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About a month ago I shot Jocelyn Foye’s first Roller Derby Project, the results of which are currently on display at Angels Gate in the show New In Town. You can read all about that shoot here. Joceyln wanted to try another take on the project, a version that was more focused on motion than on impact, and using a deeper clay surface than the first piece. So the surface that Joceyln is smoothing above is smaller, but covered with 150 pounds of clay - much thicker than the first version. It was way, way heavier than the first version. Jocelyn also wanted this version to have fewer hits, but that those hits be along the surface, capturing more lateral motion than the first piece. Again, LA Derby Dolls Kelly MacIntosh (Smacdown) and Diana Brooks (Thunder Kiss) were the performers/models for the shoot and they did another bang up job.

The first order of business was moving the clay panel into position. Unlike the first panel, this one couldn’t rest on the floor, so it had to be lifted into position. 150 pounds of clay on top of 1/2″ MDF board is nothing to sneeze at. It took Jocelyn, Kelly, Diana and me to lift it into position, and then it had to be screwed into studs so as not to dislodge under impact. Nothing would ruin the performance more than having hundreds of pounds of clay and wood come slamming down on someone.

Also unlike the first panel, Jocelyn intends to realize this version in plastic, rather than urethane rubber. So the final version of this will have a “hard” factor that’s not present in any of the other pieces in the series. On a certain level each piece in this series is totally experimental in its own way, each requires a different process and has its own challenges. Both the potential for unanticipated beauty and dramatic failure hangs in the air, and it makes these exciting to see realized.

Here are some of the images from the day’s performance. All of the rest of them are visible in the Flickr set for this project.

Above - Diana buckles a kneepad. If you notice the girls are less dressed up than in the previous version. Jocelyn wanted less “noise” from their various bits of bling. They’re still both wearing fishnet, which really transfers well to clay, but nothing really extraneous, beyond protective gear.

Above - Kelly gets her airborne slam on. Really excellent air here, IMHO.

Above - Diana slams into the wall. Notice the really distinct impressions on this version. There’s a real coherent “language of motions and actions” taking place here.

Above - Kelly knees the wall while Diana watches.

Above - Jocelyn wanted more motion, which means, more speed. So Kelly and Diana did many of their impacts while pushing one another or whipping one another into the panel. The small space of Jocelyn’s studio also makes it hard to build up speed, especially given the more acute angle of impact on this version, so this kind of assist really seemed to get great results.

This project is interesting in that it has multiple performers, but that they’re not in competition with one another, that they’re teammates. That’s very different from the pieces that involve fighting arts, where two individuals are in opposition. The whole feeling of the process is totally different.

Above - The whip!

Above - Thunder Kiss impression. Diana’s helmet has these sort of puffy letters on it. Impressions of her nom de derby are also in the first piece. Note the long, streak above. That’s the kind of lateral motion that this piece will carry, that differentiates it from the first one.

Above - Glove impression. There are a few of these on the piece, and I think they’re going to translate nicely to the final, plastic version. Notice how deep the impression here is - something not really possible with the first version.

Above - Posing with the finished piece. Since the girls only got to hit the surface so many times, I think they were still pretty amped up by the time we finished.

Above - Diana cleans clay from her hair. I had a bit of a photographer’s black hole moment here, when everyone was like “Why are you shooting rapid fire at Diana cleaning her hair?” I was into this shot for some reason.

Above - One of the neatest parts of the shoot was afterwards we took Diana and Kelly up to Angels Gate to see the first piece, which they had not seen yet. They seemed into it. Again, I love projects where non-artists become actively involved in the creative process.

Technorati Tags: Jocelyn Foye, art, performance art, Roller Derby, LA Derby Dolls, Diana Brooks, Kelly MacInotsh, Thunder Kiss, Smacdown, contemporary art, LA art, process, documentation is everything, clay

For those not in the loop on her work, Jocelyn Foye captures the performances and actions, primarily by athletes, in clay and then uses those imprints to make sculptural works. Live performances/actions or photographic documentation of performances often accompanies the work. I’ve been working with Jocelyn for a while now, and commissioning, promoting or exhibiting her projects whenever possible. Jocelyn has work in New In Town?, a show opening next week at Angels Gate, which will feature a dozen of the artists who have joined the Center in the past two years. While Jocelyn and her husband Jeff are no longer at the Center, having secured a truly awesome live/work space in Pedro, both of their work will be featured in the exhibition.

Jocelyn has two pieces in the exhibition, one, a cast urethane rubber saddle, …and she rode it bareback., and another, a wall piece based upon the impressions and impacts of two members of the LA Derby Dolls, a banked-track roller derby association based out of a warehouse in Historic Filipinotown. I grew up watching the televised pro-wrestlingish version of roller derby, so I have a sort of childhood fascination with the sport, and I’m totally enthused that I’m going to be able to bring something related to it into my gallery.

Jocelyn invited me to stroll over to her studio to see and shoot the performance part of the project, which is where all of teh photos in this post are from. The two models for this shoot are Diana Brooks, a.k.a. Thunder Kiss and Kelly MacIntosh, a.k.a. Smacdown. Diana is in the pink helmet and Kelly is in the white one. Also featured in this shoot are Jocelyn herself, also shooting (seen at top), and Colin, one of her students who came by to help prepare the clay surface for the action. All 54 of my “good photos” from the shoot are in this Flickr set, if you want or need to see more than those featured here.

above - Colin smooths clay. Colin was extremely thorough and helpful in making sure that the surface was as smooth as possible. He had to catch a plane back to the UK the next day, which made him a double trooper for pitching in.

above - Diana and Kelly check out the surface. A lot of “How are we going to hit this? How hard can we hit this? Where should we hit this?” talk went on prior to the actual performance. One of the reasons I like Jocelyn’s work is that it involves non-artists in the creative process, that during her performances there’s a fascinating interaction between laypeople and art materials. In the two performances I’ve directly witnessed, there’s a period of cautious action and exploration, followed by enthusiastic engrossment in the action on the part of the performers.

above - Diana changes her wheels. I will admit here, I used to be an enthusiastic downhill rolllerblader (stop laughing now, please?), having basically grown up on a massive hill, where everything worth doing was down and miles away. So I totally get the importance of having the proper wheels for the job. The massive size of her skate key/multi-tool was totally impressive.

above - All dressed up and ready to go. Wardrobe is important for proper roller derby action. Both girls brought a mountain of getups. Roller derby is a little more honest and embracing about spectacle and theatre than most other sports.

above - Diana slides into the panel. The panel behind the clay was rather thin, so the whole time both women were trying to give it their all, but a little nervous that they’d blow out the panel. It buckled a little bit, but held up.

above - Kelly in flight, kicking the panel.

above - Diana grabs the top of the panel and slams into it high. The girls were trying to figure out novel ways to do damage to the top part of the panel.

above - Kelly doing a handstand reverse kick. It’s worth noting that she didn’t just do a handstand and kick the panel, she did a high speed approach into a handstand and kicked the panel.

above - Diana knees the panel. You can see a little of the bucking done by some heavy impact in the center of the panel here. One of the things about Jocelyn’s work that particularly fascinates me is the regularity and pattern of movement by the performers.

above - an amped up Kelly, post performance, with clay mess on helmet.

above - After the destruction was done, the derby queens pose for a post-performance photo. Come see the piece that results from all this fury and mess next week at Angels Gate, and don’t miss the massive two day Battle on the Bank tournament coming up next weekend. Roller derby teams from all over are coming together to battle it out in the blazing heat of the LA summer on the 28th & 29th.

Technorati Tags: LA Derby Dolls, Jocelyn Foye, art, process, performance, clay, sculpture, Smacdown, Thunder Kiss, roller derby, Kelly MacIntosh, Diana Brooks, LA art, documentation is everything, documentation, roller skating, skating

Seen at Modern Art Notes. Explanation and background here. Flickr sets of jumping at MOMA and PS1 by Daily Marauder. Enjoy.

Technorati Tags: art, jumping, art jumping, jumping in museums, Modern Art Notes, Daily Marauder

Flickr user xarene has posted an awe inspiring set of 265 Fluids related images from today’s happening at LACMA. They’re great shots, too, hardcore documentation of every bit of the process, start to finish. I gotta tell you, this ice is a photographer’s dream.

We’re building Fluids at Angels Gate on Sunday, starting at noon. If you want to get in on the action, E-mail me at the office.

Also noticed a curiously beautiful image from LACMA in the Fluids Flickr Pool, 2:20 PM, captioned “The southeast corner after the walls gave way - - -”

Technorati Tags: Fluids, LACMA, Xarene, ice, happening, sculpture, Allan Kaprow, reinvention, art, contemporary art, performance,

I’m underslept, overworked and physically beat.  My prescription is inaction this weekend.  But if you must go outside, every major museum in LA has a great show to see right now - Kara Walker at The Hammer, Kaprow at MOCA, Phantom Sightings at LACMA and California Video at The Getty.

Or just sit inside and watch art on YouTube!  Here’s documentation of Labor Day at Occidental College, part of the whole Kaprow happenings shebang.

Technorati Tags: Allan Kaprow, Kara Walker, California Video, Hammer Museum, Phantom Sightings, LACMA, MOCA, Occidental College, Getty Center, Labor Day, happening, video

Left this out of my weekend post, but there’s a project opening tonight, The Long Weekend, being put on by Phantom Galleries. It features a bevy of artists doing storefront installations and performance-based work, including two of my favourite comrades in arms, Danial Nord and John O’Brien. Other artists involved include: Jordan Biren, Corrina Peipon, Ashley McLean Emenegger, MaryLinda Moss and Nikii Henry, Cielo Pessione, Astra Price, Natasa Prosenc, Joseph Santarromana & William Roper, Evelyn Serrano, Suzanne Siegel, Kyungmi Shin and Todd Gray. Taking place at 680 E. Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena 91101. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 7-10 PM.

Technorati Tags: Phantom Galleries, The Long Weekend, Danial Nord, John O’Brien, performance art, video art

Edith Abeyta, Michele Hubacek, Michael Lewis Miller and I are kicking off a new project this Sunday. An idea that has festered, mutated and grown in Michael’s head for some time, the Portable Potluck Project is a monthly potluck-as-performance that we hope will spawn many more sister potlucks, for eventual simultaneous global potlucktacular action. The first project will take place in Barnsdall Art Park, in the Pine Grove, this Sunday at 6 PM. The park is at 4800 Hollywood Blvd., for those who haven’t been before. Bring food, fork and friend for best potlucking pleasure.

Technorati Tags: Portable Potluck Project, Barnsdall Art Park, potluck, food, Edith Abeyta, Michael Lewis Miller, Michele Hubacek, Marshall Astor

If so, or if you should happen to see this ball and the person rolling it, take a picture. Click through the image for more details.

Technorati Tags: art, performance art, art action, ball, giant ball