Contemplating Perfection, Failure and Circles
2018
permanent marker on paper, video
Shown as part of STILL FIGURING OUT A TITLE
Undercover
2016
Artist Annice Jacoby in partnership with The Luggage Store, Alley Cat Books as well as dozens of volunteers staged a multi-day action in support of San Francisco's homeless who were being forcefully displaced from San Francisco's Mission District and adjacent areas in preparation for the 2016 Super Bowl. The Mission District is home to the greatest density of services for homeless citizens.
In addition to assisting with direct action, I created a site-specific projection installation at The Luggage Store using text excerpts from interviews I conducted with area homeless.
#5DAYS2HIPHOP
2015
Otis College of Art
5 days; M-F / 9a-5p, I learned "how to hip-hop dance" by watching YouTube videos and blasting Nicki Minaj's Beez in the Trap from an otherwise empty gallery.
The performance questions the perception of race in "high art" aesthetics as well as asks the viewer to consider the idea of YouTube as a credible source of learning. Additionally, the labor of the artist and the unique creative expressions of that labor (much like the labor of Black Americans) is highlighted by the time frame of the performance being during "regular working hours". Clearly my labor is not equivalent to the labor Black Americans have historically contributed to the wealth of our nation, and I have many privileges given to me by the sheer fact of being white, let alone in private art school. Through the blatant attempt to mimic and co-opt another culture under the guise of a Fine Art Graduate Thesis, my goal is to call that very act into question.
All 40 hours of the performance were live streamed to YouTube with no sound.The resulting archive, is a video series that mockingly references Durational Performance Art history. There is nothing to be learned by watching it.
Anecdotally, my show card, which was intentionally designed to resemble a flyer for a hiphop show, was flagged as spam by the Otis College of Art email listserve administrator multiple times despite being distributed through my department head. Interesting...
HSN Live
Made in LA Biennial at Hammer Museum
2014
Presented as a member of Los Angeles artist collective KCHUNG.
By mimicking the Home Shopping Network format this piece explores the introduction of plastics and aluminum products as a means of producing cheap consumer domestic goods.
By examining a series of sentimentalized mass-produced items, the multi-genrational influence of Tupperware and The Aluminum Manufacturing Company are highlighted as two examples of companies that influenced domestic and consumer life.
Additionally, the role of Tupperware in the Feminist movement is examined as is the role of Aluminum Manufacturing Company in 70s and 80s militarization of children through Scouting equipment.
Finally, the work questions the roll of the artist patron (many of America's Largest art supporting families have generations of monies in the oil and metals mining) by assembling the collections of objects into a Sculpture and a Painting to be sold in the museum via auction.
Both Sculptures are AVAILABLE
untitled
2014
Photo
AA in LA
2013
In partnership with Los Angeles Poverty Department's "Skid Row, biggest recovery community anywhere" series and Otis College of Art. We created a pop-up birthday party to celebrate the birth of AA in LA at the historic Hotel Cecil.
Members of LAPD read stories from the AA Big Book as well as parts of their own personal recovery stories.
A small marching band lead by Las Cafeteras band member Daniel French led participants and passers-by to the party.
Scenes of Domestic Bliss 1
2013
digital print on paper, live stream, clock
Created as part of Donuts & Clocks with For Your Art and Dawn Kasper.
For the week of the exhibit, viewers that scanned the QR code would be directed to a live feed of my kitchen thereby enabling them to find out what time it is by viewing the clock.
Additionally, I made no attempts to modify my behavior or perform for the feed, so at certain points, viewers would also see me cooking, cleaning or simply passing through the room.
Artist Interview w/ Alan Nakagawa on Ear Meal
2013
LUDDITE FALLACY, 2013
this house
is not a home
2012
Armory Center for The Arts : (F)Armory Site
A two day participatory public art event that encourages participants and viewers to explore hunger and homeless issues through the construction of a small house made of bread (day 1) and the eating of the house during a community brunch (day2).
A 6-week documentary photo series and workshops focusing on the key issues of food and housing insecurity followed in the Armory's Community Room. Produced in collaboration with Side Street Projects.
Record Listening Party!!!!
2012
Site Specific Event
LA Road Concerts : Mulholland Derive
A drop-in Record Listening Party, hosted from the back of my truck. All the records, had recently been acquired from my Grandmother and Great-Grandmother. The record player was one I used as a child. From this event I created a weekly radio program MYRTLE HOUR on KCHUNGradio.org
This Time...
It's Personal
Black Friday 2011
In response to the gross collapse of the US middle class, and "too big to fail" mentality, I interviewed shoppers about their debt at The Americana Mall in Glendale, California.
I then tallied their debts and wrote them a check for the amount from my recently defunct Washington Mutual Account. The back of each check reads "In 2010 JP Morgan Chase CEO James Dimon, received $12,560,000 in compensation. That's 380 times more than the average american."
The address on the check is my address at Cal Arts, the school where I studied, taking on the greatest amount of my debt at that point.
I didn't know how else to tell you..
2011
Presented at Shoshana Wayne Gallery and Ave 50 Gallery. Over the course of 2 weeks, I transcribed a text message exchange between me and my partner onto silver and green mylar balloons. The resulting collapse of balloons mirrors the collapsing dialogue of our exchange.
big boys cry
2008
Projection and Sound Installation
A large -scale immersive artwork. The faces of four men are projected, one on each wall of the gallery. Each moving, in slow motion, through a variety of emotional states. At times strange, endearing, and terrifying, the work attempts to create space for, and a greater understanding of, male emotion.
120-40-20 NA
2006
Video Performance Installation
An attempt to make peace with the painful and drawn out death of my Grandfather. A minor wound, an infection, ten attempts to get ahead of it, the loss of a leg, the loss of his mind.
Rock salt, representing the body, rests in piles of 120lbs (the weight of his full body), 40lbs (the weight of his leg), 20lbs (the weight of his arm).
During the performance I am seated over the 120lbs of salt. I wear a flesh colored vintage slip. In front of me, a video of plays of bare feet walking in tall grass. Behind, a loop of burned trees that resemble human bodies. To my sides, a seemingly endless, empty road pulls away from me. With my right arm, I hold my left leg behind me (the limbs he lost) until I am no longer physically able to do so. Each pile of salt is lit from within giving it an otherworldy glow.
a steady diet of solids, liquids and gasses,
2005
Video Sculpture
Created in direct response to the US Invasion of Iraq in 2004. An oversized mountain of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies is invaded by US Soldiers, while an equally oversized glass of milk (adjacent) displays images of a city under attack on its surface. The work is an examination of ideas of comfort, home and the effects of war on children on both sides.
