It’s Halloween week, which means the spirits are out in full force while the veil between worlds is at its thinnest. It’s a week associated with all manner of costumes, witchery, spooks, haunts, festive fabulousness AND it’s the perfect time to honor with photos and some words the artistry and friendship of
Ian MacKinnon! He’s someone I'm blessed to call friend and of whom I am also a huge fan!
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| A trio of Nymphomancer Witches |
I had the sublime honor of performing with Ian earlier this week as he led cohort Danny Hill and I as a trio of The Gayly Forward to Video Nymphomancer Witches! We performed a 20 minute set which had us casting a spell to activate gay consciousness and fight oppressive hetero-dominant forces in order to save the world from destruction and overpopulation (if you haven’t heard this Halloween marks 7 BILLION people on planet Earth)! We had a serious message, but we did it in a fiercely festive way which is very much Ian’s style.
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| Poster for Gay Hist-Orgy Part 2 |
It’s inspiring to watch Ian’s growth as both a performance artist and dedicated gay activist over the past decade. His passion for creating powerful gay-centered performance art that is psychologically engaged is exactly the kick in the pants Los Angeles has needed to wake itself up out of its oh-too-cool facade. His works are often informative and educational, but anything but boring as he adds into the mix a great deal of sexiness, camp, satirical absurdity, and gobs of glitter!
He transformed his “festish for gay history” into a romp of a ride called “Ian MacKinnon’s Gay Hist-orgy” - with Parts 1 & 2 set to launch once more in early 2012! Ian does a great job of honoring his influences and paying respect to our past history. A must see for all card-carrying gays.
He holds space and built a community for numerous queer artists to present their work with “Queer Mondays” that occurs most months at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica on the last calendar monday. It’s a place I’ve cherished and been oh so fortunate to have developed new experimental works at and gotten to know a lot of amazing performers as a result.
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| Ian sings center surrounded by the band Discount Cruise to Hell |
He co-founded the outrageous and macabre glittery-punk performance art band called “Discount Cruise to Hell” which for many years set sail taking audience members on a costumed ride to the underworld. I’m constantly in awe at the talent that exudes from his fingertips and vocal chords on a regular basis, writing songs that he plays on both keyboard and guitar, performing regularly at venues like Wig-Out (a venue hosted by the amazing Jean Spinoza) and numerous other clubs across town.
We collaborated to present a full day of gloriously gay activities that honored the great gays of past history with “Gay May Day” in 2010 at my loft space at the time The Pollination Pavilion. Ian directed a group of us to perform “Rehearsal for the Destruction of Atlantis” by Jack Smith. It was definitely a highlight of the year and brought a bunch of wonderful people together I now have the pleasure of calling friends as well.
I could go on and on for my admiration, and will indeed, as time goes on and more blogs are posted about collaborations and mutual endeavors.
Ian MacKinnon not only rocks, he sparkles!
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