Joseph R. Reeves: Art at a Glance (interview for "C E N T E R" gallery opening)

"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….

"All The Stars In The Sky (1843 to be exact)"

In an effort to exercise the "wit of brevity," I will keep my writing to a minimum on this piece. You may recognize this concept from one of my earlier studies here on the blog, one that WAS written about. Since its back a few pages, I'll spare you the hassle of having to go through everything, and I'll just include the link here:

                "All The Stars," small scale study, and concept writing

The actual large scale implementation that you see above, was aesthetically developed as a result to the conditions by which it was created. Basically, I decided I would use only 3 blue sharpie's for the whole piece, and however many stars I could get out of those three, would determine the scope of the project. If they were still running strong, I would still be working on this piece. As it happened, I made a total of 1843 stars before all three sharpies died, and yes I did keep track of them. 

Although it is a simple concept, I like that the outcome is determined by my initial decisions/restrictions. I am working on a whole series of these pieces, using different methods to determine the somewhat randomized outcome i.e. one canvas, I may decide to draw 10,000 stars, and whatever it looks like at 10,000, is the final product. If your intrigued by the concept, be sure to check out the extensive writing found a few pages back, on the small scale study. In the meantime, here's some fun process photo's.

Much more to come y'all! Most of my recent work has yet to be posted, so I'm going to just bite the bullet and start posting a bit sloppier writing in favor of "getting-er-done," as many so fondly put it...

"Eyes On The Prize," Screened Live At Milwaukee's Firestarter Film Festival

This is a piece I did for the "Firestarter Film Festival" competition, that is difficult to describe. If I HAD to, I would say the piece is mostly about the process of me actually making the movie within the 24 hours of the festival, and more specifically, me humorously playing off of my desire to win the festivals competition prizes.  

The criteria said that the piece needs to be 2 minutes (something which I pretty much failed to do), and that it be about "Snow." Since I started AND finished the piece within the 24 hours before the festival had taken place, the last snowfall in Milwaukee was long gone, and I ended up using "Snow" as merely a reference point for my failing to meet the specified guidelines. The subject matter in it's entirety, began to reference itself in both process, and intent- ALSO, I managed to have some fun razzing the Festivals creators Shawn Monaghan, and Phil Koch- a point which was purely in good fun, and successfully worked as a subversive contrast to how IDIOTICALLY I portray myself in comparison; a humorous allusion to the age old artist vs. curator tension.
In the end, I created a piece that was about a competition that I didn't even rightfully qualify for; the important thing though, is that I had a hell of a time making it, and I somehow found a way to make the success of my piece, be based on the reality of its failure. As an artist and filmmaker, I am always trying to challenge the boundaries of each medium, by using one to aggressively confront the other- something that I think I also found success with in this work
From the beginning to the end (not counting credits, OR the short excerpt AFTER the "End" title) the piece STILL stands about 2 minutes and 35 seconds. What can I say, I just don't know when to quit.
Thanks to Shawn, Phil, and Firestarter Films for giving me a venue to show, an audience to watch, and another excuse to continue creating ridiculously fun works of video art!

You can also view this on YouTube

"The Cell Phone Photo Gallery," Curated By Joseph R. Reeves

So, for the very humble hand full of people that have been faithfully following my various endeavors within art, writing, and film; you may recall my very first installation of "The Cell Phone Photo Gallery," that was cooked up my senior year at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design well over a year ago. At the time, I was very excited about the concept itself and entirely pleased with the small scale version of it that I was able to install. Since then, I had kept it in the forefront of my mind as a project that needed to be given its full extent of potential as soon as I could find a space large enough to host the show.

Over a year later, after having done a substantial amount of traveling and living on the road while working on the in-process manuscript for THE LAST GREAT american JOURNEY; I had returned to milwaukee to work for a month or two, in efforts to collect some cash to continue my traveling (I am in Eugene, OR. as I type this, and Portland bound by tomorrow). During my prolific little stint in Milwaukee, I did everything that I couldn't do on the road, and I pushed my studio practice to the fullest, almost always working large scale- mostly because it's not an option when you're living out of your back pack. Out of the whole batch of work, my biggest accomplishment was definitely the full scale implementation of "The Cell Phone Photo Gallery."

It just so happened that during my time in Milwaukee, a serendipitous little happening took place that randomly ended up getting me a job with iNViDiA DESIGN. Since these guys had the means to support a show of this caliber, I immediately began forming an in depth proposal. The extensive 8 page proposal outlined the budget, construction, implementation, and any/all otherdetails concerning the show.

I must've done something right because the proposal was accepted, and I had just over a month to collect the photo's and build a gallery for the humungous, pillar-lined Pritzlaff building. I was very grateful that M.A.R.S./iNViDiA was willing to give me the space I needed.

By using social networking devices such as text messaging, and Facebook, I was able to generate allot of interest in the show, and even more importantly, I was able to boost the number of submissions a bit. The main efforts we put forth with our highly modest budget, were in pounding the pavement, hitting the street, and littering Milwaukee with fliers requesting that people submit us their favorite cell phone photos for the gallery. An important aspect of my approach was that all the photographs would remain entirely anonymous, and pretty much anything was acceptable as content.

Opening these subversive possibilities up to complete strangers was intriguing to me because in a sense, it gives a very broad audience a certain amount of control over the content as a whole. In this way, my role as "curator" is both loose and debatable. To this extent, I believe I am working towards the idea of using curating as a medium in itself.

I collected over 600 pictures for The Cell Phone Photo Gallery, and I see this project as one that will continue to develop through the years. As I continue to travel, I am beginning to flirt with the notion of collecting photos regionally, but like usual, I will make those decisions as they come.

The idea of representing the photos eventually in a book is also a possibility- if you're interested in providing me with space for a show, or are interested in the possibilities of seeing this idea in print, e mail JOSEPHREEVESART@YAHOO.COM

I could sit here and elaborate on this exhibition till the cows come home, but to a certain extent, I feel like doing so would limit the convenient elbow room I left you for contemplation. So, UN-like a curator, I am going to shut the hell up and let you do some inventing. No short cuts to thinking around here folks, sorry.

If you'd like to read some more about the concept, check out the original posting of the small scale version- if you click on "CURATING" on the side bar here, under categories, it's probably the only other piece I have under that heading, but hell, who knows. It was interesting for me to go back to, maybe it will be for you too.

THANKS SOOOOO MUCH:

to Chastaine Tallon, Austin Gardener, and Brian Olsen, who assisted me in the major construction of the show, the printing of the pictures, and the distribution of the fliers. Their efforts were crucial to the successful outcome of this event, and I am forever grateful.

The awesome graphic design for the fliers, was compliments of Chastaine Tallon. Chassy specializes in collaborating with artists, so anyone in need of a thoughtful, intelligent, designer that understands the art of design, I highly recommend her services. E-mail me if you need her contact info.

A final thank you, goes to M.A.R.S., for giving me the space to have this show. If it weren't for their trust in my proposal, and their support of my concept, this show couldn't have happened.

"All The Stars In The Sky," Drawn in Ball-Point Pen (Small Scale Study #1)

Upon returning recently from my latest adventures throughout sunny Florida, I have had the privilege of satisfying my urges to push quantities of work in an attempt to whet my more-so (recently) mania driven appetite in the realm of visual arts. This is not only because my "traditional" studio practice isn't quite as feasible to maintain outside the studio and on the road, but because of my tendencies to work several pieces at once, and to explore relative concepts that come to me organically and satisfy a certain physical or psychological need within me. Put another way, I don't work on a piece if I don't have the literal need to work on it; similarly to the way a person wouldn't make love or masturbate without the urge to do so.
That being said, it can be observed with practicality that I would return on such a trip that forces me to be exhausting more internal facets of creativity such as writing, poetry, note taking, meditation, photography, etc.; and now feel the need to work aggressive, experimental, physical, and visually oriented works.
Similarly to some of my more meditative work, this piece almost develops aesthetically from within the first marks of its original conception, and is only loosely controlled through the implementation of the process.
Essentially, I very quickly drew and re-drew the simple five lined star that we all learn to make in kindergarten- I did this over and over again using a variety of sizes from one inch stars, to one foot stars, and repeated this for a few hours every single day. Not only did this provide an insightful opportunity for aesthetic development and reflection at the end of every days session, but it provided a certain time slot for me to relax my tensions in the frustrations of art-making by venting creatively.
Many have likened this quality to some of my work as therapeutic, and suggested that I work more toward that field (art therapy), however; although I do not work against, or deny this observation- why must any/all other facets of art be lacking this self healing quality? I was led to believe very early, that this was always a major function of art, no matter what your subject, medium, or intent are. I hope we do not begin to compartmentalize this healthy function of art as a new trend or movement, but conversely- strive to fulfill that personal importance as an asset to any artists working philosophy, whether someone paints a vase, a figure, a circle, or a wall.
I will continue to work off of what was observed in this smaller scale study (2'x2'), and am already considering how I will go about making these into large scale pieces. Since I used only one blue ball point pen, on a scrap board painted over in house paint- I have allot of decisions to consider when making the leap to large scale.
No matter what I decide for the future works, I cannot help but be amazed in the beauty of the single star itself, and then the resulting pattern created by obsessive repetition, and aggressive spontaneity.

A Simple form, untactfully placed;
sequentially repeated, the unit erased-
marriage of function, disparage of form,
essentially deforming the symbol first born.

dramatic reformation is creative masturbation.
clean up your mess, it is time to embrace
this curious new form.

Taken From Joseph R Reeves Esq.
(The Life, The Writings, and the Essential Life Writings of Joseph R Reeves Esq: p.26, par.4, WPP. '09)