What is What

Here is a REVIEW of the full show.

BELOW: playing in the studio in the run up to the opening

"Little Friends" - Bill Shannon 2013 12guage brass plate w/patina cut and formed 3"x2"

This post is intended to be a roundup of recent activities and not the final word on any of the works here.

ABOVE: "Liquid Light" Site Specific Video and Performance at Long Pond, Wellfleet MA presented as a part of Fleetmoves Dance Festival 2013. photo by Whitney Brown. This work focused on the kinetic nature of the video rig and its placement in a large body of water to allow for a live birdseye view of my continuous circuitous performance in the water for the camera above. I wanted to show and perform the fluidity of my many years of swimming to the audience on the shore. The only sport of my childhood years that was medically approved. "Dancer in Chair" and new street persona after the jump.

Above: Inspired by the Cubist painting movement This piece remixes the mundane architectural details of the space that surrounds it. I built this piece over the past six months at home, Tech Shop Pittsburgh and Dance New Amsterdam. Still creating new content for it. 10'x10'x8'

ABOVE: Here is a quick video of a wearable mobile video prop I made from screen scraps, baling wire, electrical tape, a micro projector and a microcamera. I made this prop to test the viability of a more fleshed out method of fabricating a lighter weight version of my "Invisible Series" that is meant to function in a more mobile-esque manner. Thanks to James Clotfelter on the fabrication assist and Ravish Momin drum sounds.

BELOW: detail of headmount and microcamera

ABOVE: more fabrication details, lots of black gaff to hide any reflections

ABOVE: Video Still

ABOVE: temporary arrangement of found objects and fabricated elements untitled

I have fabricated several small metal characters in light metals like brass, silver and thin sheet steel over the years. I have taken these small creations and built or arranged little worlds that the characters I fabricated then exist in. I change these micro-installations...

ABOVE: Working on some new stuff in a studio before taking it to the world..here is a still. The grey tubes are super light weight foam recycled from thrown out materials in Brooklyn. I like the antlike relativity of scale that the large bundle places my body in. Taking it out of the street context to share it in this studio theater backdrop isolates the design of the character. Variations after the jump.

Photos: Brian Cummings 2011

ABOVE: i have been dumpster diving a sign store now for years now and I am completely out of space to store anymore. I have enough letters now to write out a new message in three foot high letters of varied fonts. The truth is I love making multi-channel surround and multi-channel composite video works but lately I have fallen back into a place where the physical handmade object is reborn in the spirit of my imagination. - cont.-  I truly hate the materialism of it all when it comes to the video installation challenge. Conversely I see the material of rusted thrown out garbage decaying to a point where it becomes alive.

When I create what I would consider "Performance Art" it is a far cry from my dancing that is known all over the world. While the dancing is artistic and performance based, for my purposes its many manifestations loosely fall into overlapping categories of dance, drama, action sports and clowning. I realize when having to write about this latest performance/video installation project that for some gut based reason it is only the really hard to process performance work, the type of performance that leans on the audience, that I would describe without hesitation as "Performance Art." When it comes to real down and dirty "Performance Art", the ART and my life are intertwined so closely that it would be nearly impossible for me to write about or consider them independently.

ABOVE: Invisible Series #4  NEW ANGLES AND FOOTAGE

Pictured below is one of my little insect like characters i make out of cutting and forming sheet metal.  This one is brass , a ruff cut template for envisioining a final version out of a more valuable and attractive metal like gold or silver. This version was started last year and recently completed in terms of the shape.  I am having fun putting him different places and making his fingers and toes grab hold. i say "him" because often, though not always, these miniature sculpture works are self portraits. Read more for images of other miniature sculptures.

"Wanderer"  pierced and formed brass 2" tall