HUBRIS @ Mobius, a successful 2 night performance venture

Tonight I am feeling very refreshed and rejuvenated, motivated and inspired from my trip up to Boston to partake in a performance art festival.  My good friend EL Putnam, whom I went to the Museum School with for undergrad, curated the show.  We started out as pals in a "Public Art/Public Action" class and then we started hanging out after school, and she introduced me to performance art.  She showed me a video of her slathering herself in toothpaste and it was called "Commodity Fetish."  I loved it and thought it was super weird at the same time.  Oh how far we've come!  (Or at least I'd like to think so...!)

The theme of the show was "HUBRIS" which is a form of narcissism.  My idea was to draw portraits and more or less elaborate on myself instead of the subject while drawing.  The first night went great and there was a lot of interest in my portraits.  I did not have a lamp for my easel so I had some difficulty seeing.  By the second night, I had gotten a booklight for my easel and set up a video camera at an angle where you can see my subject, my easel, and me.  I got to talk to my subjects the entire time I drew them.  Asking things about themselves and thinking about how those things related to me.  I got to draw a full head of hair and make some physical adjustments on some drawings of my male subjects, making for some creepy looking drawings, especially when I got a picture of my subject right next to my drawing.

EL's performance was beautiful.  It was almost messier than "commodity fetish."  I'm hoping to see some video footage of it up on her website (www.elputnam.com).