mnartists.org: Billy X. Curmano

Futurism's Bastard Son

Billy X. Curmano — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 21:58:29 GMT

[i]Billy X. Curmano Futurism's Bastard Son[/i] was published by Mark Pezinger Verlag – Vienna and released at Kunstverein Kassel parallel to the international art exposition [i]Documenta 13[/i] in Kassel, Germany during August, 2012. The US release followed in September at the [i]New York Art Book Fair[/i], Museum Of Modern Art, P.S. 1. The book documents several decades of eccentric work from somewhat traditional objects to conceptual plans and live art. It includes 3-days buried alive, a lengthwise Mississippi River swim as performance and environmental statement, 40-day Death Valley Desert Fast and performances for cows and other under-served audiences. Art historians often place the birth of performance or "live art" with the Italian Futurists. Genetically speaking, Curmano has claimed those genes as Futurism’s Bastard Son, a false son perhaps, but none-the-less a son. The edition was published on Munken Lynx paper (Pages: 115 grams Cover: 300 grams) with stitched thread binding. It’s an artist’s life as art in 128 letter size pages with 164 black and white images and French Flap Covers. The text is in English from multiple sources including Curmano's own words. Design: Astrid Seme.

image: Lotus Legs from Futurism's Bastard Son

image: Artist in the Mississippi, Futurism's Bastard Son

image: 66º 33' N. from Futurism's Bastard Son

image: Death Valley from Futurism's Bastard Son

image: Fargo & Video from Futurism's Bastard Son

image: K'un & Billyzilla from Futurism's Bastard Son

image: The Intergalactic Tour from Futurism's Bastard Son

image: Fire & Icons at Lincoln Center from Futurism's Bastard Son

image: Buried Alive from Futurism's Bastard Son

image: Billy X. Curmano Day, St. Louis from Futurism's Bastard Son

Printed Matter, Tracks and Archive

Billy X. Curmano — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:01:57 GMT

The nature of intermedia practice often leaves tracks - from simple drawings or scratches on the earth, to printed matter, odd objects and audio/video materials. I have always tried to document and publish works often on my own, but also in consort with major museums and institutions - while being especially conscious of crediting the many assistants and collaborators that make it all possible. In so doing, I've stored a physical archive in my studios and tried to place items in appropriate collections. I was honored to have the Museum of Modern Art Library in New York City purchase a sizeable portion of my archives for their permanent collection. It includes holdings from the early Milwaukee period to the present.

image: Fandango

image: Selections catalog

image: Postal Art Catalogs

image: Artists Book

Retro-Curmano

Billy X. Curmano — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:06:00 GMT

Retro-Curman(o)* or how I got here My ancestors had the "O" stolen from the Curmano family name at Ellis Island. As an adult, I took it back. I believe my earliest performance to have been "Kicks to Delight": "series of well placed kicks in the womb of Marion Curman (My mother) which caused her to place Nick's Hand (My father) on her extended belly and smile. This activity led to conceptual questioning of my physical manifestation. Girl? Boy? Healthy? And, of course, speculation as to my cuteness. (Winter 1948)" - "New Observations", NYC, Issue 95, May/June, 1993 I began painting and sculpting shortly after. It occurred to me that painters often paint fantasies and I like to live mine. Sometimes, I live out my fantasies and then re-create them in paint, performance, video, clay, steel, stone or ...whatever. Performance allows me inter-dimensional travel between traditional 2 and 3-D concepts of graphics or sculpture and 4 and 5-D elements of time and movement in space. If I've created an object, I find the interaction between artist, artwork, audience or participants can be viewed as performance or live art. The performance becomes a brush stroke or mallet blow completing and integrating itself into the work by altering its context and giving it life. Viewers have grown accustomed to pigeonholing artists within specialized disciplines. Following the lead of Renaissance masters like Leonardo da Vinci, intermedia artists have crossed disciplines to work with whatever art forms best convey their vision. As a new traditionalist intermedia artist, I have carefully studied my antecedents and attempted to hone a broad range of skills that allow me to work with what is most appropriate to my vision, the arts and the times.

image: Color Chords

image: Color Wheels

image: Parking Lot Conversion

image: Rocking Boots

image: Lotus Legs

image: Universal Speed Master

image: Necessarily So What

image: Necessarily So What (Detail)

image: Impervious Flag

Objects Collected or Created in the Course of a Swim

Billy X. Curmano — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 02:12:13 GMT

OBJECTS Objects and Selections from Objects are in the tradition of the great panorama painters of the 1850's that sketched their way down river and painted canvases that could be unrolled with narrative river tales. Perhaps, their effort was the first form of newsreel. In this updated intermedia version - video, photos, journals, drawings, sculptures, paintings, charts, live performance, found objects and "whatever it takes" - brings the spirit of adventure from the banks of the Mississippi to formal gallery spaces. ABOUT THE SWIM SWIMMIN' THE RIVER was never intended to be an athletic event, but rather a transcontinental intermedia performance exploring the intermix of art and life, arte-vita, while expressing an ecological imperative. Simply stated, Swimmin' may be viewed as the repetition of a single form (My body) recurring within the landscape. Swim strokes mimic brush strokes, leaving impermanent trails that almost imperceptibly alter the river's flow as I become: artist, object and implement. Like a lover, the river embraces me and I serve as an "Ambassador for Clean Water". The swimmin' metaphor reflects a midwestern sensibility and stresses the fragility of the human species in a tenuous environment often callously manipulated. SWIMMIN' THE RIVER calls for zero discharge in the 21st Century and balance between wildlife, people, profit and planet. Europeans claimed the Americas by sailing over and posting flags. I hereby reclaim the "Father of Waters" for life affirming pursuits by swimming its length under the banner of art. Fourth of July Freedom and such Yankee Doodle and all that stuff. Let me say implicitly, "Without freedom from Toxicity, We ain't got much!"

image: Title/Photo ObjNO

image: MapsObjNO

image: X3C with Diagrammatic Drawing

image: Containment Case

image: Hoop Net

image: River Van Classic

image: Swimming the Mississippi

Video: Billy X. Curmano in 5 Minutes

Billy X. Curmano — Thu, 05 Dec 2002 06:00:00 GMT

The video contains random clips that span several years of art as life; life as art and includes a performance for cows, length-wise Mississippi River swim and 40 day performance art fast in Death Valley. The original score was composed as free jazz by Billy X. Curmano and the New X Art Ensemble.

The Search for the Spiritual in Art

Billy X. Curmano — Sat, 17 Nov 2001 18:40:55 GMT

"The Search for the Spiritual in Art" documents three life changing journeys on video. It includes 29 minutes of, "Swimming the Mississippi" (1987-1997), an art adventure travelogue with original score. This historic swim traversed the continent from the headwaters of the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico as a performance and environmental statement. The abundance of water is followed by its absence with one minute from each day of, "Death Valley Desert Classic" (1997-2000), a 40 day performance art fast in Death Valley that greeted the Millennium. The last 14 minutes are culled from, "Performance for the Dead" (1983), a three day live burial and exhumation complete with New orleans style jazz funeral.

Muck Minnow the Gill Boy

Billy X. Curmano — Tue, 13 Nov 2001 17:51:14 GMT

"Muck Minnow the Gill Boy" is Billy X's most ambitious exercise documenting performance in performance. The premise: A rare case of punctuated equilibrium caused by stress and immersion in the earth's polluted waters interupted the normal evolutionary cycle and converted the artist from Homo Sapiens to Homo Phibian Erectus. The formation of gills and webbed hands and feet soon followed. The Gill Boy falls into the hands of Phineas T. Pennyraper's Colossal International Amalgamated Holding Company and is forced to sing and dance for the carnival sideshow. His condition and lack of medical insurance have left him dependent upon the quackery of the show's Dr. Jonas Caulk. Large paintings, carnival sounds and lights, popping corn and silly props convert the theatre for the carnivillian farce. Billy X. plays all three distinct characters and for a moment, using a mirrored 'aquarium', two characters at the same time. "Muck Minnow the Gill Boy" was selected for the "City Pages A List" (Oct. 7, 1998) during its run at Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis and premiered at the Cleveland Public Theatre Performance Art Festival.

image: The Gill Boy

image: Muck Minnow @ Intermedia Arts

Mutiny on the Mississippi

Billy X. Curmano — Tue, 13 Nov 2001 16:22:02 GMT

"Mutiny on the Mississippi" is representative of several intermedia works used to document performance in performance with slides, music, video, live action, raps, stories and monologues. It brings the spirit of adventure from a ten year, two thousand plus mile swim from the banks of the Mississippi River to the formal museum or performance space. It premiered at the Milwaukee Art Museum and variations were chosen for the Minneapolis Art Institute, Madison Civic Center and Cleveland Public Theatre Performance Art Festival.

image: Mutiny Musicians

Adventures with Billy

Billy X. Curmano — Tue, 13 Nov 2001 15:37:05 GMT

"Adventures with Billy" is an intermedia performance utilizing slides, video, live action, raps, stories and monologues that offer a personal historical perspective on a life interwoven with performance, a "life as art". It documents performance in performance with snippets from early works and extreme projects. It's entertaining and intelligent way of presenting difficult concepts has made it popular on the college circuit. The "L.A. Weekly" selected it as the "Performance Pick of the Week" (see: Critical response). It has been well received at colleges and universities from Hawaii to New York and was selected for the SUNY New Paltz, NY biennial arts conference.

image: X-3C Launched

image: Fire & Icons

image: Busted at Lincoln Center

image: Impervious Flag

image: Impervious Flag Demonstration

Cow A Bongo; Bongo Bovine

Billy X. Curmano — Sat, 10 Nov 2001 21:51:49 GMT

"Cow a Bongo; Bongo Bovine" from the "Performance for Cows Series". I have been known for performances with nontraditonal audiences from animals and the spirit world to inanimate objects. My self-imposed artistic isolationism in a rural Minnesota farm house often gave me more access to cows, sheep, coyotes and pigs than people. When I received a request to allow a more traditional audience at one of these performances, I began to wonder if I wouldn't be just using the critters as props. After careful deliberation, I decided to include one such performance as merely a point of interest on a carefully orchestrated 7 county motor coach tour. The "Performance for Cows" was well underway when the motor coach arrived and it continued after its departure. The tourists were allowed only a portion of the cow's performance. There were motor coach attendants and amenities for the tourists, ushers on horseback, a tuxedoed band (The New X Art Ensemble) and table cloth covered tabels adorned with corn to complete the pastoral setting as dinner theatre for the herd.

image: Safari Cow Park

Performance with Dancing Flames

Billy X. Curmano — Sat, 10 Nov 2001 19:04:36 GMT

"Performance with Dancing Flames" was from a series of intermedia performances with fire. It became a ritualistic center piece in response to the AIDS Crisis and premiered as part of the national "Day Without Art" activities.

image: Fire & Icons II

Bloodbath

Billy X. Curmano — Fri, 09 Nov 2001 20:18:45 GMT

"Bloodbath" was written as a an anti-war statement using the artist as sacrifice. The performance began even as each audience member paid their price of admission. The door keeper responded to each and everyone, "You are just in time; the performance has ALREADY BEGUN". The cash box, with their receipts, was used to pay the nurse and sacrifant for their services in much the same way tax dollars support wars regardless of consent. An offstage all seeing, all knowing voice set the stage with phrases like, "The War machine is oiled with the blood of its innocent victims." Custodians ran a mylar plastic barrier between the soloist and the audience. It created a surreal, soft-focus, pristine white set and kept them safe from splattered *blood, just as television offers a sanitary view of war. The nurse and sacrifant were paid from the cash box. Thirteen vials of blood were drawn and cerimoniously splattered as the off-stage voice directed them to trouble spots on a globe that was spun with the eerie wail of a hidden saxophone. "Bloodbath" was first performed in Winona, MN but a variation was performed in front of the American Embassy in Managua, Nicaragua during the Contra War. *The first performance was before bodily fluids and their connection to AIDS was a well known factor. The mylar screen was used as a common courtesy to the audience and to create a surreal atmosphere.

image: Artist as Sacrifice

Midnight Babylon

Billy X. Curmano — Fri, 09 Nov 2001 18:45:37 GMT

"Midnight Babylon" was conceived as a series of short soliloquies about war, some of which are only a few minutes long. Each can stand alone or be strung together into a complete production. It was designed for ease of touring and spontaneity. A harmonica and razor blade are the only important props. Its flexibility has made it equally adaptable as a featured performance or a "custom fit" for specific time constraints in radio, TV, and other opportunities. It premiered at New York City's Cat Club and a version is also available on the "War" DVD.

image: War DVD Cover

Tiger Cage

Billy X. Curmano — Fri, 09 Nov 2001 17:51:54 GMT

"Tiger Cage" - after reading an article in an obscure newspaper about political prisoners housed in small cages - often for many years under inhumane conditions - without the benefit of trial, I constructed a portable welded steel cage to create spectacles and draw attention to their plight and the plight of all political prisoners. At first, the "Tiger Cage on Wheels" was primarily used in street performances. As its reputation grew, it was taken into universities, theatres, galleries, museums and various public spaces in and around Milwaukee, Minneapolis and New Orleans. A video and other documentation were produced and are still used in performances and exhibitions. The original cages, that served as my inspiration, were built at an American firm and shipped to Kon Son Island, South Vietnam.

image: Tiger Cage on Wheels

Performance for the Dead

Billy X. Curmano — Fri, 09 Nov 2001 16:53:49 GMT

"Performance for the Dead" - following a 4 day fast, traditonal Italian wake and New Orleans style jazz funeral, I was buried alive for three days in 1983. While interred, I continued to fast and perform for the dead in absolute darkness - reciting poetry and monologues, playing musical instruments and otherwise carrying on with intermedia activities. An international postal exhibition with artists from 36 countries responding to death and the performance was hung at St. Mary's University. The grave site and my studio were opened with self-guided audio tours for the undead portion of the audience. The market value of all my paintings, sculptures and object oriented work was doubled during the burial and promptly devalued to original pricing at the exhumation.

image: Visitation; Jazz Funeral

image: Portrait of the Artist with Enhanced X-Ray