For Milwaukee's 2010 Performance Art Showcase, I developed a stamina driven performance piece that entailed me attempting to hold a television bearing the struggling image of my face, over my head for the 2 hour duration of the show. This piece was unlike any media/performance work I've done in the past, and looking back now, I can honestly say that I was quite relieved to have had a nurse on staff at the show. After the course of the event, I was sick as a dog, and the pain I had the remainder of the week, was a constant reminder of the creative "burden" that this piece is suggesting an artist must bear.
I won't say much more than that, except to urge you to read the artists statement, and check out the short clip below.
Enjoy!
"THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD ON MY SHOULDERS,"
is, in many senses, a live depiction of failure. The performance attempts to emphasize the inevitable struggle involved with achievement, as opposed to the literal product, or outcome, that one might be struggling to achieve. To this extent, the performance questions the importance of the actual 'outcome' in an artists' practice, by publicly displaying my inability to physically 'succeed' in bearing the weight of the television.
The fact that this impossible weight is bearing my struggling image as a focal point- alludes to the extent in which I pursue my career as an artist, and directly suggests that my own maniacally driven efforts, might very well be the cause of my failures, while still synchronously prevailing as the source of my accomplishments.
By consciously plotting this certain failure, I am ironically framing my shortcomings as a final product. The resulting efforts aim to display a visceral sense of human frailty, and weakness- while at the same time- suggesting a certain extent of triumph, if only purely through my ambitious efforts to foil my own attempts at failure.
In this sense, I am playing off of an ever-circling dichotomy suggesting that: to fail in achievement, is still, at the very least, to succeed in failing.
If only they'd taught me that back in elementary school, I'd have been prepared for the world...
Long time friend, collaborator, and colleague Dylan Zalewski handles the camera, and keeps an eye on the general performance. Having majored in acting, he's in charge of making sure dip-shit artist folk like myself maintain my performance stamina. Thanks Buddy!
Everyone knows where I'd be without the lovely Miss Chastaine Tallon- rotting in a gutter somewhere! This performance was no different. Thanks a million Chass!
Chassy's grueling task was to mop the sweat from my face periodically, and then neatly hang them on the "Free Souvenir" wall. The theme of the show was "Souvenirs," and as you could probably guess, the act of offering them to the public for free- though theatrically appealing- did not seem to prompt much interest in getting the audience to actually take home some of my sweat as a memento of the performance. Oh well, more sweat rags for me. You'll be sorry you didn't take one when I'm auctioning them on e-bay for a thousand bucks a piece!!
MENTIONS FROM THE PRESS:
So although the show reviews were a bit fluffier than they were critical, the show, as well as my piece, at least garnered some attention from the media. The numerous mentions helped give the show exposure, and I was happy that the writers were apparently intrigued with the concept of my piece. As an eager emerging artist, I'll take what I can get!
Third Coast Digest (preview):
The pieces in the showcase vary from light to weighty, from wordless to a scream, with lots of audience participation. Some pieces are twists on acts from traditional carnivals. Rather than a typical weightlifter, Joseph R. Reeves will be representing the struggle of his artistic endeavors by holding the massive weight of his ego as an artist above his head for two hours...
Third Coast Digest:
…John Loscuito and Pegi Christiansen are organizing their fifth such showcase. Among the many attractions is conceptual weightlifter Joseph R. Reeves. Reeves will hold the massive weight of his artistic ego over his head for two hours. He must be strong. Reeves’ act fits the five-tent, 15-booth carnival format of the showcase. Free-will donation at the door ($5 suggested, $3 for students)...
Shepherd Express:
John Schneider, an inspirational multi-disciplinary artist whom I was lucky enough to interview and meet during the "My Vote Performs" project wrote:
…I know only two of the artists. Theresa Columbus, the endearing former impresario of Milwaukee’s main performance art venue Darling Hall, returns from Baltimore to perform “The Artist Statement” about her struggle to compose one. Filmmaker Joe Reeves, his back to us as he faces a camera, will reveal “the massive weight of his ego” via his televised face as he supports the screen on his shoulder for two hours.
Third Coast Digest:
…Here’s one I can identify with: artist Joseph R. Reeves will hold his ego above his head for two hours, which is way longer than most of the artists I know can. Actually, the ones I know wear their egos on their sleeves, no offense intended….
No comments:
Post a Comment