The Performances 1970-1982

Performance 1970-1982

From 1970 until 1982, I spent a lot of time making body sculpture, which I called “costumes”. They were made from repurposed garments, non-art/non-garment materials, perishables, found objects. They might include a dishpan, foam rubber, an inflatable chair, latex, a window, ostrich feathers, rocks, shells, fur, a stuffed iguana, found textiles from the flea markets or from the bins in Soho. These costumes were always presented as performance art in public performances ranging from solos and duets to twenty-five models each wearing a hat. Most of the costumes were modeled nude. Many of the costumes were constructed of fresh food sewn to itself, or attached to crocheted garments of my own construction. In this case, the costumes were eaten off the nude models by the audience. The pageants, fashion shows, tableaux vivants, were presented at The Museum of Modern Art, the Berliner Festwochen, the Vienna Performance Festival, the Kitchen, the Clocktower, the Philadelphia ICA, and many university galleries and museums. Other aspects of my work are more easily found on line, consequently I wanted to post these examples from my performance archive to allow people to see the range of what I was doing during those years.