On the Road: NYC Weekend

My friend Barbara Wakefield and I decided to hit the road and spend a few days in NYC. We had an amazing time, although snow caused our 11 hour drive to becomes a 16 hour drive. We hit openings for: Josh Faught at Lisa Cooley, Virgil Marti at Elizabeth Dee, Marc Dion at Tanya Bonakdar and got to see a lot of amazing work throughout the city. Barb and I were also lucky enough to catch my roommate Oli Rodriguez in a performance organized by Sharon Hayes at X-Initiative (formerly part of DIA). The pieces incorporated a reading of Anna Rüling’s What interest does the women’s movement have in the homosexual question?

Barbara at Marc Dion's opening.


Oli at the X-Iniative

Work by Josh Faught at Lisa Cooley.

Artist David William and I at Virgil Marti's opening.

In the Studio: Design for a Larger Community

After my final critiques I took at second look at the body of work I was calling Giovanni's Room and transformed it into another piece I'm calling Design for a Larger Community. It's a nod to my wilder youth and a common practice in queer communities where young queers form a circle of friend through sexual introductions. Not exactly what the HRC wants to hear about but it was my experience.

In the Studio: Giovanni's Room Installation

Today Jed helped me put the finishing touches on my Gionvann's Room installation. Here are some shots of it. More pics are available on my flickr account.

In the Studio: Giovanni's Room

I'm working on an installation based on the 1956 James Baldwin novel, Giovanni's Room. My version of Giovanni's Room will be uniquely contemporary, corporate, and odd. In the novel's conclusion Giovanni is accused of murdering a wealthy and flamboyant bar owner. My installation takes place right after the police have come to take Giovanni. My staging of Giovanni's Room draws from the language of window displays. Today I started installing a printed wall pattern for the piece.

Openings: Another 'What If' Senario @ Heaven Gallery

I'm participating in a performance tomorrow night organized by SAIC MFA Sound student, Ben Chafeee.

Waveforms at Heaven Gallery, 1550 North Milwaukee, 2nd floor, Chicago Illinois 60622.

Installations open at 6 PM and the performances start at 9 PM.

Benjamin Chaffee, Joseph Carr, Steven Frost and Becky Grajeda,

ANOTHER 'WHAT IF' SCENARIO OR HOLDING A POSITION FOR LONGER THAN IS NECESSARY TO PROVE A POINT

For this performance we will be using the follow essays:

• Boris Groys, 'Self Design and Aesthetic Responsibility', Frieze Art Fair, London, England, October 2008.
  
• Michel Foucault, 'Discourse and Truth, Part 1', University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, April 1983.
  
• Liam Gillick, 'Berlin Statement', The National Gallery Hamburger Bahnof Museum of Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany, February 2009.
  
• Richard Rorty, 'What's the Use of Truth?', University of Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, France, November 2002.

Waveforms also features:
Installations by Chris Bradley, Ryan Dunn, Joseph Grimm, Dorian McKaie, and Kim Walker.
Performances by Joey Carr, Bethany Childs and Rebecca Simmons, Ryan Dunn, Joseph Grimm, Joseph Kramer, Monica Panzarino, Aaron David Ross, and Michael Vallera