Vaginal Davis
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| Vaginal Davis | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Dr. Vaginal Davis, Vaginal Creme Davis, Mistress Veronika V'intrest, The Walking Installation Piece, Graciela, Miss Bricktops |
| Origin | Los Angeles |
| Genres | punk rock, experimental, queercore, performance art |
| Occupations | musician, zinester, hostess, gossip columnist, author, performance artist, experimental filmmaker |
| Years active | 80s – 2002 |
| Labels | Amoeba Records & Filmworks Spectra Sonic Records Mr. Lady Chongo Records Dischord Records |
| Website | vaginaldavis.com |
Vaginal Davis is an American genderqueer performing artist, painter, independent curator, composer, and writer. Davis's name is a homage to activist Angela Davis.
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[edit] Life and career
Davis is often associated with the formation of the Queer-Core Zine Movement. She has performed with such artists as Lisa Lampanelli, Margaret Cho, Beck, and Ernesto Tomasini, and has collaborated with underground photographers/filmmakers Bruce LaBruce, Rick Castro, G. B. Jones, the performance artist Ron Athey and, more recently, with the Cheap art collective in Berlin, Germany.
Since the late 1970s, Davis has led many conceptual art bands, beginning with "The Afro Sisters". Davis is also a founding member of "¡Cholita!" with Alice Bag (of seminal 1970's punk band The Bags). He co-founded "Pedro, Muriel & Esther (PME)" with Glen Meadmore.[1] PME recorded their first single for independent record label Amoeba Records, and went on to record The White To Be Angry with producer Steve Albini. She was in a band called Black Fag with Beck's mother Bibbe Hansen, and more recently, as a part of her collaboration with Cheap in Berlin, Davis formed a band called Ruth Fischer (Fischer was a leader in the Communist Party of Germany).
In Los Angeles, Davis is also known for hosting and DJing a range of performance and music events. One of the most prominent was Bricktops (2002–2005) - a weekly salon/speak-easy inspired by vaudevillian Bricktop.[2] She also hosted and DJed a Sunday afternoon music event called "Sucker" (1994–2000). She and artist Ron Athey curated and hosted GIMP (2000–2001), a monthly night of performance art.
Davis' film and video projects include The White to Be Angry (1999), Designy Living (1994), "One Man Ladies" (with Glenn Belverio, 1994), Three Faces of Women (1993). She appears in films such as Super 8½ (Bruce LaBruce, 1994), Hustler White (Bruce LaBruce and Rick Castro, 1998) and The Lollipop Generation (G.B. Jones, 2008) [3] She also appeared in an episode of Gideon's Crossing.
Vaginal Davis is the publisher and editor of the zines Fertile Latoyah Jackson Magazine (sic)[2] and Shrimp. She has contributed writing to many publications, including Glue (in which he had a column called "Because I Said So"), "UR Chicago", Ben Is Dead, J.D.s, and the LA Weekly. One of her stories was anthologized in The Best American Erotica of 2003, edited by Susie Bright. She regularly writes for the German/Dutch Zoo Magazine. She also has an upcoming book entitled Beware the Holy Whore, a compilation of her interviews with celebrities like Keanu Reeves, Missy Elliott, and Eminem.[4]
In her performances, Davis adopts a range of personae, some of which are entirely her own creation (e.g. Saint Salicia Tate[2]), some of which are based on actual people (Bricktop, and Vanessa Beecroft).
In 2007, Vaginal Davis moved from Los Angeles to Berlin, Germany.
[edit] Filmography
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1994 | Designy Living | ||
| Three Faces Of Women | Director | ||
| 1995 | Super 8½ | ||
| Live Nude Girls | Pool Man | ||
| 1996 | Hustler White | Buster Boote | |
| 1999 | Can I Be Your Bratwurst, Please? | ||
| The White To Be Angry | Director | ||
| 2008 | The Lollipop Generation | Beulah Blacktress | |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1993 | Tales of the City | Endup Emcee | 1 episode |
| 2001 | Gideon's Crossing | Eddie | 1 episode |
[edit] References
- ^ Macgregor, Hilary E (2 May 2004). "Of Dada and Dr. Davis; A portrait of the artist as him and her, performer and provocateur, underground and out there, renowned and all but unknown.". Los Angeles Times. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/626393891.html?dids=626393891:626393891&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+02%2C+2004&author=Hilary+E.+MacGregor&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Style+%26+Culture%3B+Of+Dada+and+Dr.+Davis%3B+A+portrait+of+the+artist+as+him+and+her%2C+performer+and+provocateur%2C+underground+and+out+there%2C+renowned+and+all+but+unknown.&pqatl=google. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
- ^ a b c Trebay, Guy (2004-05-23), "Ready to Fade Into Obscurity. Wait, He's Already There", New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/style/ready-to-fade-into-obscurity-wait-he-s-already-there.html?pagewanted=all, retrieved 2009-12-11
- ^ Davies, Jon, "Revel, Riot, Radicalize", X-tra, 27 March, 2008
- ^ Vaginal Davis Dot Com: Interviews
[edit] Sources
- José Muñoz, Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999) ISBN 0-8166-3015-1
- Jennifer Doyle, Sex Objects: Art and the Dialectics of Desire (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006). ISBN 0-8166-4526-4
