Open Archive

My review of "Open Archive," an exhibition devoted to five performance artists is the featured article at Glasstire.

The Voice's Folds

Glasstire has published my review of The Voice's Folds, a program of experimental films. Here is an excerpt:

The Voice’s Folds, a program of eight experimental short films by Morehshin Allahyari, Michael A. Morris, and Jenny Vogel, had a single screening, recently, at the gallery Two Bronze Doors in Dallas. The narrative of each film is literary and personal, and is presented as text or voiceover. The pictures are stylized; they allude to but do not necessarily describe the words we read or hear. The tension that arrives from this willful disconnect of word and picture is the aspect that defines these films as experimental. A set of objects, a situation, a landscape, or a chain of events become the formula of a particular emotion, one that is tonally similar if not completely descriptive of events in the narration. Throughout The Voice’s Folds, words and pictures travel their close but separate paths to a common goal: connect the viewer to the artists’ experiences concerning place and lifespan.

Please see this LINK for the full article.

An Evening with Karen Kevorkian & Richard Bailey: Richard Bailey

Poetry Reading at Malvern Books, Austin, TX

I'm very glad to have had the opportunity to read new poems along with my friend, L.A.-based poet Karen Kevorkian.  Our event was Friday, April 11 at Malvern Books in Austin, a glorious book store devoted to small presses.  We had a very good tun out - - big thanks to everyone who attended. And much appreciation for the folks at Malvern Books for their hospitality.

The Mock Destruction of the World

I'm excited to report the completion of my short film titled THE MOCK DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD.  It will introduce you to Tommy Roach, an unusual toymaker, who finds grace in malfunction and creativity in decay. 

Pictorially, a science fiction story plays out that features the decay of nature, as described by glorious autumn colors, and the gleam of an automated modernity, as described by the sheer light bouncing off glass and steel, and peculiar glow of boulevards at night. Tommy's toys come to life, as it were, through lo-fi means. His voiceover is a mix of fanboy sci-fi enthusiasm, Anthropology 101, and a thoughtful, cosmological vision.

It is entirely a work of fiction, but plays around with a documentary feel.

This marks the third short film completed in just over a year. For more about other projects, please visit www.TropicPictures.com.

I'm presently involved in the preliminaries of my first feature film. Long stretch of road, ahead. But I'm excited about it.

Festival Updates

I'm thrilled to report that the short film "Other Wounds" will show on February 20th at Anthology Film Archives in NYC as part of the Magikal Charm Festival.  Last fall, "Other Wounds" showed at the Downtown Tyler Festival, which was a lot of fun to attend.

"A Well-proved Helpmate" showed last month in Montana at the Flathead Lake International Cinemafest. The script for "Helpmate" was a finalist at the Richmond International Film Festival.

I have a new article in the online arts journal Glasstire that discusses Paolo Sorrentino's "The Great Beauty" and is also a call for more site-specific art works and happenings in my home city of Dallas.
Here is a excerpt:

"Dallas, like any city, possesses landmarks capable of bouncing light in such a way, directing wind in such a way, cutting a figure against the sky in such a way as to summon an awe experience. Sometimes a lucky commuter will catch this sight on his or her own. An encounter with a group of artists making a sign to such phenomena will involve several more commuters in the experience. I argue Dallas-based artists can and should reclaim “awesome” with events and happenings that alter ordinary commuter time into periods of luminous details."

Please find the full article here:

"The Great Beauty" and a Call for Awesomeness in Dallas

Production News

I'm thrilled to be near completion on a new short film. The title is A WELL-PROVED HELPMATE. It is about a folk preacher named Pontain Mitchell, who has an amazing ability for spontaneous religious language. But only when he disappears behind a curtain. He even has a different name behind the curtain, "Jabez." In the movie he discusses his divided self. There are now images available at the website, TropicPictures.com.

I am also in pre-production for a short film to begin principle photography in September. The title is THE MOCK DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD. It concerns a toy maker named Tommy Roach, who, like Pontain Mitchell, is cosmically inclined. But there are pronounced differences. Pontain uses poetic language as a way to invest landscape and animals with spiritual authority. Tommy, on the other hand, is fascinated by monsters.

The toys Tommy makes are strange and horrendous-looking. He is drawn in by mutation and decay. His heart flings wide open for his toys. It is his view that a spirit of hospitality toward derangement is the way that affords one the ability to look at the world with a sense of grace.

But things needn't be so serious. Both films feature comedy and delightful images. And neither pushes for a religious point of view, not even the one about the folk preacher. I was thinking about poetic language and artistic invention. Difficult to go very far in an investigation of these two modes without "otherworldly" comparisons.