RECOGNITION = LIFE on JUNE 27 @ 4pm

“I’ve learned in my adult life that the will to silence the truth is always and everywhere as strong as the truth itself. So it is a necessary fight we will always be in: those of us who struggle to understand our common truths, and those who try to erase them.” - Paul Monette

The words of Paul Monette are hitting me hard right in the heart right now with both an emotionally powerful urgency and resounding universality, as relevant as today as when he wrote them over 20 years ago. On June 27 at 4:30pm I will present  “Recognition = Life”, a 45-minute tribute to Paul and the creative spirit of West Hollywood residents who are no longer with us as part of The City of West Hollywood’s One City One Pride LGTBQ Arts Festival “WeHo@30”.  It’s part of a day of theatre and the show “West Hollywood This Is Your Life”.  It all begins at Fiesta Hall in Plummer Park at 4pm (3:30pm door) and includes a variety of extraordinary performances until 9pm, co-hosted by Ian MacKinnon and Odious Ari produced by APT3F & Planet Queer. Check out the facebook invite at:
https://www.facebook.com/events/870889636291351/

I will be combining spoken word along with a cast (Atasiea, Harpal Sodhi, and Qlint Steinhauser) using dance movement, live music (musician Ahmond on guitar) and video art to honor his powerful voice in both his essays and poetry. There’s a particularly enthralling mix of strength and sensitivity in his writing, from his bold essays on gay rights and AIDS activism to the heartfelt emotion of the loss of his lover Roger Horwitz. They speak clearly and compellingly to us in contemporary times and engage on both page and stage. 

"Recognition = Life"
Fiesta Hall in Plummer Park
7377 Santa Monica Blvd 

(Free parking for full day in both north and south parking lots - north lot off Fountain Blvd, south lot off Santa Monica - Fiesta Hall is in the middle and west side of park just off North Vista St.)

"West Hollywood This Is Your Life" begins at 4pm, doors 3:30pm

suggested $5 donation covers full day of performances
SCHEDULE
4:00 pm - Hank Henderson’s HomoCentric brings together diverse voices in LGBTQ writing.

4:30pm "Recognition = Life" created by Jason Jenn with Atasiea, Harpal Sodhi, Qlint Steinhauser and Ahmond on guitar. With special guest performance by Yozmit
5:30 pm - Ian MacKinnon’s Get More Gay Performance Workshop's “Flirty Thirty: The WeHo Queer History Project” explores West Hollywood LGBT history in a series of performance pieces by: David Parke Epstein, Edwin Alexis Gomez, AJ Goodrich, Andrea Lambert, Ricky Luna, Ian MacKinnon, Martin Matamoros, Corey Saucier, Jean Spinosa, & Travis Wood
6:50 pm - APT 3F and PLANET QUEER host a variety show with artists celebrating Pride and WeHo's b-day! Performances by: Bitsy la Bourbon, Heather Damage, Queerella deVille, Keith Hunter, Leon Mancilla, Leopold Nunan, & Raymond Kym Suttle
7:45 pm - REACH LA presents "Face Over 30: The Road To Ovahness," an original theatrical production about a young man's journey to redemption, through the lens of queer ballroom culture.

'This event is presented as part of the City of West Hollywood's One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival, which this year celebrates the 30th Anniversary of Cityhood with the theme 'WeHo@30, Life@30'. Events take place from Harvey Milk Day, May 22nd, to the end of June, with a special full day of theatre in Plummer Park on June 27. For more info and to see a full roster of events please visit :www.weho.org/pride. 

HOT Couture

April Hava Shenkmen invited people to a performance "inside herself"

A theme for this month is HOT Couture, with various friends (& multimedia artist colleagues) displaying their custom fashion creations for gallery openings and performances. 

It started off when I made a quick cosmic cape for R. SKY Palkowitz, the Deulsional Diva's opening night of "Pancakes & Booze Art Show" the two day big crowd-pleasing art party, known for showcasing a lot of artists while serving up drinks and deluxe mini-pancakes (this time they had red velvet - my favorite). I had some pink sparkling and neon lime green fabric pieces just lying around waiting to be made into something out of this world, and Sky's showcase of her alien art was the perfect occasion to whip up some fun. I enjoy making my own unusual theatrical wardrobe designs from time to time, and am glad to put my modest sewing skills to use (coming soon: a new costume for "Planet Queer: Asteroid of Misfit Toys" on May 19).

SKY in front of some of her alien artwork

Then came international performing sensation Yozmit Avalokita's picnic in the park to celebrate his birthday. The surprise twist came when guests arrived to discover our picnic was taking place upon one of her very own custom made dresses. It's a great example of combining worlds of high fashion and performance art into a sublime transcendent experience, something Yozmit has made a great career of doing over the years. (check out http://www.theyozmit.com/ or search keyword "yozmit" in my blog for my artist profile and photos).

Yozmit prepares some homemade sushi for guests

And then there was the opening reception for the Iam8Bit gallery exhibition "Grace & Ritual: Hidden", in which April Hava Shenkman created a monument sized tent-like version of herself called "inside herself". She then invited guests to enter her giant dress, where a cute theatrical space existed for her to amuse audiences with an intimate durational performance piece. It was part stand-up, part cabaret, part Alice-In-Wonderland experience that was a major highlight of the gallery show. So wonderful to see her performance art merge with visual art and take it to a grand scale. 

(Again you can search my blog for a profile on her body of work.)

Once "inside herself" April delivers some of her trademark improv performance

The LA creative scene is always finding imaginative ways to combine fashion and performance. More HOT couture moments to come!

April comes from a very creative family

Jared Whitham: fiancé/creative genius/ technical supporter

Gathering for Yozmit's birthday celebration

Dogs were welcome and love picnicing on Yozmit's dress too

The Delusional Diva usually paints herself as colorful as her art

Behind the Scenes of Alek Sandar's "Creature In Me" Video

On set for Alek Sandar's music video

In November of 2011, my dear friend and performing art colleague Yozmit invited me to tag along during the making of her friend, Alek Sandar's music video at a studio in Brooklyn. It included a very talented cast of well known NY performing artists. The artists were quite friendly and open to my documenting as long as I waited to post the pics until after the video was released. So here are some of the pics I caught.

I wish I could have stayed for the full day to really hang out and take in all the amazing performances, but they had a pretty long day of shooting. The glimpses I caught during the time I was there were stunning - as is the entire video, which you can view at: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3z-wmu4Ksk

Support the artist by purchasing his inspiring single at iTunes! You will be happy you released that creature inside you - so dance and sing away!

Handsome Alek Sandar sneaking around

Alek and crew documenting away

The amazingly talented Jonathan Nosen inside his mirror ball costume.
Afterwards he shared how heavy the costume is - how he does what he does is amazing.

Jonathan is a very successful performance artist: http://acroback.com/

Yozmit arrives to the studio in Brooklyn in true diva style

I love Yozmit!

Yozmit shares a glimpse of one of her creations used in the video

The video's goddess before her shoot

I so loved that the son of the dancer lights his mother on fire!

Yozmit watches the firebird do her thing

The last pic I captured before smoke alarms went off and I had to dash away!

Walk: Make Art Whatever the Weather & Artist Profile: Yozmit

Here's a photo to emphasize that taking art walks is a necessity no matter how cold it is outside!

When it comes to inspiring urban environments to walk among, New York City ranks high and mighty. It's a city of numerous stimulating sights and sounds. It can be flourishing and pulsating, gritty and intense, vibrant and exhilarating, and at times overwhelming! This past week I was happy to trade in the t-shirts of Los Angeles for the bundled up layers of the Big Apple. I love the ease of moving around a city built for pedestrians, and even though my cheeks got rosy and my fingers numb at times, I was thrilled to be exercising my feet, and in the process my brain (see last week's post about the neurological benefits of regular walks).

Even though I saw shows (a few Broadway, an edgy alternative dance and an intimate cabaret) and art exhibitions, nothing quite thrills me like taking long walks in the NYC streets. And after feasting upon images of all sorts for several days, I ended my trip by meeting up with some fellow artist friends for a couple of photo shoots. This week, I focus my attention on Yozmit Mukta Avalokita, a very multi-talented gender-transcendent artist, fashion designer, performer, musician, and spiritualist.

Yo and I met several years ago in Rachel Rosenthal workshops. We've performed and collaborated in several pieces together. When I first moved to MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, Yo was my neighbor and welcomed me to the 'hood by taking me on my first walk through the park (which I have subsequently documented diligently during many a dog walk) and to lunch at Mama's Hot Tamales (a fixture of the community). His home for the past several years is NYC. I visited her in spring while she was involved in the performance recreations of Marina Abramovic's "The Artist is Present" exhibition at MOMA and it was great to visit once more this month.

I wanted to mark the occasion by taking photos of Yo for part of a new series I'm working on pairing up artist friends with digitally manipulated flowers that expresses part of their artistic personality (you'll see examples in time - these pictured here are pre-process). When Yo choose the lotus blossom, I thought shooting Yo underwater would be great. In asking Yo if he knew of anywhere we could do that, he declared Central Park. I was thinking a tub or an indoor pool. Somehow the freezing temperatures didn't seem to phase her, but I didn't want to risk her catching pneumonia.

She assured me that meeting up in the park and seeing what happened was the best way to go. I liked and trusted her approach. It didn't take long for us to find the perfect spot - a section of a pond near the southeast corner was covered with a thin layer of ice. So Yo stripped above the chest and laid out partially on the ice.

Because the process of making art is a very spiritual one for Yo, he mentioned that after the initial shock of cold, it didn't seem to bother him very much - it was a matter of mental discipline to ignore it.  A little crowd gathered around us, shocked that someone would brave the elements like she was.

After the shoot we continued our reunion by strolling around the park and talking about the importance of walking in the artistic process. We discussed spontaneity and being open to the surprises of nature - how surrendering our minds allows for an experience of transcendence. At times we took notice of the placement of leaves on the ground or little birds foraging for food. At one point Yo was elated to come upon an arrangement of tree branches that reminded her of the exact image she had in a dream the night before and showed me her sketch of it in her journal.

During our time together I definitely got the sense that Yozmit's spiritual and artistic growth is combining in beautiful ways. I got to hear an early track of upcoming music that combines pop/dance sensibility with spirituality. The lotus blossom's roots in the murky depths and beautiful flowering bloom above the water is the perfect representation for her.

"Walking is something very ordinary, but something very special, like the present moment...life."

- Yozmit

Yozmit is currently doing a series of "walks" - part performance, part meditative art pieces in which she dresses up in her self-designed and made costume/fashions and moves through various locations. To see more of Yozmit's art, ranging from the shocking to the spiritual - go to: http://yozmit.com/

Yozmit in full regalia during one of her performance/meditative walks in Bedstuy, Brooklyn recently.
Photo by Jonathan Balthaser