My artist talk this Saturday, 7PM

Ok... so if you are masochistic enough to read the meanderings of "the guy" who runs this site, you are aware that I am giving an "artist's talk" on Saturday. This will be for the closing of the Carnivalesque: A Grim Guignol show. I've expressed my trepidation on another forum, and I'm not going to rehash it here. Suffice it to say that if you come I will be happy... because then, no matter what I say, the purpose of the talk will have been fulfilled.

Anyway... I plan on encouraging questions and I want to address two of the most common so far.

Q: What the hell is "Guignol"?

First of all it's pronounced "geen-yole". Second of all, don't you people have the internet? Never mind. Stupid question. I proceed.

The abbreviated version: There was a French dentist who wanted to ease people's fears of him, so he created a puppet in his likeness (named "Guignol") to tell funny stories and defang his trade. It worked, and it became so popular that it inspired copycat puppet shows. These productions eventually incorporated social commentary that led the King to outlaw puppet shows altogether.

In 1897, a French shock theater opened, and took as its moniker, Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol. This theater operated until the 1960's, becoming widely renowned for its cringe-inducing fare. If you have ever before heard or read the word "guignol", it was probably inspired by the theater. It's a word that comes up a lot in film reviews, particularly related to directors such as David Lynch, David Cronenberg, John Waters, and Fellini.

What does that all have to do with my sense of the carnival, or the arts? Come to the talk and ask that question to my face...

Q: Where did I take my photos?

I took some of them on the pier in Ocean City, MD last year. It seemed to be one of the few places that I could recapture the sense of the old-time carnival. Most amusements are now homogenized, so that even the dullest parent will remain unoffended in their presence. If you have ever been to Ocean City, MD... well... you probably know that the normal strictures just don't apply.

Most of the carousel photos were taken in Mansfield, Ohio. They have a beautiful old merry-go-round right in the middle of town. Why Mansfield? Because they have a historic carousel district right in the middle of town. But why did I go to Mansfield? To take photos at an abandoned prison reformatory. But that's a story for another show.

Le Roy "King of Art"

Carnivalesque: A Grim Guignol
Focus on LeRoy "King of Art"

LeRoy "King of Art" - Exclamation Points

If you've been following the blog, then you already know that the Carnivalesque exhibit has just one week left. With David Grim's steady vision, Digging Pitt was able to mount an exhibit that included the gamut of visions, dreams and nightmares associated with the Carnival theme.

LeRoy's work stands out as much for his unique installation as for its singular vision. His Exclamation Points examine the sideshow quality of a time in the not-so-distant past at a not-so-distant place of an experience that has become less distant in the intervening years. Can you hear Liberace's piano while Gotham burns? In Exclamation points, LeRoy casts irony in the form of bittersweet nostalgia.

Below are detail shots of Exclamation points as well as a statement by LeRoy "King of Art"

Details from Exclamation Points

HOLLA BACK EXCLAIMATION POINTS:
FINDING HUMOR IN THE DARKNESS OF THE GAY 90’S
LeRoy "King of Art"

Parties during the Gay 90’s were super fun and really fabulous but somebody was always dying. Gay men were dropping faster than their flies. So we dressed the sickies up as Movie Stars, pranced around in women’s clothing and cackled at The Grim Reaper! These photos are a record of Gay men surviving in the early years of the AIDS Crisis. Cupcake, Lovey Poo, Lady Hell, Barbara Merman, Christina Heyworth and Quentin Crisp are a few of the drop dead gorgeous superstars you’ll recognize. Don’t miss the killer devil boiz and fan club porn stars photographed moments before they dropped dead.

Profuse decoration has frequently been associated with “gender bending” it has become a sign of “queerness as used in current academic parlance. (Fox 1) I began decorating profusely in my childhood at Girl Scout Camp, always a superstar in the Pixie tent. I continued decorating during my years in New York City. Magazines! Launch Parties! Night Clubs! Dog Shows! Last week I decorated these exclamation points with some pictures from my Gay 90’s scrap book. I also used polka dots like Yayoi Kusama or Leigh Bowrey would use. Kusama’s polka dots signified the sexual disease of society “red polka dots…like the spots of disease. This is the attitude of the human race toward sex, which is sick.” (Jones 2)

I used obsessive repetitive stapling to attach the dots and photos. The repetitive action of stapling, stapling, stapling is a way to try and hold on to something that is slipping away. The psychedelic head shop day glow colors and op art patterns are nostalgic for utopian attitudes of the 60’s sexual revolution which revolted in the 80’s with AIDS.

1. Fox, Howard. Lari Pittman, LA, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1996.
2. Jones, Leslie C.. Transgressive Feminity: Art and Gender in the Sixties and Seventies, Abject Art Repulsion and Desire in American Art, NYC, The Whitney Museum of American Art, 1993.

Carnivalesque: A Grim Guignol

Carnivalesque: A Grim Guignol
June 8 - July 8, 2006
Opening Reception: Saturday June 10 - 6-9pm
Closing reception: saturday, July 8 - 6-9pm

View carnival images by David Grim
View other carnival images

Carnivalesque: A Grim GuignolCarnival - a burlesque world of the odd, the unique, the strange, the macabre' and the fun. Have some fun with Digging Pitt Gallery and the Carnival exhibit. Shills and carneys, barkers and roustabouts jigging to the blatting of the cally-ope. Come one, come all! Digging Pitt Gallery invites you to submit your art for the gallery exhibition. The exhibit will be curated by Digging Pitt artist David Grim.

Join us at the opening reception for special performances by:
Phat ManDee
Andrew the ImpaledOriginal
music composition by Andres Ortiz-Ferrari

Artists included in the exhibit
Florence Barry
Kate Bechak
Christine Bethea
Nicholas Vincent Brungo
JJ Burns
Chuck Busha
John Calandra
Connie Cantor
Victoria Cessna
Francis Crisafio
John Eastman
Gus Fink
Marci Ghering
Carl Goldman
Gloria Gomez
David Gonzalez
David Grim
Jennifer Howison
Jeff Katrencik
Thad Kellstadt
Paula Garrick Klein
George Kollar
Sarah Emily Kuntz
Ladyboy
LeRoy, King of Art
Laura Jean McLaughlin
Chris Mozley
Michael Ortoski
Kyle Pattison
Todd Pinkham
Karri Roberts
Reverend Daisher Rocket
Richard Schnap
Bruce Siskawicz
Jessica Sommer
Kathryn Strutz
Laura Stuart
Jim Towns
Robert Villamagna
April West
Alice Winn
Chris Zarchansky
Bob Ziller

Curator, David Grim
The traveling carnival reached it's archetypal form between the two world wars. Originally they were included as part of the midway of a traveling show or circus, but due to the economic malaise of the country were scaled down to truck-convoy sized proportions. There were dozens of companies plying this trade at each and every crossroads, junction and pisspot across the land.

Of course the impetus of each and every carnival operation was the need to separate the rube or mark from his/her money. In order to do this all manner of con games and amusements were employed. The sleight-of-hand, manipulation and distortion belied the expectation of magic in the hearts of the non-suspecting.

The lures of the carnival were varied, but they can generally be considered in categories. There was the glitz of the rides... the ferris wheel and merry-go-round for the kiddies... There were the games of "chance" which were, without exception, rigged. And there was the haven of the true artists and performers... the sideshow (also known as freakshow, or "ten-in-one"). No doubt there were the grindshows (cooch shows) for the adult men to tuck surreptitiously in, as their children gorged themselves on cheap unwholesome food. But for our purposes, the "ten-in-one" must gather our focus.

A traditional "ten-in-one" was contained under a tent with a platform outside, at its entrance. On the platform, the "talker" would unravel his spellbinding spiel of sensationalism, weaving strange stories into the sensibilities of the spectators. His job was to "turn the tip", which simply meant to generate a paying audience for the show inside the tent. Of course the promise was the product, not the reality. Once the crowd had been admitted, an emcee would introduce the acts, one-by-one. These included all sorts of natural born human oddities as well as "working" attractions (those type of practitioners like mentalists, contortionists, sword-eaters, strongmen, etc, that could be easily replaced).

The sideshow invariably culminated with the blow-off. It's purpose was to get the crowd out of the tent, and the next group of rubes in. For a nominal additional fee, the audience would be offered a phenomena SO STRANGE and MIRACULOUS that they would NEVER FORGET it AS LONG AS THEY LIVED!!! This was usually a "pickled punk" (fetus in a jar, malformed or not), or a hermaphrodite (sometimes even authentic!). Of course those who took the bait were sworn to secrecy so that they would taunt their friends into sharing the experience of being fleeced for the additional blow-off fee.The more I think about the entire phenomena, the more parallels between the carnival and art worlds become painfully obvious. I'll spare you the hopefully unnecessary and long-winded elucidations. Curator's statement - David Grim