to my questions:

How does Performance Art Function for you?

Function? Um... well the little bit I have done has allowed me to expose aspects of myself and in doing so see these things from an alternate perspective. I’ve been able to get them outside of me and look at them from a distance. You can get a better look at the glass when you’re not drinking out of it.

How does living in Houston affect your performance art work?

Not entirely sure yet.

Describe a favorite performance art piece that you have done.

I don’t know if this is my favorite but I’m currently working on a project with another artist and recent UH graduate Terry Hurley. We are building various epic mark making devices and doing endurance sorts of performances with them. The first one was a strange amalgamation of a cross and a plow. These won't be in the show sorry.

The "performance" that has stuck with me the most so far has really been one I called Additive Sculpture. For this one I gave myself the task of taking on my younger brother's strict football diet and weight training regiment for 3 months in an attempt to reach 200lbs. I've been making sculptures based on this performance for a while now and some will be featured in the show "Am I Demon" on January 15th.

Name some of your performance art heroes. Who has inspired/influenced your performance art?

Janine Antoni, Shaun El C. Leonardo, Chris Burden, I’m into Kate Gilmore’s work right now, Matthew Barney’s earlier work (his sculpture is amazing!), and tons more.

Check it.

2010-01-04T18:54:00.000-08:00

THE HOUSTON ALTERNATIVE ART CHRONOLOGY

click on that shit!

This is one of the best things I have run across on the internet in a long time, apparently the Art Guys helped create it as part of the No Zoning show that was recently at the CAMH.

And since its wikipedia, i am guessing that if you have anything to add, you can. I haven't tried it yet though...

One of my favorite entries-

Jim Pirtle Is Forrest Gump
Artist Jim Pirtle produced a video parody of the famous Hollywood movie by lip-synching the actual appropriated soundtrack with himself in the starring role. Shooting entirely on the grounds of the Zocalo artists’ compound, he enlisted many artist friends (Nestor Topchy, Mark Flood, George Hixson, Michael Battey, Giles Lyon, The Art Guys, among others) to play various characters in the movie. The video was later screened at various underground and alternative venues such as Aurora Picture Show and Cue Foundation.

ARTIST PROFILE for JENNY SCHLIEF

2010-01-02T20:42:00.000-08:00

So I work at this great art establishment called DiverseWorks, and they had a show recently entitled “Now that I’m by myself,” she says “I’m not by myself, which is good”. Thats where I discovered superSEXY Houston artist, Jenny Schlief, her piece was a video of her jumping around and singing in her underwear alone.
love it.

so yeah i checked her out and
okay
i also love this piece:

AND
a shower party!?!?

I love all masturbation done in the name of Performance Art.
Check it.

She is having a solo show opening at Box 13 Artspace in the “Closet Box” on January 16, 2010.

Here is her description of what will be in the show-

"New work consisting of several rim drawings and a rim sound sculpture/iPod dock. The subject matter is a collection of Houston area rap culture removed from its original context by a white female conceptual artist. The work explores themes of identity associated with certain consumer goods and consumer cultures, with a glance towards the bravado and ridiculousness this consumer culture promotes. A Cadillac rim is transformed into an iPod dock that blares a screwed and chopped version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and pictures of custom rims are rendered tenderly in pencil."

(sounds like it won't have too much performance, but other art is cool too, sometimes i guess.)

and omg
check out this
amazing
promo pic....

Go read more about her at her website.

Yeah so, i am pretty stoked to find out there is a chick like this in my city.

I also heard she ate a bunch of strawberry milk and pink flowers and threw it up.

seriously.

bad.
ass.

Here are her answers to my questionz:

How does Performance Art Function for you?
I like to do performances that catch people off guard and make them re-evaluate the human experience and their interactions with others, like social sculpture in a way. I'm pretty nervous around people and in social situations, so for me personally it's a way for me to think about that and how it affects me. I also do performances as supplements to installations or videos during an opening or something, because I really like interacting with people interacting with art, if that makes sense.

How does living in Houston affect your performance art work?
Houston is great because there are so many different types of people here and random places and things to see. I appreciate it's humbleness, it's silent greatness and it's dirty secrets. I'm a native Houstonian, so making work is easy here. There is a comfortable art scene that is informed, friendly, and respectable, and it doesn't exist as some sort of black hole. The people here, including myself, are very much informed by the greater art world, and this city allows a great deal of access to that world.

Describe a favorite performance art piece that you have done.
VOTE JENNY seems to be one that people are pretty attracted to. In this piece I bake over 100 vanilla cupcakes with the words "EAT ME" in red icing on strawberry frosting that act as ballots. A period of time for voting begins once I set up tables with a banner reading "VOTE JENNY" and place the cupcakes out for people to eat while I stand behind the table dressed in business/conservative attire. If they eat their cupcake, they have cast their ballot for me as the best artist in the world.

Name some of your performance art heroes. Who has inspired/influenced your performance art?
I'm so bad at this question always but the first person that comes to mind is Vito Acconci, then Paul McCarthy. Others are 60's video artists like Bruce Nauman and John Baldessari. I always try to look at other current contemporary artists and their work too like Janine Antoni, Janet Biggs, and Andrea Fraser. I really like Jimmy Kuehnle and Bunnyphonic from San Antonio; Rachel Cook, Leona Scull-Hons and Jill Pangallo in Austin.

ARTIST PROFILE for NICK TEEL

2009-12-22T11:14:00.000-08:00

NICKTEEL is another one of my most favorite performance artists in Houston. We met in Andrea Grover's Participation Art Class at UH, which was a life/art changing experience for the both of us. He has also been a strong component of PERFORMANCE ART LAB, the collective we are both a part of.

NICKTEEL is from Sugarland and he loves his mother.
NICKTEEL loves dressing up.
NICKTEEL loves McDonalds and porn and glitter!
NICKTEEL has one testicle due to a battle with testicular cancer (he won! yay!!).
NICKTEEL loves Jim Beam and Lonestar.
NICKTEEL loves the ladies, but he may or may not anonymously think about men sometimes.
NICKTEEL used to be Buddhist, but isnt really a Buddhist anymore. If you look carefully you can still see some big Buddhist tattoos on his calves.
NICKTEEL lives in a shack and rides a bike instead of driving a car.
NICKTEEL eats hot dogs from gas stations so much that he tells himself that he needs to quit.
NICKTEEL dances all sorts of badass and crazy. His feet move real fast.
NICKTEEL wants to be a DJ and is very interested in music.

Here are his answerz to my questions:

How does Performance Art Function for you?

I suppose there are a lot of things I do not understand about myself, about the world I live in, the people I exist with and on and on and on. It's a scarry thing for me to learn something new, even to know that I will learn something new is scary cause right now I do not want to change, I'm happy here masturbating eating McDonalds and watching Netflix everyday. I have not done many performances, risked many insecurities because I know how comfortable it all feels right now. But, the frightening unknown is good, it has always been good deepdown, and when I do not need courage or a deep breath in order to perform, then it's probably not gonna be that good. Performance art should scare the shit out of you.

How does living in Houston affect your performance art work?

Houston has a lot of hype. "H-town" "3rd ward!!!" all that...there are some great institutions in Houston but they're fuckin old and Chase Bank probably funds em'. I like the lack of street art, activity, honesty in Houston, I see everyone buying shit and going to shows and bars and dressing up. I LOVE the hype. Cause there aint really anything there. I mean there is something there but it's not really Lady Gaga sitting across from you at Poison Girl. It's me taking a shit, its you wanting a bigger dick, its her with her daddy issues, or him with his mommy issues. Houston is great cause there is a lot of potential. It's great cause I get to hold onto my dream of being original in such a fake ass boring city. I have daddy issues by the way.

Describe a favorite performance art piece that you have done.

Not too long ago I did an open mic at the house of te', i was very nervous but i felt absolutely compelled to perform. I walked up to the mic, there were only a handful of people in the audience, i took my glasses off and then told six stories from my childhood. They were all stories in which I had felt shame at the time and perhaps still did for all these years. As I told each story I made sure to paint a very clear picture for everyone but mainly for myself. I needed to be there again in those anxious moments when I felt unworthy and inhuman, and after each story I would slap myself very hard. The last story was of my mother leaving me for a very short while and then returning to "never let me go" and i did not slap my face then. i am still processing that piece.

Name some of your performance art heroes. Who has inspired/influenced your performance art?

Nancy Douthey and Julia Claire Wallace. They are here in Houston, they are honest they are crazy, and they inspire me all the time.
---

MOST DEFINITELY check out Nick's blog and tell him to continue on with that shit, cause its bad ass.

Here is a video of his latest performance/installation at the Joanna-

and here is clip from one of his performances from Performance Art Night -

Now go FRIEND HIM on facebook, cause he writes great status updates.

ARTIST PROFILE for TRAVIS KERSCHEN

2009-12-16T00:48:00.000-08:00

The first time I saw Travis Kerschen he was playing in his music project A Thousand Cranes.
He meditated during the entire set as a strobe light hit the room.
It was. like. bad... drugs.
I talked about it excitedly for days, happy to have had such a unique experience at a rock and roll show.

He was one of the first people I contacted when I began performance art night @ Notsuoh, and I am always interested when he has something to share.

Here is a short list of things i know/think about Travis-
He has lived in warehouses.
He loves film.
He is an anarchist.
He speaks spanish.
He has alot of brothers and one is named Tex.
He is really nice, tall and encouraging.
He is either really interested in Buddhism, or he is a Buddhist.
He is a vegetarian.
He also makes movies.

Here is a video flier he made for one of his shows.

And here are his answers to my questions-

How does Performance Art Function for you?
Performance art is an avenue of personal expression/creative expression. It can be fun and mentally stimulating to try to make art in this medium because as performance you try to engage, and as art you try to break boundaries.

How does living in Houston affect your performance art work?
I think it nurtures it. Houston is not an easy city to live in, nor does it have the most supportive environment for creative arts, so performance art here empowers me to express things as I wish. Also, Jim Pyrtle is here.

Describe a favorite performance art piece that you have done.
I went to Deerbrook Mall, and with one person dressed like Tiny Tim and one like Santa's Elf, and myself like Santa, we had a giant posterboard that said "Bomb Iraq for Christmas". This was in the winter of 2002, and we had a petition where we goodheartedly and smilingly tried to get people to sign that bombing children and people in Iraq increased the Christmas spirit.

Name some of your performance art heroes. Who has inspired/influenced your performance art?
Yoko Ono is probably one of my performance art heroes. I have too many inspirations and influences to even begin.

Travis has also been a contributor at performance art night and you can see a video of one of his performances on this earlier post.

THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD

2009-12-06T01:57:00.001-08:00

PERFORMANCE ART MOVIE ALERT

I highly suggest that you make some plans to visit the ANGELIKA and SEE THIS SHIT, cause its inspiring, and it'll prep you for the upcoming Yes Men exhibition & workshop that will be at DiverseWorks next year.

PERFORMANCE ART NIGHT 4

2009-12-06T01:08:00.000-08:00

I have been putting together Performance Art Nights at Notsuoh once a month. We just had the fourth night and it was the busiest yet.

Hosted by FUTURE THIEF- Ian Fernandez

Jacob Calle opened up with a sexually explicit lecture on pain. He ended by demonstrating. Painful&exciting to watch.

Travis Kerschen did a video projection piece, using notsuoH and the audience as his screen.

NICKTEEL turned the photographers of the night into his own paparazzi as he invited the audience to makeout with him. Daniel Adame and Aisen Chacin answered the call, then luckily

for all of us, Claudia Cruz and Michelle crashed the party with some hot GIRLonGIRL action.

Melanie Jamison had a beautiful interactive projector set up as she shared a sound piece.

Claudia Cruz did a crowd interaction piece.

Julia Wallace provided a variety of stationary for the attendees to use for writing letters to strangers, then later she masturbated while covered in sugar.

(photo cred- Boby Kolloor! THANK YOU!!)

Dan Gordon, visiting us from NYC, collaborated with the crowd to create a madlibz about his beloved hometown, HOUSTON.

Aisen Chacin did a drunken auction piece that became a Jerry Springer piece that was so controversial it was shut down.

John Zambrano did a surprise performance that I believe was entitled- Sometimes I feel like chewing off my own dick.

There were also surprise performances by pretty Niki, and Lynn Wheatly (sp?)

It was a helluva night, and this post just about kicked my ass.

XOXO.

If you want to be a part of the next one, send me an email.

Performance Art Night 2

2009-11-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

PERFORMANCE ART NIGHT TWO

Jacob Calle started the night out with some air guitar, but unfortunately some technical problems arose and it ended early :(

Craig MORrison did a poetry reading and a dance that was all about putting his hands up.

Bethany Fort did a really beautiful piece where she cut up an imitation designer purse and created wristbands with it for the entire crowd.

Ian Fernandez did a rousing motivational speech.

Claudia Cruz dressed in a stylish gold mini dress, and then sexily sewed another one on stage.

Nick gathered the audience up on stage, and shared personal parts of his body.

Aisen Caro Chacin did a secret performance, where she nailed a dictionary to the wall when no one was paying attention. I did not get a picture of it, because I am a bad documenter and because it was a secret performance.

I threw a tantrum.

(mediocre documentation hopefully coming soon.)

PERFORMANCE ART NIGHT 1

2009-11-13T11:02:00.000-08:00

The first Performance Art Night ever!

To put it very briefly:

Jacob Calle opened with his standup, most memorably perhaps shoving a twenty inch balloon cock down his throat. HOTT!

Sway Youngston shared her first ever performance art piece, an impressive dance/drama-esque piece where she danced with and painted the backs of her attractive friends.

Claudia Cruz dutifully and silently served her boyfriend Ian Fernandez a scrambled egg dinner, while breaking eggs on maxi pads.

Aisen Caro Chacin did a piece about her father, drinking whiskey, smoking cigars and yelling at her to get a job. I especially enjoyed the part where she threw a plethora of paper airplanes into the crowd that happened to be made out of copies of her resume. You never know where you might get a job?

I ( JULIA WALLACE) read a love letter by myself, to myself while getting naked.

Travis Kerschen got the crowd to yell insults with him, as he heckled a friend dressed as himself from the crowd. Jim Pirtle joined in by throwing shoes at the fake Travis. Finally audience members put an end to the piece by getting on stage and giving fake Travis a big hug. <3

Shoulda been there.

I had to make you a post, sexyATTACK because i love you and i miss you.

2009-11-10T13:52:00.000-08:00

Houston's favorite two minute and fifty two second dance surprise performance art!

sexyATTACK'Sblog

Emily Sloan performs a cuddle puddle at PERFORMANCE ART HOUSTON

2009-08-19T22:46:00.000-07:00

above picture courtesy of Matthew Glover

last three pictures by Rico Svaughn

Emily Sloan arranged a power nap in the middle of Performance Art Houston's performance night at El Rincon Social. Audience members were invited to refresh themselves with a power nap-cuddle puddle in the upstairs loft. A timer was set for 10 minutes, and Ms. Sloan read the group a short story called "Not Tired" from Else Holmelund Minarik's "Little Bear's Visit". Afterwards, everyone was refreshed for experiencing the remaining performances.

Ms. Sloan has a related performance/participatory project called "Napping and its Affects on Performance (NAP)" opening Friday, May 14 (through June 25) at Art League Houston, 1953 Montrose Blvd., Houston, Texas, 77006.

Visit her blog.

John Richie performs Soon You'll See at PERFORMANCE ART HOUSTON

2009-08-19T22:38:00.000-07:00

pictures by rico svaughn

Soon You'll See

I'm fortunate enough to have a job that allows me freedom of mind, but unfortunately doesn't pay well. I like to pass time at work by listening to lectures and audio books. This speech was inspired by a course I listened to called Power of Conversational Hypnosis. Most my life I believed that hypnosis was just a quack act, but I heard more about it in a psychology course that got me interested enough to find and try Conversational Hypnosis. I enjoyed the course and came to recognize the ways we communicate unconsciously and how we are influenced and controlled but subtle suggestions. I then listened to Ron Paul's "The Revolution" and Barack Obama's "Audacity of Hope" comparatively and found that Obama was more persuasive because of his use of hypnotic principles. I decided to parody this political rhetoric in my own speech. I wrote this speech to be entertaining but also to suggest my own perceptions. This is a transcript, broken down with notes.

Good evening.
My name is John Richie. I'd like to start by thanking the organizer of this event, Julia Clair. Thank you for creating this atmosphere where we can share and grow.

(This is meant to get attention, and bring people into agreement because thanking Julia is something everyone can agree with.)

That is why I've chosen this place, and you people to speak to tonight. Because you are artist and intellectuals. A community of the creators of culture. And though you may feel your voice isn't being heard, I believe it carries further than your eyes can see.

(This is furthering the sense of agreement, what is called a "yes set".)

But we are all individuals, and I am not here to debate the issues.

(The contradiction here is meant to amuse and confuse.)

I want to gain your support for my candidacy for world emperor in 2012...

(I meant to start serious so that at this point the listener doesn't know if I'm joking. Listen closer.)

...and I expect you to be skeptical, but please...embrace your open mind.

(This acknowledges the thoughts they should have just had, thus returning them to the yes set. Then "embrace your open mind" is the main command I wanted to give. This speech is meant to mock many of the conspiracy theories and apocalyptic visions I've seen videos about on the internet. "embrace your open mind" has a double meaning, the surface meaning is that the listener has an open mind and should appreciate it by listening to me. But the underlying command is to close your mind, the way you would if you actually embraced it. The message I wanted to send is be careful what you believe. People like me can speak utter bullshit with dire conviction.)

Give me this time, for I have a vision of the future that you too soon will see...

(Many great leaders claimed to have divine visions, but that is not something people in our secular society would ever believe so it's an experience few have any more.)

Just four nights ago, I went walking in the woods to examine my dissatisfaction with modernity. And there I came across a tree with a fruit that I'd never seen before. Curiosity made me try it, but that taste reminded me of the bitterness of nature. So I sat beneath the tree to ponder that moments metaphor.

(Here I start a story, which our minds are more accepting to because after all, it's just a story. This has vague biblical references which should make it feel familiar, but I also wanted to hint I could have been hallucinating after eating unfamiliar fruit.)

It was there that I was struck by light, and though I closed my eyes I could not escape. And intuitively I knew I'd been touched by inspiration.

(This is the beginning of a series of what's called nested stories, meant to overload short term memory.)

Then I looked deep into the light and in it I saw a crack grow into a canyon in which I recognized the figure of Charles Manson, climbing a shadowed cliff. Then the shadows grew until they consumed me too.

(Charle's Manson believed that a race war called Helter Skelter would happen, and he and his followers would hide in a city under death valley they would reach through a giant hole. I meant to reference that while also suggesting his rise from imprisonment of other darkness.)

Still my vision continued. As I retreated from the black it became a young girls eyes, who was crying and telling her story of survival to our own president, Barack Obama.
Obama is a good man. I know that, we all know that he wants to bring peace and unity to the world. But Manson knows this too, and believes that Helter Skelter is imminent. He's spent his last decades in prison, studying and preparing for his part. And now, he is determined to overthrow Obama. That is the meaning of my vision.
Obama will have overwhelming success despite harsh criticism from the loudest voices in the U.S. and next year following his most profound speech to the U.N. He will be suggested for the position of first World Emperor.

(More nested stories, meant to mock the Emperor Obama conspiracy.)

By that time, Manson will have used his vast knowledge and natural charm to become recognized as leader, and prophet of the anti-Obama movement. Then, in the spirit of demockracy the U.N. will choose Charles Manson as Obama's only opponent in the race for world emperor.

(This is meant to suggest my view of democracy.)

This is the future I've seen. I was inspired for a purpose, because though Obama is a great president, he doesn't know the danger of being world emperor...and Manson is just a distraction!

(Political rhetoric, plus a surprise twist.)

My vision ends with the threat of Obama's assassination by someone much darker...

(Racist suggestion in the double meaning.)

You see, Obama is being used to create the position of world emperor, but if he does, he will be disposed of and the real leader will emerge to succeed him. The terror that he may bring is still kept secret...even to me.

(Ooo secret I want to know!)

..but now I know it is my fate to save us from that future by taking the risk of being world emperor...but I can't do it alone! To be the peoples choice, I need your support now. You should support me because I know how to live, hidden in isolation, while maintaining an internet connection, to watch the world and blog my opinion.

(More making fun of egoism and internet conspiracies. But I also wanted to suggest that were there a world emperor, the position should have no power but world recognition and respect for the emperors opinion.)

The present is moving too fast to continue looking to the past for answers.

(More double meaning and confusion. It is always the present, even if it seems like everything is changing faster now.)

I've shown you the future, but inevitably it is always a surprise.

(Back to yes set, double meaning because the vision of the future I gave should be surprising, but also we never know the future)

My hope is you will see it in my eyes and support me with your power of expression.

(Eyes are most hypnotic. More yes set and flattery.)

So remember, Richie for world emperor in 2012. SPREAD THE MESSAGE!

FUK BOX a performance art piece by THE MCCORDS @ PERFORMANCE ART HOUSTON

2009-08-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

FUK.BOX... an Carefully Unihibited Exhibition:

An examination of private intimacy between a married couple. A dedication of the desire for sexual intimacy between two people exclusively, within a public sphere. Such that two individuals, as a couple, dedicate their sexual energy to each other exclusively, in the presence of other people, which is the domain of marriage.

So you take an exclusive couple and you place them in public. They maintain the sovereignty of their union, even while the world whirls around them.

Also, their actions within the box are private, even while in the public sphere.

There is also an examination of simultaneity, as what is occurring within the box, and what is occurring outside the exhibition, within homes in the immediate vicinity of the exhibition, are made similiar. HOPEFULLY....
thereby bridging the gap formed around the gallery as locus for the virtual experience of art appreciation, which dwells in the realm of secondness.

The.McCords: Stevie and Myself are a married couple. We re-met each other after MANY YEARS and much experience gained since our previous parting. We function as support and inspiration for one another, as we progress through life.

Our own private emotional evolutions, and appreciation of others, are what we hope to make public, safely and with beneficial gains for all, through Performance and other artistic mediums.

We have felt tremendous resistance from outside our marriage, toward our marriage, and Artistic Endeavor is our means of broadcasting a beneficial message, one stating the sanctity of our union, love's ties, our cumulative world views, revisited and revised on the fly, and finally, the nature of overcoming odds.

Thank you for appreciating our Art. May It Mean for You.

Daniel Adame performs Head Strong at PERFORMANCE ART HOUSTON

2009-08-19T22:18:00.000-07:00

pictures by craig hart christie jr.
Head Strong: I breathed into the bag with a sense of patience I thought, but then the sounds from around came into mind and reactions peered through and John Ritchie's Dumbo campaign played into my toes till I fell back and hit my head on the concrete. I wanted there to be enough air but there wasn't and it hurt a bit. I was glad that I had a single piece jump suit and socks on; I felt safer. I didn't breathe in any carbon dioxide this time because I think it might've been harmful. The eyes were concerned. The head was strong.

Patrick O'Brien Doyle at PERFORMANCE ART HOUSTON

2009-08-19T22:04:00.000-07:00

Randomly Genderated Text is based on Freudian phallocentricism, feminist theory, and computer code. Men are 1's and women are 0's. Men have a penis and women lack a penis. This fundamental dichotomy creates language upon which all systems of thought reside and is inherently male centered. Every letter in the alphabet can be translated into a specific arrangement of 1's and 0's. Asking people to photograph their genitals will produce the 1's and 0's respectively and the order in which people participate will produce specific letters. The anonymous clustering of sets of eight genital photos will then be used to represent single letters. The opportunity to invert the 1's and 0's will produce different letters flipping notions of Fruedian gender theory. Giving material specificity (human genitals) to abstract concepts (letters, language).

Meditation Painting is about what gives value to a work of art. Participants are asked to give their time and energy, via meditation, to a blank canvas and thereby imbue it with value and worth. Participants names and the duration of time they spend in meditation are recorded as a record of the accumulated worth the canvas retains.

Aside from the rhetoric of what is driving these pieces, they are essentially participatory works of art that cannot be realized without the viewers' participation. They are fundamentally about relationship. The audience/guests/participants become co-creators and in this sense they are extremely important.

Sway Youngston's Ottomon Empire at Performance Art Houston

2009-08-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

pictures by Craig Hart Christie jr.

pictures by Rico Svaughn

The first performance of this piece at Notsuoh last fall featured the talented NICKTEEL and had a different theme where the female character retains her power over the male character throughout, though she does break down a bit at the end in her own sense of self-loathing. The most recent performance, however, sought to explore the possibility of a power shift mid-piece. The female reluctantly relinquishes power as the male takes it in a moment of passion. She is a slave to his physical prowess, and only when he forces himself on her is she able to let go of her dominant position. I really enjoyed performing with my lover, David Davis, but during rehearsal, the characters started to become more like us in real life. Since this piece is about two characters who don’t really like each other much but still retain the monotonous lives to which they are dedicated, I removed elements I believed alluded to my relationship with David and was able to regain control of the original characters and intentions. As apprehensive as I was about performing a strip tease, I had great support from David, as well as inspiration from the incredibly sensual song, “Feelin Love” by Paula Cole, and wound up enjoying myself quite a bit during the dance. Thanks to Julia Wallace, El Rincon Social, and David Davis for your encouragement and passion for art in all its forms. I’m really enjoying performance art and can’t wait for the next event!

A review of PERFORMANCE ART HOUSTON by DEVIN FINCH

2009-08-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

EL RINCON SOCIAL SCENE

by Devin Finch

On March 27 the El Rincon Social housed a rowdy crowding of curious Houstonians going toe-to-toe amongst sex, dance and cigarette smoke like a shitfaced Busby Berkeley dance routine gone astray in an abandoned art supply store. Within seconds of entering I drunkenly stumbled upon a guy laying face down and completely nude on the cold cement floor while a photographer squatted next to him and pushed the limits of personal boundaries with his camera. To my sides there was a tent set up with the intended instruction of meditating on a blank canvas and another for taking pictures of your own genitalia (this didn't really pick up steam till after the free whiskey shots, if I remember correctly.)

This is Performance Art Houston, the awesomely weird (and free) performance art fun house put together by Julia Wallace and a host of other ambitious locals who likely made lunch under the staircase awesome in high school. Like an art gallery pinned to a pub wall, Performance Art Houston is as much about social camaraderie over cheap booze and liquor shots as it is a dada playground for the creatively driven and culturally fringe.

Immersed in the laissez-faire recess of Performance Art Houston's avant garde wonderland, you're likely to witness a guy inflating a huge balloon mask baring the emoticon-like visage of an anime character's facial traits with his own breath, a couple engaged in public fucking and a mound of strangers cuddling to a bed time story; not only in one night but at the same (awesome) time. It's surreal and often confusing but always exciting.

Houston's infamous Evil Ke-Steve O, Jacob Calle, provided a video montage of various entertaining and daring stunts including a series of attempted Christmas tree lunges, his friends punching his face into a swollen pulp and the drinking and throwing-up of his own blood; all of which was projected onto the warehouse wall much like the epitomical scene in Problem Child 2 (the one where Junior exhibits the footage of Big Ben Healy beating the shit out of him onto a garage door.) [He actually projects footage of his babysitter getting her groove on with a boyfriend. At no point does Big Ben lay a finger on poor, misunderstood Junior Healy - ed.] Okay, fine. But read between the lines; just because they didn't show it DOESN'T MEAN IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!

Julia Wallace spanked her own ass at great length for the crowd before whipping pocket change into a large cup filled with hers and other daring (read: drunk) audience participant's urine while the 1981 billboard hit "Jessie's Girl" boomed over the speakers (an experience many of us who grew up with alcoholic grandfathers can relate to.) Bethany Fort gave out bracelets made from a designer handbag she had quickly sliced apart with a pair of scissors seconds before, a piece that earned her the now infamous nickname "DA KRAZY KUTTA: KINDEST JEWELER IN H-TOWN" and even the lesser known "BETHANY FORT: SIZZORZ MANIAK OF THE INNERLOOP".

Much of the experience started to resemble a particularly high brow haunted house and honestly the shock-an-awe was on par with one. Approaching the dead end of a dark and crowded hallway, one was witness to Nick Teel strolling across an empty room completely naked as a syncopated buzzer and lamp slowly flickered like a strobe light to the laps of his back-and-forth pacing. Nervously peering into the room was like coming upon a Museum of Natural Science exhibit just as the 8 hits of bad acid peak (which is to say, it was mutually engaging and hallucinogenic.)

Outside of this hallway, a cubicle-esque tent assembled with blankets and plastic poles entitled the "Fuk Box" was sheathing an adventurous couple embarking in some light hearted sheets-and-shadow exhibitionism in the name of art. This is likely not the first time the bedroom closet cache of a child's homemade fort has inspired some exuberantly lewd behavior in a warehouse. Even though they were "under the sheets", that didn't stop a series of people from placing their cameras over the box to take multiple snapshots that are worth as many words as they are vibrato fraught yelps. Nor did it stop a generous fellow who politely lifted me on his shoulders to enthusiastically peer over like a kid glancing above the picket fence shielding a raunchy drive-in movie. The make shift curtains accidentally got knocked down moments later, so it wasn't as lecherous as it seems.

Despite this being a back alley pageant show for those who prefer their punch spiked with the soured psycho-activity of acid tabs and psilocybin , I highly recommend it to anyone who is simply up for something new and interesting. Every performer is incredibly down to earth in defiance of the art school stereotype that likely comes bubbling up in the back of many people's minds upon hearing "performance art". The whole affair was not only completely free of pretension; it refreshingly reveled in it's light hearted fuck-off-glee.

With more akin to a Rocky Horror Picture Show screening than a daunting interpretive dance recital, it's a completely awesome way to spend a Saturday night with some drinks and post experience stories. And in my drunken stupor, I failed to not only mention but even see a majority of the great artists involved, so I recommend checking the Performance Art Houston blog to catch the details for this and other upcoming events. On my personal Bill & Ted meter, this is definitely an Excellent Adventure and NOT a Bogus Journey.