Bec Stupak Doorway 1 2006 single channel video [detail of installation]
Once I discovered the conceit of this installation by Bec Stupak at Deitch on Grand Street suddenly "it all came together", as strange as that clause may sound when used anywhere around Jack Smith, especially a Jack Smith occupying an additional dimension.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is Bec's blind remake of Jack Smiths legendary film Flaming Creatures. Using members of her demimonde, including performance drag group The Radical Fairies, Phiiliip, Agathe Snow, and other downtown celebrities, she recreates the 1963 cult classic based only on the impressions shes collected from others of what the film consists of.I eventually found it very difficult to walk out of rooms whose silliness or campiness I had initially found so annoying, but most of that negativity was only about some 1960's baggage I forget I'm still carrying around.
Barry and I were in the gallery three weeks ago, but since then whenever I think of uploading an image for the blog it's one of these which comes back to visit - every time. A very special show.
Bec Stupak Flaming Creatures 2005 single channel video [detail of slow-shutter still from installation]
Bec Stupak Flaming Creatures 2005 single channel video [detail of still from installation]
this show sucked...... a very predictable restaging of the brilliant original with nothing revelatory added,,,just an appropriation that took advantage of smith's burgeoning re-trendiness .. go deitch... whats next ?if i re-enact a cockettes show with more boring makeup and aesthetic will i too get a show please? lets try something original...art sucks if you can easily predict it
I don't know whether entering this comment will cast any more light on the subject, but for what it may be worth, I just found this review of the Deitch show by Roberta Smith, and there's also my own reaction one year ago to a first encounter with Stupak's [more or less] solo work, buried within my post on an Eyebeam installation which included projects by a number of different artists.