Video still from a new video piece which is, at the moment, untitled.

A couple insights into my studio as I begin the second year of my Maters. These images are printed 30×40″ and are part of an new series of still images titled Some Kind of Entertainer.

This past July I collaborated with the Swedish artist, Trofy, on a couple musical tracks. She and I shot a hip-hop video in the small town of Mariestad, Sweden, and did a live performance along with a press-release style installation of the works.

Trofy (left) and me, SHE Chic

I recently shot a new video piece wherein I dance in my underwear like some sort of wild bird while being dramatically lit. The piece will be a 2-channel video, the second moving image alongside the dancing being a close-up shot of my face with my eyes frantically looking back-and-forth. I am also recording a track that will be played with the video. I don’t want to reveal too much, but it involves a hook that has the word “tampon” on repeat. Should be a fun watch!

Below are some of the super beautiful stills from the shoot. I plan on blowing these up at a very large, wallpaper-esque scale. I figure I mind-as-well just go very obvious with this self-worship and what not. Cheers to art for letting us all be so egotistical!

Ah, video. A fickle medium…incredibly popular, very demanding, and inaccessible to many gallery or museum-goers.

So, of course, I find myself enthralled by the moving image. Not only making videos, but making performances and displaying such as videos. I am still deciding if I want all these works online in their completed forms, but no matter my decision I will have them on my site in the coming weeks.

At the moment I am working with Kris Martin, and have been enjoying showing alongside his work and the work of my peers at The Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art. Last month we had an opening, and my contribution was a larger-than-life projection of myself slowly removing my clothes, covering my body in flour, posing like a statue, and dumping buckets of freezing water over my head. I then process to roll around in the subsequent dough whilst screaming “I love my body!”. Here is an installation shot of that piece, as well as the stills.

More to come.

Those on the West Coast, please join me at the CCA Open Studios and see my new work, as well as work by my many talented colleagues.

During my trip to NYC this past weekend for the Collector’s Guide book launch/exhibition, I stopped by Armory fair. I spent most of my time at the Armory being baffled by the popularity of neon, an easy trend to spot seeing as it is the first medium on view upon entering the exhibition. The Paul Kasmin Gallery had an (eye-sore) installation by an artist whose name I cannot recall, as seen below:

Beyond the ridiculous beat-over-the-head usage of neon, I also noticed an air of fearfulness in regards to what the galleries were showing. This isn’t to say there wasn’t some work that really knocked my socks off. Hank Willis Thomas had a piece that was unbelievably interesting and supremely well-crafted, Mika Rottenberg’s drawings (which I had never seen) were there with her NY gallery, and the Alison Jaques Gallery (London) had a stellar solo-installation for Ryan Mosley.

But the star of the show, for me, were the videos by Reynold Reynolds. This guy is straight up amazing. The videos ranged from perfectly done stop-motion, with thoughtfully constructed sets, to black-and-white 3 channel films. They are at once very aesthetic and alluring, but also formal, creepy, and experimental.

Six Easy Pieces

The above piece, “Six Easy Pieces” (2010) was especially a pleasure to view. And below, “The Secret Machine” (2009), which was also at the Armory:
The Secret Machine

To see more work by Reynold Reynolds, take a look here.

Signing off! -SJH

New track by Boleyn entitled “Red Queen”. Enjoy on headphones…this track was not recorded on the highest quality equipment (understatement).

Red Queen

And coincidentally, a painting I did today in a moment of tactile exploration.

\”Wax\”, 2010. Copyright Stephanie Jane Halmos

Wax, 2010.

This piece explores how the visibility of women relates to eroticism and femininity. In the video I wax myself, thus putting myself in what I perceive to be an infantilized position. Conversely, it might be considered by some to be a more sexually charged state to have no pubic hair. It is the intersect of these two opinions I am most interested in–specifically how the canons of beauty are established and how it effects the perception of women.

\”Chew\”, 2011, Stephanie Jane Halmos

Chew, 2011.

This is my most recent video. This, like, Wax, and like a not-yet-online piece titled Staring Contest, continues on the ideas of visibility by way of these confessional endurance tests I am performing for the camera. In this case, I chew as much gum as I can until I must spit it out. There are references to childhood here, but more so ideas of visibility surrounding gender and class.

More to come.

SJH

copyright Stephanie Jane Halmos