ARTIST PROFILE for TEX LONESTAR

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

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

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

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.

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

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.