Tuesday, April 27, 2010

PERFORMANCE ART HOUSTON

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.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

NEXT PERFORMANCE ART NIGHT


is on MAY EIGHTH, at El Rincon Social.
Please email juliaintherye@aol.com
with ideas and proposals.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Artist Profile: Jonatan Lopez

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.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

DiverseWorks is bringing PERFORMANCE ART to RUDZ

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

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.

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