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.