Piece of Cake

CHER's Laughing in the Face of.... event arrived and it was a great success!




Setting up was flawless and everything went as planned. The music was checked, the beer arrived and we were ready to go. We had a great turnout and I think the guests thoroughly enjoyed the interactive and playful pieces that CHER had to offer.

Each of the artist's instalations were meant to make you laugh and forget the drama of the real world. Here is the show's statement: "Humor is a front, misdirection of the sneakiest sort. As tears spring forth from hearty guffaws, our defenses drop. Through these boisterous chinks in our psychic armor, dark and uncomfortable subject matter stealthily enters. Once mouths close and laughter ceases we are left to deal with that which remains (opened cans and worms, worms, worms). Propriety is always up for debate but it cannot be denied that comedy is an indispensable strategy. This practice allows us to acknowledge, process, and ultimately embrace our world, warts and all.  

 

Famine, illness, war, and injustice press in on all sides. Caught in the chasm between environmental collapse and economic catastrophe, it can be quite easy to suffocate in this cavern of despair. Seemingly powerless to change our circumstances, we’ve but a handful of options at our fingertips. We may choose to languish in the dark; hard hearted, reserved, and grim. Or...we can build a fire. It is here we tell stories, we tell jokes. This flickering flame of humor plays upon the dingy surface of reality. In this light our heartaches and fears are bravely faced within a social context, rather than relegated to a dim and solitary realm of ignorance and escapism.  Around this fire we nod, we smile, we understand."

 Setting up included adjusting lights and putting out art merchandise. (I made that CHER sign :)

 The Bands included The Heavy Sweater Band, M.T. Bearington (solo), and Cymbals Eat Guitars. There is M.T. Bearington who is also a Uarts alumni and Veronica's boyfriend. They are making a loving eye connection.

 Out of all the pieces this one cracked me up the most, I think its absolutely terrific. Also here are the featured artists:Shawn Beeks, Sally Eckhoff, Seth Gutierrez, Lauren McCarty, Caitlin McCormack, Christine Negus, Martin Peeves, John Stephenson, Dan Reidy, Matt Zigler, and Brian Hamilton

 Oh and here is Laruren McCarty's video that I helped out with. Thats me there on the screen. And true to her style the television and DVD player are from thrift stores. This piece almost didn't make it to the final show because there was a broken Neil Diamond CD stuck in the DVD player.

 You know, just your average spaghetti toilet. 

 This cake is a copyrighted sculpture by Seth Gutierrez. The idea was that as people eat it they too become copyrighted. I explained this concept to one man, who then became worried that he wouldn't be able to take pictures of people because they were copyrighted.

I can't even count the number of times someone picked up this phone and jokingly said "hello." It never got old.

 My job for the night was to serve the cake to people, and take a Polaroid  picture of each slice and place the Polaroid in the newly vacant spot. Thus recreating the cake. To my right is the man who was worried about the legality of photographing copyrighted people.

 I think the artist had wanted it to look like a near exact copy of the cake, but it was pretty much impossible because the Polaroid would automatically zoom out. I still think it looks great though.