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Rachel Mason
Born
Rachel Mason

Los Angeles, CA
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Performance , Film
Known forPerformance, Sculpture, Music, Film,
AwardsLower Manhattan Cultural Council Artist, NYFA Project Award, Blaire Dickinson Memorial Prize

Rachel Mason is an American artist whose work includes performance art, music, films and multimedia projects.

Early life and education

Mason was born in Los Angeles, California. She attended Wonderland Avenue Elementary, Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (LACES) and Cleveland High School in Reseda. Mason received a BFA in art from UCLA and an MFA from Yale University. In New York she worked as an assistant to video and performance artist, Joan Jonas.

Performance Art Works

Rachel Mason's Real Time performance of Trump's Inaugural Speech, January 20, 2017

On January 20, 2017, Mason's character FutureClown, performed a live streamed lip-synch Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions of President Trump's inaugural address as he was delivering it on national television.[1] In 2013, FutureClown lip-synched a full 13 hour filibuster speech delivered by Senator Rand Paul.[2]

Rachel Mason, Wall, 2001

Mason's earliest works included performances and centered around the body and architecture. As an undergraduate, Mason scaled the eight-story (now demolished) UCLA art building dressed as her fictional character, Terrestrial Being. This piece represents one of a series of performances for video focused on this character.[3]

Rachel Mason and dancers at Park Avenue Armory

Between 2004-2010, Mason staged performances where she transformed into political leaders singing selections of works from her two Songs of the Ambassadors albums. Ranging from Manuel Noriega to Saddam Hussein. For the research into these songs, Mason conducted interviews with Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General who provided insight into some of the political leaders such as Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, Manuel Noriega, with whom she struck up a correspondence from his prison cell in Florida.[4]

Her performances often included dancers and collaborations with musicians and guest artists. Performances occurred at the Park Avenue Armory (New York), Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit (MOCAD), JMOCA in Los Angeles (Justin Hansch's Museum of Contemporary Art), and Kunsthalle Zürich.[5]

Sculpture

Kissing President Bush, by Rachel Mason

While a student at Yale University, she created Kissing President Bush which was featured on the cover of the New York Times Art Section during the Republican National Convention held in New York, in 2004. In this sculptural work, the artist depicts herself kissing President George W. Bush.

Between 2006-2010, Mason created a collectible set of porcelain figurines of the various political figures involved in conflicts during her lifetime. In each conflict she included herself as an imagined ambassador. [6]

File:Yoko ono.jpg
Starseeds, by Rachel Mason (Yoko Ono, depicted) 2014

In 2014, Mason created an exhibition of polymer clay doll sculptures with mirrored bodies, of female identified artists. The series, Starseeds, was presented first at Envoy Enterprises gallery in New York and then LTD Gallery in Los Angeles.[7]

Musical Works

In 2016, Mason released Das Ram, an album of eight synth based pop songs on the Los Angeles label, Cleopatra Records.[8]

In 2013, the soundtrack to her film, The Lives of Hamilton Fish was released as an album of 21 songs. [9]

In 2012, Mason released an album with her band, Little Band of Sailors which featured an original album cover made by John Baldessari, her mentor and teacher. [10]

Mason released two albums of songs whose lyrics imagine being inside the minds of various political leaders. These albums called, "The Ambassadors, Vol. I and Vol. II" include songs written in collaboration with guest writers, artists and musicians including Josephine Foster, Jennifer Herrema, John Knuth, Julian Hoeber, Emory Holmes III, Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer. Mason performed at art institutions, and which entailed costume changes where she morphed into leaders such as Saddam Hussein, Mobutu Sese Seko, Deng Xiaopeng, and Jimmy Carter.[11]

Films

Her debut feature film The Lives of Hamilton Fish is a musical art film with no dialogue. Mason often performed the entire soundtrack live in front of an audience while touring the film to museums and festivals. The film's story is based on a true coincidence Mason discovered. [12] Two obituaries of two men, both named Hamilton Fish, were printed on the front page of a newspaper from January 16, 1936.[13] Hamilton Fish (aka Albert Fish) had been a serial killer while Hamilton Fish II had been a statesman. The film's namesake connects directly to Alexander Hamilton, and was shot on location at the Aaron Burr house. The film also portrays one of the first known psychics, The White Crow, aka Leonora Piper.[14]


The Lives of Hamilton Fish premiered at the Raindance Film Festival UK and Mason performed with the film as a live performance at museums including LACMA, Art in General, Henry Art Gallery, Corcoran Gallery, Albany Museum of History and Art, Horse Hospital (London), Pineapple Underground Film Festival (Hong Kong) and Night Gallery.

Mason is completing a documentary film about the landmark LGBTQ adult video, book and magazine store Circus of Books which her parents own.[15]

"Rachel's art is fluid — it's always easing in and out of different forms. She is a songwriter and performer; she's an actress, of a sort, who performs as if channeling the poetic inner souls of controversial leaders like Fidel Castro and Manuel Noriega." -- Claudine Ise[16]

References

  1. ^ Miranda, Carolina (Jan 20, 2017). "The L.A. artist who lip-synced Donald Trump's inauguration speech as a clown". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  2. ^ Murphy, Tim (July 25, 2013). "After Hours | The Filibuster, As Performed by a Scary Clown". New York Times. New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  3. ^ "Performance Artist Rachel Mason Discusses Her Many Faces". www.culturedmag.com. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  4. ^ Mason, Rachel (2016). "The Ramsey Clark Interviews". No. 2016, Summer. ArtFCity. ArtFCity. Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  5. ^ Enrico (March 13, 2008). "Rachel Mason / Performance at Kunsthalle Zürich, Switzerland". No. 2008. Vernissage.tv. Venissage. Retrieved March 13, 2008.
  6. ^ Yood, James (2009). "Rachel Mason Exhibition Review". No. May 2009. Artforum. Artforum. Retrieved May 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  7. ^ Frank, Priscilla (02/25/2014). "Artist Sculpts Doll Versions Of Her Female Heroes, From Louise Bourgeois To Beyonce". Magazine. No. February 2014. Huffington Post. Huffington Post. Retrieved 02/25/2014. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  8. ^ Cotner, David (April 21 2017). "Was That A Good Revelation?". No. Spring 2017. L.A.Record. L.A. Record. Retrieved APRIL 21, 2017. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  9. ^ "VICE Exclusive: Listen to the Soundtrack of Rachel Mason's 'The Lives of Hamilton Fish'". Vice. 2015-05-01. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  10. ^ Ise, Claudine. "Introducing Rachel Mason". Art21. Art21. Retrieved 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  11. ^ O’Neill-Butler, Lauren. "Rachel Mason". artforum.com. Retrieved 2017-11-25. {{cite news}}: C1 control character in |last= at position 2 (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  12. ^ Wise, Damon (October 2, 2015). "Raindance- Rachel Mason on Making the Leap from Art to Film". review. No. October 2015. Variety Magazine. Variety. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  13. ^ "The Cannibal and the Statesman: Rachel Mason Performs Her Karaoke Rock-Opera Film". Observer. 2014-06-04. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  14. ^ Gorce, Tammy La (2015). "The Film 'The Lives of Hamilton Fish' Is About a Politician and a Criminal". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  15. ^ "Preserving WeHo's Circus of Books: A Documentary by Its Owners' Daughter". WEHOville. 2017-06-23. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  16. ^ "Center Field | Characters, Not Caricatures: The Multifarious Art of Rachel Mason | Art21 Magazine". Art21 Magazine. Retrieved 2017-11-25.

Rachel Mason

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