The Hipp Deck is a pop-up experiment that will transform the upper level of the 740 Euclid parking garage into an open-air live performance venue and public green space for one unforgettable night. The parking garage is on the site of the former Hippodrome Theater, a nationally renowned venue, demolished in 1981. The event will include live music performances, engaging art installations and a book release party for Cleveland Stories: true until proven otherwise.

The event will be:
Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011
6:30-9:30 PM
740 Euclid Avenue
*Free Admission

The large inflatable suit, Make it Look Rich, will be install on the top of the parking garage. There will be plenty of opportunity for small inflatable suit appearances as well.

Hipp Deck Flyer

Setting up Stuffed Full on Governors Island for the Governors Ball in the rain. Tomorrow this inflatable sculpture will be on display during the music festival. During the window for installation the clouds opened up with a wet downpour. With a little work all set up nicely. I will also be storming around in two inflatable suits, You Wear What I Wear and Hello. Bye.

Hope to see you there and have a blast.

Behind the inflatable suit that I am wearing is the studio at Sculpture Space in Utica, New York. This new piece is called Make it Look Rich and currently in a testing phase. After some adjustments and repairs, this suit will be heading out into the world. I wanted to make an inflatable suit that overpowered me and it looks like this is going down the right track.

My sewing machine is tearing through some new nylon during the construction of a core for a new inflatable suit at Sculpture Space. Now that I have the inner foundation, which includes four tubes for blower motors, I can tackle the fun part of the outer structure. I see a lot of red and yellow nylon in my future and some new Organ sewing needles.

The final stop of the Texas inflatable suit performance tour began outside Akard Station in Dallas. This is a shot of the suit in its bag with the portable battery pack next to it. Most people do not notice these two objects sitting on the street until the combination of the two results in a huge inflatable sculpture. Rain and strong winds did not stop the performance nor the public. Before suiting up, cameramen from CBS 11 and CW 33 interviewed me about my plans for the Dallas performance. A photographer from the Dallas Observer and Pegasusnews.com braved the wet and windy weather as well.

The Texas performance tour did not have any hiccups. After spending an extended period in Texas during graduate school, it will always fell like one of the places that I can call home. I look forward to the next time I return to Texas with new work. Thank you to all the patrons of the arts in Texas.

You Wear What I Wear hit the streets of Houston starting at Sam Houston Park. Houston is a great city for the arts and I enjoy doing public performances there. As usual for a Friday lunch break, the public was ready for action. The next and final stop on the Texas tour is in Dallas on April 2nd at 12:00 noon. I will start outside of Akard Station (Akard St and Pacific Ave) and then head into the city.

Deborah Cannon of the Austin American-Statesman came out during the performance to snap some documentary photographs. One appeared in the Metro-State section in the Saturday paper. There is also an online slide show at Austin360.com that has more photographs from the performance.

The performance began at the corner of Cesar Chavez Street and Congress Avenue. Due to the SXSW Festival I had to further south on Congress and walk across the bridge. The sun beat down on the street and people crammed the cafes and restaurants. As I made my way toward the capitol I slammed into traffic lights, trash cans, storefront windows, buses and just about everything else. I met some people during the trek and filled the tiny screens of cell phone cameras. It has been almost a year since I performed in Austin in Big Red and was sucked into a parking garage by the wind. This time You Wear What I Wear braved the wind and did not falter once.

Next week I will be performing in Houston, Texas. The performance starts at 12:00 noon at Sam Houston Park on the 19th. Hope to see you there.

Jeanne Claire van Ryzin of the Austin American-Statesman interviewed me about the Austin stop of my Texas inflatable suit tour. As the article title states, the inflatable suit man is returning to Austin. Tomorrow I take You Wear What I Wear to the corner of Cesar Chavez Street and Congress Avenue and the charge into the city. The last time I trucked an inflatable suit to Austin was during the 2009 Fusebox Festival about a year ago. That time I faced my nemesis, strong winds. This time I am prepared with a nearly wind-proof inflatable suit.

Read the article on Austin360.com or click on the picture for a larger image.