Cage & Uncaged: New Film, Music and Art from the 17 Frost Art Collective
The Brooklyn art and performance space 17 Frost, kicks off its 2014 program with a new film and art installation from its own artists in residence. The 17 Frost Art collective will present a short film entitled, “Cage,” along with “Uncaged,” an art installation by Alex Itin.
The film and exhibition will begin with an opening reception at 7PM on January 18th and run until February 15th. The event will take place at the 17 Frost theater, gallery and performance space at 17 Frost Street, Williamsburg, NY 11211. The gallery will be open to the public, Wednesday thru Saturday from 12 to 6 and by appointment.
The film and exhibition were conceived and produced concurrently. The masks that Alex Itin created for the contemporary surrealist film, have been incorporated into his gallery installation. The “Cage” sound track was created by 17 frost collective members, Dave Scarborough (the film’s director), along with Javier Hernandez Miyares and Steven Pacia (of the musical group, Sineparade).
Cage
The collective’s first film (directed by Dave Scarborough, and created and written by the group) portrays a New York couple living on the brink. The contemporary duo struggle through an increasingly neurotic, pressure filled, modern urban life, further complicated by flaring mental health issues. Upon release from a psychiatric facility, the woman, played by Natalie Scarborough, brings home a caged animal, in need of care, to the dismay of her overbearing boyfriend (Alex Itin). The unwitting animal bears witness to their dysfunctional relationship. The couple’s dialogue moves between the frighteningly real (and hurtful) and the absurd and comical as the setting jumps from a NYC apartment, to black box theater, to dreamscape in the woods of Woodstock. The woman escapes the weight of her existence only through the hallucinations of her disorder. She is ushered back to collective consciousness, “reality,” by the masked fiends and flashbacks that haunt her dissociative states. The film’s musical score faithfully echoes the circular narrative, moving between musical styles including chorale, orchestral and rock. (Running time-45mins, film stills attached)
Alex Itin : Uncaged (How the fool stole the crown)
The installation, Uncaged, by New York based visual artist, videographer and actor, Alex Itin,subtitled “How the Fool Stole the Crown,” was born of Itin’s work on the Cage script and masks he produced for the film. The installation begins at the facade of the 17 frost performance space with a mural, entitled “Romulus and Venus.” In this mixed mythological metaphor, the “power couple” sits with skulls scattered around them inside the belly of a beast that is equal parts cat, dog and human. The beasts or “Cogs,” as the artist calls them, are frequent subjects in his recent work.
The gargoyle-like masks, colorful 3D constructions of Itin’s drawing and video imagery, adorn the gallery walls. Like the cog, they speak of the sacred and profane, the human who is also animal. The masks serve as the heads of fantastical figures “fleshed out” by two dimensional expressionistic paintings of bodies and artifacts. Itin draws inspiration from the masks used in the centuries old Basel Carnival, Fasnacht.
The gallery scenes portray the range of human affect, and echo the film’s sub-themes of depravity, absurdity, and pathos that characterize contemporary life. In essence, the show is Itin’s unique vision of a present day “Garden of Earthly Delights,” in installation form.
17 Frost Art and Performance space (17 Frost street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 11211) – established in 2006, the community art space has hosted dozens of plays, art exhibitions, live musical performances and multi-media productions. http://17frost.com
Alex Itin- New York based visual artist, videographer and actor. Credits include…..Visit http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/ for more information.
Sineparade- the musical project of Javier Hernandez Miyares and Steven Pacia that has spawned numerous studio recordings, live performances and the multi-media show Zipperhead. Please visit www.sineparade.com and http://javier-hernandez-miyares.com/ for more information.