Being Slapped

1999, 3:40

I made a list of cliched movie lines that would elicit a woman being slapped. I used a “stage slap”, in which I create a loud SLAP sound with my hands that is unseen to the viewer. The slap occurs offscreen, and though the reaction is onscreen, the actual “slap” occurs in the viewer’s mind.

Part of the UCLA Hammer exhibit, “Snapshot: New Art from Los Angeles,” 2001.

24 karat

2001, 13:29

I perform 24 over-the-top compliments one might hear at an art, film, or theater opening. With each utterance I role the dice, which determines how many times I say each compliment. 24 karat gold, while coveted, is malleable, and needs another metal to help stabilize it — thus echoing the fickleness of praise, and the fragile nature of creativity.

Part of the UCLA Hammer exhibit, “Snapshot: New Art from Los Angeles,” 2001.

O Dick, O F___

2001, 4:28

Male art stars — and the insatiable desire to own, covet, and lust after their artworks. I compiled two lists — one of artists with the first name Dick or Richard, and the other of artists with first names beginning with the letter “F.” I then took their names in my mouth and spat them back out.

I remember things of no importance

2000, 37:20

In consideration of Gustave Flaubert’s novel Sentimental Education, and prompted by curator David Rimanelli, I scoured the text for sentences and utterances that evoked high emotion and drama. I then decided to write each sentence using my feet. Why feet? Something about the difficulty of using toes instead of fingers — to write, to compose, to convey private thoughts. And I chose a spare piano soundtrack, played by musician Laura Hall, to evoke a silent film, with a feminine point of view.

Part of Deitch Projects’ “Sentimental Education” show, 2000.

Uh

2002, 2:02

George W. Bush was president, and wow I thought we had sunk as low as we could with our leaders. Anyway he was seriously not fit for the job, and his poll numbers were plummeting. So what do you do? Create a war. Each press conference was a stunning performance in ineptitude. Needless to say, the “Uh’s” were plentiful.

Mime (times three)

2002, 9:26 8:33, 16:04

When what isn’t spoken — is. Mimes are a cultural cliche. I complied a list of typical “bits” a mime might perform. But instead performing them, I describe them. The viewer then imagines the physical. And because the viewer is deprived of the physical “bits,” they actually become more of a participant. They fill in what is not there. Here, I am borrowing from my years of working and teaching improvisational theater using “spacework” — a basic tenant of Viola Spolin’s Improvisation for the Theater. And in repeating the performance three times, the meaning shifts and more is revealed than originally intended.

Fog

2001, 5:08

When you cannot find the words. When communication breaks down. When things are not the way they were. When you are in a fog. This piece, though performed years ago, might have been created today post-Covid and 2024 post-election.

30-Minute Smile and then What Happens

2000, 33:14

Women were (and unfortuantely, still are) meant to smile and to take it. Smiling for any extended period begins to hurt. The duration of this video belies what is revealed when the smile wears off.

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