Bjerklie Perfomances@ Parkers Box

After work on Friday, Jan.24 I went to John Bjerklie’s third opening of “When a river Changes Course” at Parkers Box in Williamsburg. The opening was from 6-9, I had some time to kill beforehand so I went to Spoonbill and Sugartown bookstore. I love it there ( it’s my idea of heaven ), I bought a book by Jed Perl called “Antoine’s Alphabet” about Watteau. So I went to the cafe and read and drank espresso awhile before going to Parker’s Box. When I got there I noticed some changes from my previous visit.
The floor had overlapping sheets of ply wood strewn about the space creating an undulating springy uncomfortable surface to walk on.
The debris/crate wood had been pushed back, tidied up a bit
Two TV monitors were placed on a low bench 
 John Bjerklie was greeting people with a straw sun hat and a red bandage wrapped around his head(ala Van Gogh). He disappeared up into a lofted area and appeared on the television screen( in his “studio”, under surveilance). On the second screen another artist came on and advised John on his motivation to paint. The joke was that John smeared paint all over his paper and then smeared the paper all over himself (his attempt to put himself into his work). He left and another artist, Cindy Towers came on with a cape and boxing gloves and started having a painting contest with John. John got a cell phone call in the middle of the contest , so I realized I could call him . I got out my cell phone and called and offered him money for his painting . Every time he got close to accepting an offer, I countered with a lower offer (mimicking his price slashed writing on his other TV screens) until things degenerated into bickering with Cindy and I hung up. Cindy left and Steve Brauer came in they have a conversation and the whole bit turns into high jinks; eventually Cindy comes back, they both leave downstairs and end up in the lofted space with John other artists come on.ETC... 
 A lot of people came to the opening, it was crowded for a long while. John had some other video’s he had recorded earlier that incorporated the same theme’s:
How the artist sees themself.
How the artist thinks they’re perceived by society.
The anxiety of wanting to be financially successful and artistically successful.
Eventually I got tired and went home.


John had another opening Fri. 2/13. For this he made video tape of himself in the lower studio, shown on one screen, while on the other he ran a live feed of himself up in his lofted area. This time he was competing, taunting, cajoling, and muttering with himself. The themes of his conversation were similar to his earlier performance but because he’s talking to himself I felt greater clarity about listening to the artist’s inner voice. One funny bit was John writing his phone number on a paper to sell his work a la QVC Cable television. The huckster side of his personality was selling the work out from under the poetic side. The whole piece became one giant organism to me. Quite profound;to so literally hear the voice of the artist coming through his work. I mentioned this to John’s dealer Alun Williams and also that I see this as related to J.Beuys, in particular his Honey Pump sculpture. Alun said that John was also influenced by the work of Paul Thek.
SUNDAY 2/22/09

John did another performance on Sunday 2/22/09. It was more heavily attended than the previous weeks. He had made another recorded video of himself to play against. When he did the phone bit Marina Abramowicz called him up ( she was attending with Alana Heiss). They ended up buying work from John over the phone. Alana Heiss negotiated to buy the paintings John was making for $50. He told her to put the $50 under a 5 gallon bucket on the gallery floor, she did and he threw the paintings out a window in the lofted area of his piece. The paintings were still wet when she picked them up and left.
During this performance I noticed the dialectical nature of the 2 screen presentation more prominently than I had before. Two screens talking to each other seems original to John’s work( there is picture in picture but not two seperate television screens in discourse with one another and an artist talking to his alter ego ,no less). The diptych was reflected in a painting on paper vignette of Okey-Dokey Man and a Do Not Be Afraid painting that were casually strewn at the foot of the painting loft. Clearly ,Okey-Dokey Man is getting the message.