HOW TO: Shotgun a Beer, w/ Mikey Kusnecki

  Mikey Kusnecki is a die hard, beer loving, Milwaukee-native, who you surely know from his popular stint as a television host on the canceled hit television show "Mikey Kusnecki's Packer and Beer Forum."
   He is a character I created back in college for my final biology experiment, when I created a HOW-TO video on home brewing beer, and studied the various chemical properties of yeast within the "yeast pitching" process (yeah, they obviously encourage a creative slant to biology in art school, but this was still pushing the envelope). Anyhow, the video was a hoot to make, and despite Mikey's character, I still managed to fill the video with an informed overview of the beer-brewing process.
   More recently, I think I decided to bring this character back as both an outlet to my circumstances of living in a basement in North Dakota for the time being. I can also entirely get behind the notion that Mikey's character allows me to embrace my roots as a mid-westerner, that through my relentless traveling I have come to embrace, while still opposing in many ways. It's a love hate relationship, and as much as I might oppose certain aspects of life there, I have roots I will never cut in my wonderful city, Milwaukee, and wherever I go, I will never lose my mid-west pride.
   The video is a little slow paced for the Youtube generation, but to cut it up, and make it catchy enough for kids now'a days, I would have had to sacrifice the ultimate subtleties that make Mikey a true character, paying true homage to the mid-west. Like it or not America- this one's for my homies. 

"The Weight of the World On My Shoulders" Milwaukee Performance Art Showcase 2010:

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….

THE LAST GREAT american NOVEL

I feel like a pretentious bastard to say this, but I am writing THE LAST GREAT american NOVEL. Really now though, I am. I will be leaving on the 22nd of SEPT, and will be going on a one year trip to CALIFORNIA. Me and my two partners in crime, DYLAN ZYLEWSKI, and BRIAN OLSEN- are leaving Milwaukee with an enormous van, my parents pop-up camper, about a thousand bucks, and all the necessary implements of destruction we will need to survive and create art along the way.
It is sure to be the adventure of a lifetime, and along with the intent of moving to California and fleeing from the Milwaukee winter time- is the intent to write a novel based on the experiences we have along the way. We have a few people in a few states that we will visit, but for the most part, the journey is entirely improvisational. We most certainly do not have enough money, and part of the adventure will be having to find random jobs along the way.
A blogspot much like this one, has been created to detail EVERY aspect of the trip as it unfolds. This is including a list of our materials along the way, random thoughts or observations, character profiles of people we meet on the road, future/current plans, updated financial details, excerpts of the in process novel as well as various other photography, writing, sculpture, drawing- basically, the blog will serve as an interactive format for others to monitor our travels, our adventure, and our thoughts at the time. PLEASE CHECK THIS BLOG OUT! I PROMISE WE WILL KEEP IT UPDATED ALMOST DAILY! ALSO, I have already posted the first draft of the PREFACE on this site. It can be seen at: www.THELASTGREATamericanJOURNEY.blogspot.com


BRIAN OLSEN a.k.a. "B.O."
DYLAN ZYLEWSKI a.k.a. "D- MONEY"

Joseph R. Reeves a.k.a "Joseph R. Reeves Esq."

DONT FORGET TO FOLLOW AND MARK THIS BLOG! ONCE AGAIN, THE SITE IS:
www.THELASTGREATamericanJOURNEY.blogspot.com

"Life is an Envelope" (created by Dylan Zalewski)

This entertaining little DIY performance piece, was shot, written and performed by Dylan Zalewski; I actually had NOTHING to do with this piece, but I really enjoy the simple non edited process that Dylan applied (just pointing recording, and stopping manually on a Hi 8 handheld). I asked Dylan if I could post it here on my site, and he had no objections, he just wondered why. Well, I'm the first to admit to shameless self promotion; but that also applies to other unseen talent such as Mr. Zalewski here- I have a great deal of respect for him as an actor, performer, and artist- and will take any and all opportunities I get, to deservingly promote his exceeding talent... ON THAT NOTE- be sure to keep up with my site here, so you don't miss out on the details, or premiere of the latest Warrior Poet Production, "The Making of, The Making of, The..."
The 40 min short; written, directed, and produced by me- will feature Dylan Zalewski as the lead actor and co-producer, and is a production in association with Unannymous and Random Entertainment. I am very proud of the script, and our small crew is doing amazing at seeing to every detail of the production. If nothing else, I can promise you that this film will be like nothing else you have ever seen. It is scheduled for it's first showing on April 17th (Spring gallery night)- and will premiere as a component of my Senior Thesis Show at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. The second half of my thesis takes place in a seperate space at MIAD that will feature my sculpture, installation, and visual art works.

My Vote Performs

For the November 4 2008 elections, a highly ambitious, non-partisan, performance art organization called "My Vote Performs" (co-produced by Pegi Taylor, and John Loscuito), put together performance art pieces at 11 different polling places in the city of Milwaukee. The artists involved represent three decades of Milwaukee's finest performance artists. I was lucky enough to have been honored by Pegi and John, with the task of creating a doucmentary of the project in its entirety to be shown on the My Vote Performs website, as well as an open forum held at MIAD. The documentary is about 45 minutes, and catalogs the individual projects of all 11 artists, as well as our conversations concerning them. Thank you so much to John and Pegi for giving me this wonderful opportunity, as well as each artist for sharing their time and wisdom with me. I cannot express how wonderful and inspiring of a task this documentary has been for me, and how exciting it has been to work so closely with a project that I truely feel represents the importance of celebrating the democratic process, and our privelaged right to vote. The documentary can be found on the My Vote Performs official website, and is in the process of being sent out to various film festivals. I will keep updates about future screenings. http://www.myvoteperforms.com/index.html I encourage everyone to look into the amazing artists that were involved in the project, Renato Umali, Ted Brusabardis, Jill Sebastian, Steve Wetzel, John Schneider, Dasha Kelly, Raoul Deal, Miachael Pettit, Thewhiteboxpainters (Brent Budsberg, Shana McCaw, Mark Escribano, Harvey Opgenorth), and Debra Loewen.