Recent Works, click tabs
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Ink me in Beijing
Performance, rice paper jacket, chinese ink, bowl and brush 2016 The performance Ink me in Beijing was about testing transgressions of body, language and culture. I spent time walking through the central and oldest area of Beijing (close to government offices) with a bowl of ink, brush, and a jacket fashioned from rice paper. I encouraged passers-by to write or draw on me with ink. My Chinese conversational language is poor, and I had to rely on it and pantomime to create the right dynamic. My performance bordered on the absurd and helped me get the trust of people - an oddly dressed foreigner was too irresistible for many not to engage with. Demonstrations, public protests or postering/signage of any kind in China (especially Beijing) requires a government-sanctioned permit. People writing on me was pushing the boundaries of what is legally 
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designing a coat of rice paperacceptable. I performed Ink me in Beijing during a Beijing artists' run festival based on urban and relational dialogue.
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Me&Him digital photo, 40x30 cm,2016
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The Blue Shirt Recordings
performance, photography, 2002 -16, ongoing project This work began in 2002, in Winnipeg, Canada. At the time, I worked at Winnipeg Art Gallery in their eduction studios as studio technician/art instructor. Soon after my hire, I began to notice a subtle social phenomena taking place between professional and 'working' staff: between curators, administration, photography staff, director's etc. and the engineers, cleaning staff, preparatory staff. It was not really classism perse, more similar to a collision of mandates, and I was determined to find the social spaces and tensions in between them - between "performing" and "perception". I ordered a ubiquitous blue worker's shirt (the same as gallery workers wore) and every other day, would dress between my regular clothes, professional clothes and the worker's "blue shirt". The performative work is about keeping-up appearances and perceptions more than it is about class. 
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Blue Shirt Recordings installation at Arthelix, Brooklyn, 2016
I ordered a ubiquitous blue worker's shirt (the same as gallery workers wore) and every other day, would dress between my regular clothes, professional clothes and the worker's "blue shirt". The performative work is about keeping-up appearances and perceptions more than it is about class.I recorded contentious comments said to me by the variety of gallery staff over a period of 4 months.
The body of work bellow was influenced by the original comments. The full series of 21 blue shirt texts contain the original comments. |
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Who is Afraid of Red, Yellow, Blue and Grey, digital photo, 14"x 120"
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Grand World 2015-2016, investigation, photography, performance, video, installation Grand World is a multi-dimensional, geographic project and exploration. It is an investigation into the gentrification of two island: Phu Quoc, Vietnam, and Susak, Croatia. The mixed-media artworks made from the photography and performances were later exhibited in Nanjing and Beijing, China. Grand World started when I traveled to the island of Phu Quoc in Vietnam (in the Gulf of Thailand). My interest lies in the throughs of gentrification. I started to investigate changes that had already or will happen in order to figure out what might change next. The people operating the new hotel often asked my wife and I questions about how they could serve tourists better. It was clear to me that the people asking the questions were learning their trade: their English was "polished", their smile were constant and their desires to please us were unshakable. It was clear although, that not long ago they lived and worked in a fishing village. And so we rented a motorcycle and went to find such villages. I wanted to find aesthetics of change. Months later, I was invited back to the Susak Art Expo, an art residency that I participated in 2005. It is located on the island Susak, in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, between Croatia and Italy. The island had been challenged by issues of gentrification, cultural survival and self-sustenance. Unlike Phu Quoc, Susak decided to repel against the forces of gentrification: cars are banned on the island and home owners are strongly regulated. However different, both islands have amazing similarities: they were both under rule by other countries, they both were used for military strategy (France, America, Thailand in Phu Quoc and Tito in Croatia). Tito had built a radar-base on Susak and Phu Quoc had a prison on it that was used by all three countries. 
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Unit #1 Gallery, Beijing, ChinaIt struck me that islands have always been used for strategic, military advantage. This dynamic between military, poverty and gentrification was what shaped my work Grand World.
It was on Phu Quoc, on motorbike that I found the beginning development of a golf course. In the soon to be parking lot was a lone, grass covered hill with an embossed text made out of sheet metal that spelled "Grand World". It was clear to see that "Grand World" was to be the name of a dip-topic golf resort. That began my interests in utopic and distopic actualities. 
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Utopic/Distopic islands - Phu Qoc and Susak
The process of Grand World
Unit #1 Gallery, Beijing, China
Money to Burn, site specific sculpture, digital-photo, 2015
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Music and sound-making is a big part of my work, directly and/or indirectly. These photos show the breadth of my flirtations with it. More audio and photos will be posted! https://www.mixcloud.com/dlewis/
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