The video EPISODE 3 is a surreal Sci-Fi journey; part animation, part live action, part painting, part video game. The piece begins with Sigrid, the female protagonist, outfitted in compression leg sleeves and a cane, crossing a field of reeds as she approaches the looming presence of the Metronome building. Sigrid continues on to encounter powerful forces at play for the access of physical and spiritual transcendence, manifested in a cast of mythical objects and characters such as the Outsiders, an Offering Box, Hymnals, a Pew, the Prefects, the Psychic, and a Coffin. Taking queues from performance, ritual, dance and cinema, EPISODE 3 is an abstract meditation on multiplicity and transformation. In the video the protagonist's identity, or body, is wed to how she inhabits the space, or how she is enveloped by it, rooted in the architecture, objects and characters she encounters. The video was screened in a site-specific viewing chamber, which provided the viewer with a pew from which to watch the animation. A sarcophagus-esque sculpture by Shawn Maximo (Sigrid, 2008) was installed as a levitating presence at the lower portion of the projection, thus providing the viewer with a peripheral influence similar to that of a stranger sits next to, or behind someone, in a darkened movie theater. The presence is felt, in a subtle physical fashion. This work was originally screened at the experimental art space, Fake Estate, which was a former utility closet in the West Chelsea Arts Building in New York City.

 

Yemenwed's work often explores a detached reality; a hyper re-clarification of the present moment, which frequently results in the visual shifting of peripheral experiences to the foreground. Casual back-up dancing, mundane movement, and domestic abstractions are often employed to this end, as they are theatrically rearranged to be viewed as central, and with increased detail.

 

The group maintains an active interest in the vocabulary of mainstream popular culture, and its conventions, as well as entertainment value, and notions of beauty. Each piece invariably reflects the different personal aesthetic interests of the individual artists forming the work.

 

Yemenwed was founded in 2006 in New York City, and has released several publications. Yemenwed has participated in exhibitions and performances at MOMA P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art TBA:10, Performa 09, Fake Estate Gallery, 179 Canal, Hessel Museum of Art, Asia Song Society, and Jack Hanley Gallery, among other venues.

 

Yemenwed

EPISODE 3

2008

HD Video, 17 minutes

 

Direction - Gloria Maximo & Jonathan Turner

Writing - Gloria Maximo

Animation - Jonathan Turner

Paintings - Gloria Maximo

Architectural Design - Shawn Maximo

Sculpture - Shawn Maximo

Sculpture - Paul Kopkau

Costumes - Gloria Maximo (Jason Farrer, Shawn Maximo, and Paul Kopkau, artist's own)

Jewelry - Heather Kosch

Performance - Megha Barnabas, Busy Gangnes, Jason Farrer, Paul Kopkau, Shawn Maximo, Heather Kosch, Gloria Maximo

Musical Direction, Piano - Kate Rosko

Vocals - Natalie LeBrecht, Shannon Funchess

Recorder - Nina Mehta

Guitar - Mick Barr, Colin Marston (Krallice)

Drums - Lev Weinstein (Krallice)

Drum Machine - Abby Portner

Sound Design - Joseph Fraioli

Vocal Engineer - Black Cracker

 

Companion book available.  Design - Mary Voorhees Meehan

 

Special Thanks To - David Santa Maria, Laura Foxman, Peter Zuspan

 

 

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