March 1st, 2010 — Art
FOX 29 sent a reporter and cameraman out to the Main Plaza to cover the San Antonio performance. Anchors Michael Valdez and Mileka Lincoln introduce the work by asking the audience how many times something bright and colorful runs into them. At the end the weather man makes a joke about someone giving the excuse of, “I saw a monster, I swear.” for why they wrecked their car.
February 26th, 2010 — Art
The Texas inflatable suit tour began in San Antonio on Friday. At the chime of noon from the bells of the Cathedral of San Fernando I unpacked my suit in the Main Plaza downtown. Camera crews from the local NBC and FOX stations met me and conducted a brief interview before I inflated the suit. After all questions were answered I put the suit on and started blazing a trail though the plaza with cameramen in tow. Lunch time on Friday is a great time for performances because everyone is in a good mood. The next performance will be in Austin on March 12. It will start at 1st and Congress at 12:00 noon. Other cities on the tour include Houston and Dallas.
February 17th, 2010 — Art
I am kicking off a Texas inflatable performance tour with a performance of You Wear What I Wear in San Antonio, Texas on February 26, 2010 at 12:00 p.m. The performance in San Antonio will begin in the main plaza downtown and will take an organic trip through the surrounding city. Other cities on the tour include Austin, Houston and Dallas.
I appeared on the KENS 5 Great Day San Antonio morning show to announce the start of the performance tour in San Antonio. Eileen Teves and I tried out two inflatable suits in the KENS 5 parking lot to open the show. The event on the 26th is free and open to the public. I hope to see you there.
Link to video on KENS 5 website:
http://www.kens5.com/great-day-sa/Inflatable-Art-84602962.html
January 27th, 2010 — Art
Apparently Fox News picked up the feed from Nina Criscuolo’s story as well. The Fox Report with Shepard Smith aired a bit about the inflatable suit performance in the Across America segment.
Link to Fox News clip:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/3991081/across-america-127-/?playlist_id=86856
January 22nd, 2010 — Art
Nikki Patrick of the Morning Sun interviewed my at the opening of Things Bigger Than People. The next day the Morning Sun published a nice article about the exhibition.
Link to the article:
http://www.morningsun.net/featured/x231950598/Performance-artist-s-exhibit-opens
January 21st, 2010 — Art
CBS News picked up the story by Nina Criscuolo of KOAM 7. I found out because friends in other states emailed to say that they saw me on the news in their respective cities. The clip is shorter that Nina’s original but reached a wider audience. Thank you Nina and thank you CBS.
Link to video on CBSNEWS.com:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6127289n
January 21st, 2010 — Art
Nina Criscuolo of KOAM 7, a CBS station, braved the wet and cold to shoot video of my inflatable suit performance trek down Broadway in in Pittsburg. She followed me down the street documenting my visits to fast food restaurant parking lots as well as the reactions of the people of Pittsburg. Nina also reports for the local FOX station KFJX 14.
Link to the story on KOAM:
http://www.koamtv.com/global/story.asp?s=11861162
Link to the story on KFJX:
http://www.fox14tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11861162
January 21st, 2010 — Art
Rain showers and chilly weather greeted me in the morning. The forecast said that the rain would stop in time for the performance. Although the rain stopped the ground still had plenty of mud and puddles to mess up my shoes. After talking with some local students I took the inflatable suit outside of Porter Hall and began to inflate it.
Even though I refer to these pieces as inflatable suits, the suit part of the name does not seem to register in the audience’s minds until I put one on. This held true in Pittsburg as well. I careened into lampposts and jumped up on benches while chasing students around the center of campus. When classes changed I blocked a door to one of the halls for a bit.
I made my way to Broadway and noticed a camera crew trudging along behind me. The wind made progress up the street slow, but since it was lunch time the fast food restaurants were full. At each face stuffing establishment I slammed into the windows and looked into the eyes of smiling but perplexed diners. Many people came outside to snap pictures.
As I took a break at 4th and Broadway the intrepid camera crew from earlier caught up with me and asked for an interview. It turns out that they were from the local FOX and CBS affiliates. Part of the work is connecting with other people that I do not know and searching for the humanity in this world. I did a little of both in Pittsburg. As I stood wet and tired on the side of the road a local woman who said that I made her day asked if I needed a lift. I said, “Sure, and thanks.”
January 20th, 2010 — Art
Tomorrow I will install an inflatable installation called, Things Bigger Than People, at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. The show will consist of two pieces and a public performance. Air to Air Communication and Stuffed Full will inflate into the University Gallery and the Harry Krug Gallery. On the same day I will roam the streets of Pittsburg in You Wear What I Wear and will give an artist talk in the afternoon.
Link to Exhibition Card
Exhibition: January 21 – February 26, 2010
Gallery Hours: M – F 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Performance
January 21, 2010
Porter Hall, 11:30 am
Reception
January 21, 2010
Porter Hall, 3:00 pm
Lecture
January 21, 2010
Room 316 Hughes Hall, 2:00 pm
Pittsburg State University
Art Department
University Gallery, Porter Hall
1701 S. Broadway, Pittsburg, KS 66762
December 18th, 2009 — Art
On a calm day under the Gateway Arch I unpacked Big Red for perhaps its last performance. The suit shows the wounds and scars from many exciting performances. My first performance in St. Louis served as a fitting tribute to a joyful companion. Luckily the wind cooperated and allowed the suit to bound gracefully around the city.
A group of spectators awaited the inflation of the suit and more gathered as the red cones thrust into the sky. After spinning around the Arch grounds I headed toward the Old Courthouse on Market Street. Security guards at the courthouse did not know if they should take pictures with their cell phones or call for backup as I climbed the stairs to smash into the tall columns. They decided to smile and take pictures. Perplexed businessmen going to lunch attempted to dodge between parking meters and cars as I confronted them on the sidewalk.
I turned on 16th Street toward Washington Avenue. As the streets narrowed I abandoned the sidewalk and took a lane of traffic when necessary. A sign caught one of the spikes and I needed to tie it of to keep the suit inflated. As a I approached the river another sign attached to a lamppost tore a large hole in the suit and I let it deflate.
Later in the afternoon, Andrew James of the Good Citizen Gallery hosted a casual meet and greet for me. There I took out You Wear What I Wear and ran around Gravois. I enjoyed meeting everyone at the gallery. Thank you to Andrew for the reception and than you to everyone that came out for the performance. I hope you enjoyed it.
