Performance Review: Teri Frame: Pre-human, Post-human, Inhuman

 

I recorded this clip of Teri Frame on my cell phone in Houston, Texas this past Spring at the 2013 National Council on the Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). (A full length version of the video is available here: http://vimeo.com/27041768). 

Teri Frame was featured in the 2013 NCECA Biennial for her 2011 work titled Pre-human, Post-human, Inhuman. According to her website, the work addresses changing human bodies in six acts entitled Simians, Early Humans, Hybrids, Proportions, Races, and Posthumans, respectively. The clip above features Early Humans, in which she sculpts and alters primitive and ape-like features on her own face using a white clay. The video is played at an increased speed, with sound.

In comparison to the overwhelming amount of disappointing work I experienced at this year's NCECA, this recorded performance was top-notch in terms of aesthetics, concept, and delivery. I was more than excited to see an artist using clay as a vehicle for a performance artwork! I'm compelled by the biological and scientific aspects to her work, specifically how she interprets the evolution of the human body and the sense of the "portrait." I also loved, for lack of a better term, the high contrast quality of the video-she has painted her body white, and is working with a white clay, against a black background, which to me alludes to Greek and Roman marble statuary. The speed of the video results in uncanny movements and exciting sounds, which are captivating. Yay for progressive, ephemeral, and performative ceramic art!