Profain

Petit Maroc

2009-06-15T02:36:00.000-07:00

My most resent work was shown in the Städelschule's 2009 Rundgang. Having traveled to Morocco with fellow students John Skoog and Zac Dempster in January 2009, we developed this piece. Following in the foots steps of many artist, we went to an exotic land and stole ideas. We then performed Maroc for Rundgang. Building an installation in Daimlerstrasse's Simon Starling Studio.

The Studio was completely transformed. The entrance was obscured by a large wooden cube creating a narrow walk way into the piece. The light was also dimmed. There were many works with in the piece mostly documented in the photographs below. I also performed a Moroccan doughnut maker. Selling delicious donuts for ten cent Euro.

Here are an assortment of photographs to display the installation.

Cinema Palace

2009-01-10T04:12:00.000-08:00

My most resent work was done here at Städelschule. I was invited by my friend Zac to help build a Cinema Palace. It began with us meeting up in Paris. We conducted research into the wonderfully extravagant theatres of past times. From Paris we came to Städel. The Palace was being constructed to show a movie series from a Stan Brakhage lecture. We viewed four Carl Theodor Dreyer films. The theater is still up and is being used by Michael Krebber for his night of serious drinking films.

Here is a link to a blog regarding the project:
http://brakhagelectures.blogspot.com/

Here are some photos to help give a feel for Cinema Palace. The images record the making of the cinema and display the beauty of the palace. There is also a video clip presented to show what the feeling would be like to walk into the theater.

Eindhoven

2009-01-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

The Miss Rockaway art collective goes to the Netherlands. After viewing our work at the Mass MOCA, Angelique Spaninks of the MU invited our collective to participate in the Vann Abba Museum's Heartland exhibition. Over a two-week period we altered the Stroomhuis (a local squatted art space).

Here are photos of our work.

Top Gun

2009-01-08T05:11:00.000-08:00

Top Gun started out as a way to bail our 53-year-old subway-musician roommate, Joe Crow Ryan, out of debt. It turned into a major 724 Myrtle production. It pulled together the whole house and all of our networks. It gave tribute to Tom Cruise for being a father figure to one of our friends, saved a friend's romantic relationship from ruin, and was the crowning end to our summer in Brooklyn this last year.

We did lots of research first. This included two public screenings of the movie. There was commentary given during the films and then we had discussions after the films. We viewed all of the music videos several times, looking for ways to incorporate their ideas into our performance, be it through dance moves or verbal cues.

Here are seven music videos that display the music that we used to form a basis for our performance.

With a playlist developed we then designed costumes, got together for a rehearsal, then went to our desired subway stop and brought Top Gun to Brooklyn.

Here are photos of the performance taken by a friend of mine, Tod Seelie.

This is a video recording the performance.

Being Here is Better than Wishing We'd Stayed

2009-01-07T07:57:00.000-08:00

The Miss Rockaway art collective was invited to do an installation at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. This was our first museum appearance. It was also the moment that we ceased to be a group of artists traveling down a river together and became a group of artists that make projects together.

Here is a smattering of photos and videos that document the project. The photos were all taken by Tod Seelie.

Angry Saturday

2009-01-06T08:08:00.000-08:00

This project was a half-witted plan born from a mean moment on the Mississippi River.

My friend has a radio transmitter. We both wanted to have a radio show. In our anger we decided it would be best that when we returned to Brooklyn we start our own talk show. It seemed to be the best way to dispense our anger more freely. We brought on another one of my friends to help host the show. We produced three shows that are held on our website. We recorded several more shows, but they have not been edited for downloadable versions. Our show had no direction. It was about doing whatever we wanted. We would have music. We would tell stories. We would interview guests, and often we would drink whiskey together.

Here is a link to our web page:
www.angrysaturday.com

Here is the Podcast of our episodes:

The Miss Rockaway Armada Refitted

2009-01-05T03:31:00.000-08:00

Year two . . . I promised that I would come back the second year. There was so much that I wanted to improve. The second year we would start in May and go until October. We would take our time with things. We redesigned the whole ship and built four new boats. We went another four hundred miles (640 kilometers). We made it to St. Louis, and found a resting place for our beloved ships.

Kate Bush (We Love You!)

2009-01-04T08:38:00.000-08:00

How do I explain the logic of love? The Kate Bush video "Wuthering Heights" came to us from YouTube. Our house of men watched it. We were all enthralled with her. One by one, like a Siren's call each off us began to focus on her. It became our wintertime obsession. Whenever Kate Bush's music would begin to sound in the house, all roommates would come running in and try and glean some understanding of her dance. Often in the morning we, the four of us, naked, would dance our hearts out with Kate Bush. Eventually this lead to a concerted effort by the house to make a production of our favorite Kate Bush video.

724 Myrtle

2009-01-03T08:27:00.000-08:00

This was my house. We decided that we would create a blog for it. Each person in the house would have free rain over the content of the posts. It served as an alternative to just speaking to your roommates. I used it as a platform to show the glory of my home. It speaks of the relationship that I formed with the area in which I lived. It also is part of a record for the happenings that occurred at my house in Brooklyn.

The web address is:
724 Myrtle

The Miss Rockaway Armada for Aqutic Glee

2009-01-02T23:59:00.000-08:00

The Miss Rockaway Armada for Aquatic Glee, as it was originally known, was my first major collaboration. I became interested in the project when a friend of mine, over dinner, told me of her adventure down the Mississippi River. At that same dinner another friend of mine told me about a new project that was going to traverse the Mississippi River that coming summer. I went to the first meeting and fell in love with the whole thing. After four months of planning and gathering materials we left New York traveling to the headwaters of the Mississippi River. We landed in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We spent about two weeks putting together our colossal ship (40 meters long by 5 meters wide). And started on our journey. Days were spent on the water, in a town, or on an island. When in the towns we would often march off the ship as a parade. We would announce our performance and workshops. We would gather the supplies we needed and continue on. In a month and a half on the water we went about 400 river miles (640 KM) ending our trip in the Quad Cities, between Iowa and Illinois.

Here are some videos that should give a taste of what it was like to get the Miss Rockaway going.

Our First Engine Test on the Water

The Launching of a Completed Pontoon Section of The Rockaway

Our First Test Run with the Miss Rockaway

Our First Encounter with a Lock

Our Ship Underway

Here are photos showing the many different aspects to our life on the Mississippi River. The photos I chose to exhibit come from three loose categories--first, the construction of the boat; second, from our performances; third, to show a few photos of what it was like to live on the river.

Hookah Den Installation

2009-01-01T00:03:00.000-08:00

The alteration of my living space into an installation for a friend's art opening was my first installation in Brooklyn. I lofted my bed to create space in my room. I bodiced fabric with an Arabic-style design, then hung it from the ceiling and the bottom of the lofted bed to lower the ceiling. I found a beautiful glass countertop to lay on the floor. It was gilded and matched the rest of the aesthetic. I purchased a hookah to put on the tabletop. I altered the lighting in the room to change the atmosphere, and sewed pillowcases to create floor seating that matched the rest of the room.