Elliott Earls at Art Basel Miami BeachThe Wolfsonian Museum
Performing December 5th and 6th
I'll perform a new = piece entitled "Thoughts on Democracy" at the Wolfsonian Museum on = Friday and Saturday, December 5th and 6th 2008. The piece was commissioned by = Gary L. Wasserman and is extrapolated from my recent graphic work Liberty = Weeps.
My participation = with The Wolfsonian Museum has three major components:
1. = The performance piece. ( 3 shows ).
2. = An installation of related sculptural objects.
3. = Seven SMART cars.
Seven SMART cars designed for "Thoughts on Democracy
Car number = seven
With quotations = from John Baldessari, James Rosenquist, Zaha Hadid, Michael Graves, Konstantin = Grcic, Ross Lovegrove and Michael Graves, the first six cars address = "Thoughts on Democracy" very directly. These seven cars are the official cars of = The Wolfsonian Museum and Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Car number seven = was designed with a graphic language extrapolated from my performance piece. = As you may know, SMART cars are designed with easily replaceable body panels. = The panels from the seventh car will be auctioned after the event, the = proceeds of will help support Cranbrook Academy of Art.
For questions regarding the auction, contact Felicia Molnar at Cranbrook Academy of = Art: 248.645.3329.
Or email her = here...
Car number = five
Car number = Three
Car number = one
(A = Sculptural component of the Performance)
Elegy for the Collapse of the Empire
(Detroit, Craft, and Disintegration)
Hard paste porcelain, platinum, unfiltered beeswax, horsehair, honey = bees, steel.
Dimensions variable.
2008.
Elegy for the = Collapse of the Empire was created as a discreet sculptural component = of my performance for The Wolfsonian. Elegy attempts to triangulate a conceptual space situated between the = Emergency Economic = Stabilization Act of 2008, the potential collapse of the Big Three Automobile manufactures and the diminished role of craft within our culture. With = major components articulated in hard paste porcelain, unfiltered bees-wax and = horse hair, Elegy in part contends with these issues through a reflexive neo-classical language.
(Detail #1) =
Six New Songs Written for "Thoughts on = Democracy"
Over the course six = months I wrote six new songs for the performance piece. All of the music deals = very directly with issues of liberty, democracy, freedom and America in late = 2008. I've included a very down and dirty video clip from a late night = rehearsal to give you a better sense of the songs' character. In this clip (and in performance) I am honored to be accompanied by the amazing Benjamin = Teague.
A nation of = strongmen, and straw men,
and gangsters and = gamblers
and hustlers and = hucksters reaching upward
toward God's = great blue sky...Man is born free, = but everywhere he is in chains.
who will wake you = Liberty from the sleep that threatens me
and the children = who bear my name
On July 9th = in an article entitled Rockwell Re-enlisted for a Nation=E2=80=99s Darker = Mood Damien Cave profiled my recent poster for the Wolfsonian Museum's = exhibition entitled Thoughts on = Democracy. The article is also available in Europe in the Herald = Tribune.
Read the full New York Times article = here...
In Other News
Portrait of the = Artist as a Young Man and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man with Pig Nose will go on = display at the Flint Institute of Arts from January 10th through May 10th = 2009.
