Nasty Pictures: Twisted Film from Houston Artists

Saturday July 11, 2009

Free Film Night

Guest Curator Sean Morrissey Carroll

8pm @ Frenetic Theater
5102 Navigation Blvd.



Nasty Pictures
Twisted film from Houston artists

Disturbing, sexual, fanatic; there are great films being made today in Houston that smash morals and bash heads without breaking a sweat. Can you handle the heat of a Houston summer? Well, then you can handle the wilting intensity of these underground artists.


The Program

apertif~
Travis Kerschen, Luz, 2007

Set in a spare Mexico City apartment, Luz is a tale of young love gone wrong and one woman's valiant effort to hold her mind together in face of crushing disappointment. Centered around a fanatic monologue by the film's fragile protagonist, flashback scenes of bliss and emotional violence are cut into an dialogue that veers from divine inspiration to delusional psycho-babble; all in the service of self-preservation. The tenuous resolution of Luz leaves the world on hold as the psychic space of one's convictions eclipses reality.

ensalada~
Julia Wallace performance and video, "What's Your Favorite Color?", 2009

The origins of Wallace's work rests with Carolee Schneeman and Lynda Benglis, feminist performance artists who eschewed the dominance of male ego by asserting their own will to power through juxtaposition of sexual roles. Today's post-feminist wave has been a caustic development for many first-generation feminist artists, but the seemingly contradictory nature of this generation's embrace of female equality and exploitation has easy antecedents in the contemporaries of Judy Chicago and Betty Friedan. Wallace is a member of the Performance Art Lab and the mind behind sexyATTACK.

main dish~
Skeez 181, Skeezer Stinkfist, 2005

Skeezer Stinkfist is a slice-of-life biopic centered around the residents of Studio 3 at the Commerce Street Artist Warehouse (CSAW) in 2005. Since disbanded, CSAW was a bustling hub of artistic activity for over 15 years before Skeez 181 and Maggie Batalino set off a chain of events that would exile the community. Featuring musical performances, humorous skits, graffiti art and inebriated behavior mostly filmed at 3 am, this personal film never meant for release is now a testament to the vigor and creativity of the world created at 2315 Commerce Street that will never be replicated. Skeezer features Color1, Political Bill, Rodney Elliot, the I love you, baby. art collective, Devo-One, Aztecan dancer Xavier Herrera, musician Mario Olvera and painter Aimee Jones.

red wine~
Sharad Patel, Heart of Mold, 2009

A raunchy and hilarious project completed with the collaboration of high school student Andrew Edison, Heart of Mold skewers horror movie clichés to the max. Patel has the polish to make it in LA and the wit to take New York; his litany short film projects have taught him the ropes and honed his skills for running a tight ship and making the best of any situation. His lighthearted romp in the infamous Pak's Food Store, Dance des Fanatiques de Bazarette, is a youtube sensation. Patel has been an A/V Swap and 48 Hour Film Festival participant, and has exhibited his films at South by Southwest and the Beverly Hills HiDef Film Festival.

champagne~
Jenny Schlief, To The Lady Who Says Hush, 2007

A painter, curator, performance artist and gadfly who has enlivened the Houston artworld, Schlief has been one of the city's most tantalizing artistic exports. In 2007, Schlief's videos Mothers Milk and Shower Party nearly shut down the Wichita Museum of Art when Cherry Picked, an exhibit of contemporary art, caused the museum's board to threaten to pull funding over scandalous artworks. Schlief has exhibited extensively in Austin and Dallas, as well as being included in exhibits in San Antonio and Chicago. Recently welcoming her daughter Pearl into her family with poet Gene Morgan, Schlief has taken a little time off from making the rounds to concentrate on the finer things in life.

Nasty Pictures will also feature a preview of the upcoming film Too Much Cake,
a performance art exhibit and behavior experiment filmed in Austin at SXSW 2009