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The Venice Biennale is a bi-annual world fair of art, complete with national pavilions, long lines, and manufactured hoopla. The U.S. pavilion went up in 1930 and has usually housed big-name artists, starting with Edward Hopper that initial year. But this time around, instead of sending an established solo artist, our government has chosen to have us represented by two less known collaborative artists who are centered not stateside but rather in Puerto Rico — Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla. And for apparently the first time ever, the visual artists are also performance artists. I haven’t seen their work, but what interests me about them is their whimsical humor and physicality, in this case involving a troupe of former Olympic gymnasts in their piece.
“Washington Square Park is the entertainment capital of the world.”
— Tic and/or Tac
(Hey, they’re twins, they speak in unison; how am I supposed to know which one said it?)
One of these days I’m going to find time to write at some length about my hero Buster Keaton, but meanwhile the Keaton industry is doing just fine without me, thank you very much. There’s a new DVD collection, a new book, and a Monday nights retrospective this summer at the Film Forum here in New York. This outpouring is the inspiration for a lengthy (re-) appraisal of Keaton’s life achievement by Jana Prikryl entitled “The Genius of Buster.” Despite its being written for The New York Review of Books, the article does not over-intellectualize its subject. It’s cogent, informative, and down to earth.
This looks like a wacky sight gag in some movie out to over-emphasize its exotic locale, but the amazing thing is that it’s not only real, but a regularly scheduled occurrence. If you have 44 seconds to spare, travel with me to Thailand’s Maeklong market….
French directors Pierre Etaix and Jacques Tati made solid reputations for themselves creating modern-era silent-style movies four and more decades after the dawn of the talkies. Now another French director, Michel Hazanavicius (OSS 117) has followed in their footsteps with The Artist, a silent, black-and-white movie about the transition from the silent era to sound. It was announced yesterday that Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life had won the Palme d’Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, but according to several reports The Artist gave it a real run for its money.
My old friend Bernie Collins, now living in Paris and performing as one half of BP Zoom, has alerted me to the Cannes Film Festival premiere of La Fée (The Fairy),co-starring Bernie’s BP Zoom partner, > Philippe Martz. The film is written and directed by its other co-stars, Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, and Bruno Romy. Their previous films are Rumba and Iceberg, and their style owes a lot to the silent film / physical comedy traditions.
In a previous and popular post, this blog had the privilege of sharing Karen Gersch’s paintings and drawings of classic clowns. If you haven’t seen it, Do Not Pass Go and instead click here immediately!
I thought some of you might get a chuckle over this piece from the Salon.com web site. Opponents of Mc Donald’s lay some of the blame for childhood obesity directly on the company’s trademark clown, but Mickey D’s PR people claim he’s a symbol of physical fitness. You decide….
Old joke:
Two professors chatting.
First Professor: I say, Rodney, have you read Derrida’s treatise on grammatology?
Second Professor: Read it? I haven’t even taught it!
Who? Lang & what?
You know, those two kids from the old New York neighborhood who ran away and joined the circus.
Comedians and clowns have been parodying Shakespeare for centuries now, and “reduced Shakespeare” companies have become somewhat of a comedy franchise since the 80s. Here’s a nice physical Rowan Atkinson piece, a fake lecture on Shakespearean acting from 1991. Despite the title, his tights are not pink and there aren’t all that many props — but a great title nonetheless. Atkinson is best known for his Mr. Bean character, but his range is much broader. The following piece, which co-stars Angus Deayton, is just one example.
I don’t know much about Compagnie Ieto, another product of the French circus school system. I’ve never seen them perform, but based on this video — thank you to Jeff Seal for the link — I like, I like. Strictly speaking this is more nouveau cirque than physical comedy, but there’s a strong kinship in terms of partner acrobatic work, engagement with the material world, and sheer creativity.
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Workshops & Other Events
My first book (1976)
My book Clowns has long been out of print, but you can borrow it for two weeks at a time from the Internet Archive. More information is available here.
My second book (2015)
Visual and verbal humor for the cognitively and artistically curious! Available here.
“A book to treasure!”
—Bill Irwin