Art AIDS America at Tacoma Art Museum

World Class Exhibition surveys 30 years of AIDS

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Oct. 8, 2015

Joey Terrill (born 1955), Still Life with

Forget-Me-Nots and One Week’s Dose of Truvada,

2012. Mixed media on canvas, 36 × 48 inches.

Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art,

Foundation purchase. Photo courtesy of

Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art.

If I were allowed 6,000 words instead of 600, I probably still couldn’t do this exhibition justice. The amazing thing about it is that it was locally curated, by Tacoma Art Museum’s Rock Hushka  in partnership with The Bronx Museum of the Arts and co-curator Jonathan David Katz from the University at Buffalo (The State University of New York).

Art AIDS America is as good as any major exhibition put together by any great museum in America. This is a major coupe and a show that should be seen by everyone. Way to go, Rock Hushka and TAM!

This exhibition surveys some of the best and best-known art about the AIDS epidemic from the early 1980s, when AIDS was a mysterious disease called “the gay cancer”, until today. Much of the art was created by artists living with AIDS or by artists who have died due to AIDS-related illness. The disease may no longer be an automatic death sentence, but people living with the HIV virus are kept alive by drugs that often have devastating side effects, and they do not save everyone who is infected.

The exhibition “creates spaces for mourning and loss, yes, but also for anger and for joy, for political resistance and for humor, for horror, and for eroticism,” says co-curator Katz.

Famous artists represented in the show include such luminaries as Keith Haring, Jenny

Holzer, Annie Leibovitz, Robert Mapplethorpe, Judy Chicago, and Jasper Johns. Lesser known artists such as Shion Attie, Eric Avery, Charles LeDray make devastatingly powerful statements Luis Cruz Azaceta’s “Babies with AIDS” is an American flag with dead or dying babies strung out on it like so many insects or like Kaposi sarcoma lesions. Looking at it made me gasp.

Julie Tolentino (born 1964),

THE SKY REMAINS THE SAME: Tolentino

Archives Ron Athey’s Self-Obliteration #1,

2008. Chromogenic color print, edition 1 of 5,

17 × 11 inches. Documentation courtesy of

Leon Mostovoy, Courtesy of the artist and Commonwealth &

Council, Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of the Estate of Albert J. Winn

David Wojnarowicz’s “Bad Moon Rising” is a breathtaking collage of multiple photos of his dying lover and fellow artist, Peter Hujar (works also included in this show) with a horrifying rant against people and institutions that ignored the AIDS crisis printed over his images.

Jim Hodges’ “When We Stay” is a delicate yet strong curtain of silk, cotton and polyester flowers sewn together, each flower connected with a single thread. Beautiful and expressive, its connection with AIDS sinks in gradually. 

Leibovitz’s portrait of Kerie Campbell’s nude body painted with primitive-looking symbols for the HIV virus is frightening and strong. I could not look away.

These are but a tiny sampling of the 125 works of art in this exhibition. Many of the images and descriptions cannot be printed in this newspaper, and that is a shame. It is an uncomfortable show. It will make you squirm, and it will make you angry. It should make you want to support the effort to eradicate this horrible disease. The fact that a lot of what can be seen here is great art is almost a side benefit. 

There will be many excellent programs held in conjunction with the exhibition, including an artist’s talk by Micha Cárdenas Oct. 15 at 6: 30 p.m.; a talk on the AIDS Memorial Quilt with Julie Rhoad, president and CEO of the Names Project, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m.; a community conversation on “Faith and Positivity” Nov. 19 at 6 p.m.; and an artist’s talk and performance by Karen Finley Dec. 5 at 2 p.m.

Art AIDS America, Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., through Jan. 10, 2016, $12-$14, Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Ave. Tacoma, http://www.tacomaartmuseum.org/

The Head That Wouldn’t Die! Redux

Photo: Xander Layden as Dr. Bill Cortner and Jacqui Martin as Dixie Quigley. Photo by Locke and Key Photography

Theater Artists Olympia revises their huge B-Movie Hit

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Oct. 8, 2015

Xander Layden as Dr. Bill Cortner and Jacqui Martin as Dixie Quigley. Photo by Locke and Key Photography

At the end of 2014 Theater Artists Olympia produced a musical comedy called The Head That Wouldn’t Die! which was probably the biggest hit of the season if not the biggest hit of TAO’s entire history.

In my Dec. 9, 2014 review I wrote:

Theater Artists Olympia’s original musical The Head! That Wouldn’t Die! is the love child of Mel Brooks and Ed Wood with midwifery by Pug Bujeaud. In other words, it is exactly what to expect by the homegrown theater company that brought you The Brain from Planet X, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom and Cannibal!! The Musical (twice). But this show elevates B-movie musical camp to a level far above those earlier TAO shows. Maybe those were mere warmups through which they learned how to do it.

And now they’re doing it again: The Head That Wouldn’t Die! Redux is even better this time around. For this show, TAO has added three new actors and new songs, the cheesy special effects are more spectacular (without sacrificing any of the delicious cheesiness), and the costumes by Orantrix Couture are  . . . well, I can’t quite remember last year’s costumes but I think some of the gorgeous gowns worn by Cassandra (Heather Christopher) are new and so was the burlesque costume worn by Dixie Quigley (Jacqui Martin). By-the-way, Orantrix Couture is Nani Poonani’s company, and she is a star of Olympia’s own Tush! Burlesque.

The Head, adapted by director and lyricist Pug Bujeaud and the TAO Collective, is based on a 1962 B movie, The Brain That Wouldn’t Die. The play is irreverent, fun-loving, and loaded with political and social satire. Politics and war, the medical profession and misogyny are thoroughly skewered.

Dr. Bill Cortner (Xander Layden) is a womanizer. So is his father, the elder Dr. Cortner (John Serembe). The younger Dr. Cortner is also an evil genius in the mold of Mr. Hyde and Dr. Frankenstein. And he’s a really bad driver. Beware of Deadman’s Curve.

I won’t say any more about the plot at the risk of spoiling some of the many surprises. Suffice it to say there’s a head in a pan, a “thing” in the closet, a body beautiful contest, lots of groaner puns and references to heads and hands, and some fabulous music with lyrics by Bujeaud and music by Marko Bujeaud, both with contributions by the collective.

The writing, music, costumes and special effects are all outstanding. TAO has gone overboard in giving this low-budget extravaganza the flavor and production values of a major musical production. And the acting — especially the comic timing and the portrayals of over-the-top characters — is fantastic.

Watch out for Dead Man's Curve! Vanessa Postil and Jan and Xander Layden as Dr. Bill Cortner Photo by Locke and Key Photography

Serembe is a professional actor with credits including roles in major television and movie productions. His professionalism shows in spades. His singing of “Abilene” is almost as funny as the famous “Putting on the Ritz” number in Young Frankenstein.

Layden, popular with local audiences for his work with TAO and Olympia Family Theater, turned in his best performance ever in the first production of The Head, and if anything he’s even better this time. Bujeaud said about his character, “We track his fall from egoism into madness a bit more closely. It’s a little darker . . . but still in the end it’s surprisingly sweet.” I promise you, you’ll love hating Layden’s Bill.

I can’t say enough about Vanessa Postil’s performance as Jan. You’d never believe anyone could be so expressive without a body and without moving her head.

Also turning in award-worthy performances are Jesse Moore-Hendrickson as Kurt, Michael Christopher in various roles, and Heather Christopher as the sexy and mysterious Cassandra.

Do yourself a great big favor and go see The Head That Wouldn’t Die, Redux!

The Head That Wouldn’t Die! Redux, Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. through Oct. 30, The Midnight Sun, 113 N. Columbia St. Tickets: $12-$15, Available at door night of show or online at brownpapertickets.com, pay what you can tonight (Oct. 8).

Oliver at Tacoma Musical Playhouse

Published in The News Tribune, Oct. 2, 2015

Nancy Hebert-Bach (red dress) with the cast of Oliver. Photo by Kat Dollarhide.

The British musical Oliver has been entertaining audiences for well over half a century, and it never goes out of style. The 19^th century setting and Cockney accents (done with style and wit by the Tacoma Musical Playhouse cast) make it just foreign enough for American audiences to not be put off by the horrors of poverty, cruelty and murder in the story. Indeed, many of the scoundrels and thieves are presented as comical characters, Fagin (Sam Barker) and Mr. Bumble (Brian Cox) being prime examples of hateful guys you can‘t help loving. The nastiest of all, however, is not played comically but as a straight-out, bad guy who is proud of being the biggest, baddest man in town. That would be the club-wielding Bill Sykes (Johnny Neidlinger).

Oliver is based on the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, with book and lyrics by Lionel Bart. Oliver (Liam Loughridge), an orphan boy, is not only kicked out of the orphanage but sold like a slave to the undertaker Mr. Sowerberry (Joe Woodland) for the offense of asking for a second helping of gruel. He escapes and ends up living with a troop of boy pickpockets working for Fagin, who provides them with a hovel in which to live and takes all the loot they steal. There he is befriended by the Artful Dodger (Helene Minassian) and Nancy (Nancy Hebert-Bach) the live-in girlfriend of the dreaded Bill Sykes. On his first pick-pocketing foray, Oliver is caught but set free and taken in by the wealthy and kindly Mr. Brownlow (Andrew Fry).

For the sake of readers who may not already know the story I will not say any more about the plot.

The storyline is just complex enough to be difficult to handle in a musical format, and the exposition drags a bit in the middle of the second act, but that is forgivable because of the great music and entertaining characters.

Loughridge is a young boy with, according to program notes, little theatrical experience outside TMP youth programs, with the exception of appearing in A Christmas Story, the Musical at Seattle’s 5^th Avenue Theatre –quite a coupe for any young actor. He plays Oliver as a sweet and innocent boy and sings beautifully with a soft voice that I wish could be amplified a bit more.

Cox as Mr. Bumble and Selleigh-Mairi Ferguson as the Widow Corney are fabulously funny in their opening scene when they appear looking like the Thénardiers in Les Misérables. They are big, bold and funny. Their seduction scene with the song“I Shall Scream” is hilarious.

Minassian is captivating and brimming with energy as the Artful Dodger. Her performance marks the second time I’ve seen a girl play the part, and a Google search tells me it’s not an uncommon practice, but not so common as a female playing Peter Pan. Minassian is great. Her broad gestures and exuberance are infectious. I hope to see more of her in the future.

Barker’s portrayal of Fagin is comic gold. What a repertoire of facial expressions!

By far the most affecting and most powerful performance of all is Hebert-Bach’s Nancy. She is the most complex character in the play, desperately in love with a man who abuses her and asks her to do things she knows are wrong. Hebert-Bach makes us feel Nancy’s inner turmoil. Interestingly considered how long ago the play was written, her psychology is typical of what we now know about spousal abuse victims. Her breathtaking solo on “As Long As He Needs Me” is the most emotionally draining song in the play. There is some business going on behind her, however, that is terribly distracting at the worst possible time as stage hands move sets while she is still singing. They should have waited, even if it meant delaying the next scene.

Overall the acting and the music are outstanding, as is the set by Bruce Haasl and, as always, the great orchestra directed by Jeff Stvrtecky.

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday,  2 p.m. Sunday, 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 9, through Oct. 11

WHERE: Tacoma Musical Playhouse at The Narrows Theatre, 7116 Sixth Ave., Tacoma

TICKETS: $22-$31

INFORMATION: 253-565-6867, http://www.tmp.org

Circle of Friends at Fulcrum

 Jeremy Mangan and Friends Shine at Fulcrum

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Oct. 1, 2015

“The Siege of Syracuse” painting by Jean-Pierre Roy. Photo courtesy Fulcrum Gallery

If there are noticeable similarities between the works by the half-dozen artists now on view at Fulcrum Gallery, it is because they are friends who met while living in New York in the early 2000s and have continued to influence each other since — Patrick Berran, Ben Grasso, Jean Pierre Roy, Ryan Scully, Shintaro Okamoto, and Jeremy Mangan, all pulled together by Mangan for this show.

What these artists share, beyond skill, inventiveness and an obvious shared love of art, is a kind of post-modernist surrealistic mindset. Mangan’s whiskey barrels tumbling over a cold waterfall and his luminous treasure chest caught up in tree roots are like modern day René Magrittes; and Roy’s “The Siege of Syracuse” is like a Salvador Dali painting if Dali had expended more energy on art and less of performance.

Berran and Grasso are the exceptions. There is little trace of surrealism in their paintings. Berran is showing three small abstract paintings of overlapping and interlocking squares and rectangles in acrylic and toner. Within each geometric shape is a pattern of squiggly, splatter-like shapes. His color schemes are simple: blue and red in one painting; blue, red and red-orange in another; and a third in tones of brown with overlapping greenish blocks and super-subtle gray and peach transparencies. There is great complexity hidden within the apparent simplicity in Berran’s paintings.

Grasso is showing excellent paintings of leaves and flowers with cheery colors in deliberate dabs of paint. They’re like close-ups of tiny sections of Monet landscapes.

Scully paints rock formations and an avocado-like plant in the desert which are realistic in appearance but highly unlikely to exist in nature. They are classically balanced, smooth as sanded wood, and nuanced in color modulations. “

Okamoto has two drawings of pod-like formations that are like slightly more abstract versions of Scully’s impossible plant. There’s something evocative and eerie about these.

Roy’s single painting, “Siege of Syracuse” is a small picture of a man seated in grassy mountains with a copy of Hieronymus Bosch’s “Christ Descent Into Hell” held in his lap. But the Bosch is painted on glass and the man’s knees go into and through it. This is the most surrealistic painting in the show. It is amazingly luminous with intricate details that are hypnotic.

Luminosity is also a hallmark of Mangan’s paintings, which are realistic scenes that are highly unlikely to ever be seen in this world. “Point Marker” pictures a platform standing in water with a huge splash of water behind it (one can’t help but wonder what made the splash) and a broken ladder leading from the water to the top of the platform. “Sending the Barrels” is the one mentioned earlier of wooden whiskey barrels tumbling over a waterfall, and “Treasure for the Taking” is the one with the treasure chest caught up in the roots of a tree. It is believably realistic and natural except for the rays of light shining out of the chest.

There is not a bad painting in this show, and every one is thought-provoking and intriguing.

Circle of Friends, Wednesday & Friday noon to 6 p.m., through Oct. 14, Fulcrum Gallery, 1308 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Tacoma W