Video: Alexander Ross

In the Mutableye

We here at Mutable just discovered Alexander Ross, and he has immediately become one of our new favorite humans. At first, we merely enjoyed him for the fact that his art is just the sort of abstract realism that we love to love. (See above.) Which for some reason reminds me of Kelly Reaves’ work.

But then, we discovered the album of his below, put out by our friends Audio Dregs, and featuring art that is more Jim Woodring than Salvador Dali. Then we listened to his music. Then we asked ourselves how it was possible we had never listened to his music before.

Of course, we had to immediately contact Eric Mast over at Audio Dregs to discover more about this mystery, and he was happy to explain how he had first discovered Fantastic Palace's music on a CD comp in ’92 called Chinny Chin Chin (See Eye) and played it on his college radio show at the time a bunch, listening to it for some 20 years, only to then discover it was his friend, Mike McGonnigal, who had originally released it, and the two got in touch with Fantastic Palace (Alexander Ross) to re-issue it on vinyl, a release that has just recently officially sold out.

As for the video below, it was not taken by Mast, but it certainly rounds out the mystery of who Alex Ross is and what he believes in.

Through the course of it, Ross discusses all aspects of his style, influences, and current experiments. The first painting they talk about is very different stylistically from the drawing above, and at first glance it seems almost cheesy, but when you get in close, you see the wonderful vibrancy of the piece. We have a special fondness for works that begin with clay sculptures and go from there, not to mention works that transform as you approach (think Chuck Close), and of course it’s also so illuminating hearing Ross talk about the “photorealism” of the paint versus the more abstract pencilwork in that first painting the video focuses on.

Over the course of the studio visit, Ross also talks about his distinct interests and many inspirations, from psychedelics, to silly putty, to mites, describing his drawings as a kind of monstrous R. Crumb scientific drawings. My favorite parts are always when Ross lets loose about how his ideas have evolved and are continuing to evolve.

Be sure to stick around to the end to get some nice peaks of some delightful experiments. “The most intelligent technology is nature.” Indeed.

In the Mutableye is a segment that sometimes showcases something interesting that is happening somewhere in the world at this moment, and sometimes showcases some fad or person from the past that we here at Mutable acknowledge is still cool s**t.

Jenn Pipp: Time Ceremony

In the Mutableye

Jen Pipp, self-styled spiritual modernist, creates online ceremonies to help the rest of us to manage our minds. “There’s so much spiritual information out there right now, it’s hard to know what resonates with us and what is not resonant with us.” She has a show, The Great Big Infinity, up at the Emerson Contemporary Gallery through May 9th. Gallery hours are Wed-Sun 12-7pm. Zoom Artist talk Tuesday May 4th at 5pm. Stop by and check it out!

In the Mutableye is a segment that sometimes showcases something interesting that is happening somewhere in the world at this moment, and sometimes showcases some fad or person from the past that we here at Mutable acknowledge is still cool s**t.

Gae Bolg: Requiem

In the Mutableye

I first discovered Gae Bolg more than a decade ego, while touring the Pacific Northwest. We were staying with a friend in Olympia, WA, and after playing us the remarkable composition he’d made from frog recordings, he put on a piece of music that would become a regular for me in the years to come, Requiem, by Gae Bolg.

As with everything from Gae Bolg, in this piece of music of French musician, Eric Roger. It is bombastic and medieval, yes, but in the context of the 21st century, it seems appropriately apocalyptic. It is, the appropriate response to the times we are living. You can listen to Requiem below, or check out their equally amazing Aucussin et Nicolette.

Requiem by Gae Bolg, released 19 May 2006 1. Introit 2. Dies Irae 3. Lacrymosa 4. Improvisa Leti Vis Rapuit, Rapietque Gentes 5. Choral I 6. Marche Au Tombeau 7. Choral II 8. Hymne 9. Choral III 10. La Flamme S'Eteint, Une Vie Renait 11. Di Me Tuentur, Dis Musa Cordi Est 12.

In the Mutableye is a segment that sometimes showcases something interesting that is happening somewhere in the world at this moment, and sometimes showcases some fad or person from the past that we here at Mutable acknowledge is still cool s**t.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti RIP

Constantly Risking Absurdity (#15)

(Lawrence Ferlinghetti, perhaps best known as the champion of the Beats, founder of City Lights, a star lost in the lap of San Francisco, was of course something of a poet in his own right, and is now dead. We wanted to mark this moment with a poem from the man himself. To hear more beat poetry, including by Mr. Ferlinghetti himself, go here.)

Constantly risking absurdity
and death
whenever he performs
above the heads
of his audience
the poet like an acrobat
climbs on rime
to a high wire of his own making
and balancing on eyebeams
above a sea of faces
paces his way
to the other side of day
performing entrechats
and sleight-of-foot tricks
and other high theatrics
and all without mistaking
any thing
for what it may not be

For he's the super realist
who must perforce perceive
taut truth
before the taking of each stance or step
in his supposed advance
toward that still higher perch
where Beauty stands and waits
with gravity
to start her death-defying leap

And he
a little charleychaplin man
who may or may not catch
her fair eternal form
spreadeagled in the empty air
of existence

Scripted Cocktail Party

Bedroom Theater Dispatch

During these strange covid times, perhaps we all need to calm down, down a few drinks, and read aloud the words of others rather than venturing into the dangerous theatrics of our normal everyday improvised speech.

Forced to have a cocktail party for two because you’re under quarantine? Or a cocktail party of one? Worry not! These dialogues are engineered to entertain! Often surreal, occasionally audacious, silly, unrepentant, and embarrassing/humiliating, you are guaranteed a good time if you and one or two friends sit yourselves down on the couch and read and act out the attached plays for your amusement.

With such memorable one-liners as: “Are you the object of my affection? I forget,” and, “Who put the rotten tentacles in my bed,” this Collection of Conversations for Everyday Use is best done over Moscow Mules. These plays have been performed in Chicago, Boston, New York, and throughout America, in living rooms, art spaces, lofts, and of course bedrooms, as many of the attached short plays came out of the two years I spent performing plays in my bedroom, which culminated in a summer spent traveling from Boston to New Orleans to LA to Seattle in a 1971 minibus performing plays in bedrooms and courtyards and all with a girl who broke up with me after the first, a tragicomic experience to be sure.

These short plays are written in the hopes to alleviate the boredom and strain upon my fellow Americans during these trying times. Please feel free to pass them on to your friends. You can view or download the scripts here to throw your own scripted cocktail party or click on the link below!

Bedroom Theater began when my roommate changed the light bulb in my bedroom and ended in a five-hour crying spree in the Nevada desert. There is no audience, only people performing for each other. For more on this, please see Welcome to Weltschmerz.