(Flashback) A Take on Performance Art

Power, language, instructions, phonetics, poetry.

This is my one and only attempt with performance art, also from a year ago.

I read, or rather dictate, a short poem by 20th century Spanish-Mexican poet Leon Felipe to my Spanish-ignorant volunteers. They must repeat what I say as best as they can.

Here is a transcript of the text, entitled “Decimos Todos.”

“Dice este hombre sencillo,

Antes que mi derecho,

pido mi sacrificio.

Tu, hombre elegido,

Ven aqui,

Sube sobre mis hombros,

Y ponte de puntillas,

Sobre mi craneo erguido.

Despues, hombre elegido,

Mi derecho sera tu sacrificio.

Que me digas honrada, y claramente

Lo que has visto,

Subido de puntillas,

Sobre mi craneo erguido.”

-Leon Felipe

 

 

The Angry Architect

Rob, my architecture mentor, once told me every architect needs a couple of good self-portraits (as opposed to “real” artists, who need a lot more). I happen to have one. Good or bad, it is a self-portrait and though it did not satisfied my mother’s expectations from the nose up, I do feel my presence in the drawing. The important thing are the eyebrows. Me = thick eyebrows. He looks angry and his eyes are fixed on something. That’s how I look when thinking or working, which is most of the time. No wonder my friends think I’m angry all the time. I am serious, but not angry. I am in fact a very happy individual.

There is a very interesting website I follow on Facebook– The Angry Architect, which somehow ended up shaping the subconscious of me and all of my friends. For them, I am the angry architect and this, is his portrait.

Self-portrait, charcoal on drawing paper. 2013