It’s not often that the artists of Phoenix delve into the territory of hyperrealism, preferring the emotive expression of stylistic art. However, one unnamed street artist turned that stigma on its head with “Shipping Container,” a mixed media work depicting a shipping container—and so much more.
The cold metallic textures of the work evoke themes of industry and capitalism, contrasting Smithian ideals with the pragmatics of logistics. The touches of rust-like texturing brought in a tone of derelict age, showing the toll such economic principles have on the physical world.
The space the artist chose to display his work in was another bold move in itself. The corner of Seventh and W. Jefferson streets was the perfect venue for the work. Devoid of the trappings of any structured gallery or exhibit, the work stood out as a naturalized object. It was a setting where the art was defined by how inconspicuous it seemed.
An interesting artistic touch was the inclusion of the chain and padlock on the door of the piece. It seemed a challenge to the viewer, enforcing the idea that we can’t know everything. This combined with the fact that the work was only accessible after scaling a chain-link fence made for an experience truly demanding of a viewer’s attention and efforts.
Maybe the most engaging aspect of the work as a whole was the performance piece accompanying it. Over the course of one viewing the work, several actors dressed as construction workers will approach and ask you to leave, repeatedly and with increased agitation. It was a revolutionary moment for me. It was art literally geared to repel the viewer, demanding a respect of expression as an independent force. The actors invoked themes of ownership with lines such as “what are you doing here” and “this is private property.”
The moment was also an emotional high, as the actors—never breaking character—flawlessly escalated their performances from gentle requests to shouting obscenities and threatening to call the police.
It was an exhaustive experience, but one I would highly recommend to anyone interested in meta-artistic commentaries.
A survivor applies ash to her face in order to keep up with the latest fashion trends of the ever-changing post-apocalyptic world. The use of scavenged materials has been all the rage lately. (Whatta Ware/PD)
I realize that with everything catching fire, clouds of disease floating through town and all of us making peace with our impending deaths, outfit inspiration has a hit a real low. So, I’ve made a quick list of DIY looks to help you make it through the end of days in style!
1. Ash as makeup
So your entire city is burning. All your worldly possessions are gone, including your trusty makeup kit (even your Naked palettes!). Well, silver lining, look at what’s around you! What do you see? Ash, soot, dirt, whatever you want to call it, these leftovers from the Great Fire have similar properties to your favorite powders!
Grab a container and fill it up with this stuff in between escaping the Hell beasts. I recommend using some fur scraps from your latest kill as a brush to apply some ash as a contour for a real avant-garde survivor’s look. You’ll really harken back to all those Hunger Games-inspired trends, so retro!
2. Layer, layer, layer!
With temperatures fluctuating between -50 and 150 degrees Fahrenheit, your daily look has to be able to meet the ever-changing demands of the Final Storm. Luckily, the rags that are left over from your once-impeccable wardrobe or found in the crumbling remains of civilization are perfect for the latest layered trend!
See if you can vary between shades of brown, gray and beige as well as textures to really highlight the different pieces of your look. If you’re feeling really ambitious, dried blood splatter can add a splash of color and really sends a “Don’t mess with me” vibe to roving murderous bandits.
3. Making jewelry from diamonds in the rough
Accessorizing when you’re facing death by starvation, disease, mauling by demon, fire or botched rapture is hard. However, taking those extra few minutes after returning from foraging empty-handed to bump your outfit to the next level can really make a difference in your ensemble.
I know just two weeks ago you were telling everyone over brunch how much you wanted to make and sell your own jewelry on Etsy. So, why not now? Grab a small strip of scrap metal, heat it up a bit over one of those pits to Hell, and bend it into a basic ring shape. Then, grab any one of those rocks lying around and stick it in while the metal’s still hot and bendy. Ta-da, your very own rock ring!
That’s all for now! If we’re all still alive next week, check back in for my next post: the ideal hunting and foraging ensembles.
Wanda Menzel’s play “Happy in America,” which is being performed at the Herberger Theater Center, tried too hard to convey emotional turmoil through the metaphor of physical destruction. (Thea T. Re/PD)
The question of happiness in upper-crust America has been one we’ve dealt with in this country for years. With money, wealth and power, what more could a person want, and why do so many of us feel dissatisfied?
Wanda Menzel’s new play, “Happy in America,” which opened this weekend at the Herberger Theater Center, deals with this question. The show takes a look at a regular high-income family living in California to explore the trials they face.
The first half of the play set up the characters and outlined their plight. Peter Goodman, played by Robert Menton, faces marital troubles with his wife, Annie, played by Alissa Cooper. Their son, Harold, played by Henry Grimes, is struggling with his classes at Stanford and has come home for the weekend for his parents’ support — only to find himself thrown into a tumultuous home rife with arguments.
Cooper gave the standout performance of the first half of the play, illustrating Annie’s character with nuanced action and excellent body language. As a mother, we see her demeanor change and soften; as a wife, she stands rigid, asserting her needs.
As the play progressed, however, the plot took a sudden twist, leaving many thematic elements unaddressed and loose ends untied. The entire performance, too, took a 180-degree turn — it simply wasn’t convincing.
During the second act, as Annie is sitting down with Harold to discuss whether a new car might help improve his grades and is preparing to tell him about her impending divorce from Peter, the stage began to shake. While the scale of the effect was impressive, it failed to seem realistic.
As stage left began to crumble away, rapidly advancing toward Annie and Harold, I found myself questioning the purpose and efficacy of this move. In the middle of a performance filled with subtleties, why now take on such grand and theatrical effects?
I felt as though I had been transported into a cheesy B-level horror film. The shaking seemed choppy and overwrought, and the floor breaking into pieces and descending into a vast hole of nothingness just took everything one step too far. For a theater company to accurately illustrate disaster, they should do so with taste and simplicity, or it will begin to feel too over-staged and unrealistic. That’s what happened with “Happy in America.”
Cooper and Grimes also demonstrated a lack of preparedness for the scene. Their responses to the crumbling metaphorical and physical worlds around Annie and Harold were slow and ill-timed. Perhaps the most grating part of the whole show was the distinct change in Cooper’s performance: The scream she gave as Annie responding to the floor beneath her feet crumbling away into an endless, empty void was clearly fake and actually pulled me out of the scene. I found myself wondering how long this would last before we could get back to the compelling issues of how Annie and Peter would divide their joint belongings after the divorce.
After such a gripping and believable performance from Cooper and Grimes, their acting in this scene was simply inexcusable. Their actions were thin and fake, failing to convey the emotional complexity of the characters of the Goodman family. As the floor falls beneath her, for example, Annie reaches for Harold in a panic, but instead of using this moment to demonstrate a moment of tenderness between mother and son, Grimes brusquely grabbed Cooper’s arm and yanked her, almost violently, back onto the stage.
The two started to run from the yawning hole of absolute darkness but fell in. The audience could hear their screams for at least half a minute after they had fallen — far too long to allow the moment, which should be traumatizing, to develop any sort of emotional response at all.
You’d think that would be melodramatic, unrealistic and exaggerated enough, but the floor only continued to crumble. Theater seats on either side of the stage collapsed into the pitch-black, bottomless pit. They even recruited extras to appear as usual theatergoers, who were sucked from their chairs into the infinite darkness.
Finally — after far too long, in my opinion — the shaking stopped. And with that, so ended the play, which was utterly disappointing. The more I think about it, the more disgusted I am. In an act of complete arrogance, the actors also failed to enter for curtain call, leaving the audience with too many questions and a sense of business forever left unfinished.
When I turned around to see if anyone knew what was happening, I realized I was alone in the theater. I can therefore attest to the horrifying failure of this play by the fact that of all the audience members for the opening-night show, I was the only one with the fortitude to stick around for the final scene.
“Happy in America” will be playing at the Herberger Theater Center through Nov. 16. Tickets range from $35-$65.
