Trevor Shimizu
09 Jun - 11 Jul 2015
TREVOR SHIMIZU
Appropriation 2
9 June – 11 July 2015
Describing some of the works in this show. These are all portraits, even the video. I made the video in 2007. The video begins with a couple laughing and maybe kissing while listening to Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett singing, “It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere”. There are images of dinosaurs and a snow tiger superimposed over this soundtrack. Humans are on their way out. There’s an analog video effect transitioning into a synth voice reading Darwin. A narrative labelled “28 Years Later” describes a sloppy 28-year-old “flesh-eating mutation” playing with beer and an electric guitar in a room, waiting out the apocalypse. He is visited by a woman. He tells the woman that he would normally stab her to death with a spoon and eat her, but at the moment, he doesn’t want to. Images of donuts, burgers, pizza, and cake, superimposed over an office telephone, cycles through this voice-over narrative. Cut to a BBC news report about the unveiling of Hiroshi Ishiguro’s new android, Geminoid. Another explosion and video effect transition, another voice-over narrative, this time by a cyborg named Alexandar Adjulera. He describes his favorite Martin Short movies. The video ends with a flashback or time capsule, a few embarrassing television commercials, all from 2007. An Old Navy commercial about new styles of denim, a Verizon commercial portraying an office worker imitating Angus Young while making Xeroxes, a Yoplait commercial about the itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini – all reminders of what humans had once accomplished.A few of the paintings are portraits of both popular and obscure media references. Some resemble people who dress as cartoon characters in Times Square, Disneyland, Disney World, a children’s birthday party, or the mall. There is also a portrait of a Fart and a portrait of a Hemorrhoid. Like a person wearing a cartoon character costume, these are an attempt at making farts and hemorrhoids friendly, cute. The self-portrait, Farting and/or Hemorrhoids, acts as a counterpoint to the personified Fart and Hemorrhoid. The self-portrait looks uncomfortable, both constipated and embarrassed. A few of the paintings reference Anime. There is an homage to Takashi Murakami. A bag of potato chips and a box of tissues have been sewn onto a painting (from my previewst show at the gallery) of a guy watching baseball and porn. There are T-shirts for sale. A video called Brad Pitt will be playing in the window. The video is composed of clips relating to what Brad Pitt said were his favorite things in a teen magazine interview. I made the video after I read in New York Magazine that Brad Pitt collected art. Hopefully he will happen to walk by and see the video playing in the window.
Appropriation 2
9 June – 11 July 2015
Describing some of the works in this show. These are all portraits, even the video. I made the video in 2007. The video begins with a couple laughing and maybe kissing while listening to Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett singing, “It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere”. There are images of dinosaurs and a snow tiger superimposed over this soundtrack. Humans are on their way out. There’s an analog video effect transitioning into a synth voice reading Darwin. A narrative labelled “28 Years Later” describes a sloppy 28-year-old “flesh-eating mutation” playing with beer and an electric guitar in a room, waiting out the apocalypse. He is visited by a woman. He tells the woman that he would normally stab her to death with a spoon and eat her, but at the moment, he doesn’t want to. Images of donuts, burgers, pizza, and cake, superimposed over an office telephone, cycles through this voice-over narrative. Cut to a BBC news report about the unveiling of Hiroshi Ishiguro’s new android, Geminoid. Another explosion and video effect transition, another voice-over narrative, this time by a cyborg named Alexandar Adjulera. He describes his favorite Martin Short movies. The video ends with a flashback or time capsule, a few embarrassing television commercials, all from 2007. An Old Navy commercial about new styles of denim, a Verizon commercial portraying an office worker imitating Angus Young while making Xeroxes, a Yoplait commercial about the itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini – all reminders of what humans had once accomplished.A few of the paintings are portraits of both popular and obscure media references. Some resemble people who dress as cartoon characters in Times Square, Disneyland, Disney World, a children’s birthday party, or the mall. There is also a portrait of a Fart and a portrait of a Hemorrhoid. Like a person wearing a cartoon character costume, these are an attempt at making farts and hemorrhoids friendly, cute. The self-portrait, Farting and/or Hemorrhoids, acts as a counterpoint to the personified Fart and Hemorrhoid. The self-portrait looks uncomfortable, both constipated and embarrassed. A few of the paintings reference Anime. There is an homage to Takashi Murakami. A bag of potato chips and a box of tissues have been sewn onto a painting (from my previewst show at the gallery) of a guy watching baseball and porn. There are T-shirts for sale. A video called Brad Pitt will be playing in the window. The video is composed of clips relating to what Brad Pitt said were his favorite things in a teen magazine interview. I made the video after I read in New York Magazine that Brad Pitt collected art. Hopefully he will happen to walk by and see the video playing in the window.