Artshorts	Mixed Colors by Lucy Yau

There’s a certain art to the creation of a mixed tape, as expounded in Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity. One has to keep in mind the intended effect on the listener. There’s a mood and overall tone that needs to be set.

Inspired by the highly personal act of making mixed tapes, CDs or playlists for friends, relatives or loved ones, video and performance artist Tommy Becker has composed a series of vignettes in a compilation of videos he calls Tape Number One. Tape Number One is an affectionate ode to the audience. Becker’s pieces are montages containing poetry, still photographs and spoken-word text delivered with a wry and often absurd, self-deprecating humor. Just as in a mixed tape, where the various songs can be upbeat, romantic, dark or funny, Becker’s videos comprise a diverse range of emotions.

Animals are present in many clips. “They exist in an almost pure state,” Becker says. Their motives are based on biological urges rather than deceit or manipulation. In animal animal Becker repeats the title phrase like a mantra, while contrasting images of giraffes, baboons, rabbits and birds with images of George W. Bush giving a speech. A dual meaning becomes evident: animals are uncorrupted creatures free of lies and deception, while Bush is a political animal, with an intellectual capacity equal to that of the creatures highlighted, uttering nonsense noises.

In clips where Becker inserts himself, he employs wigs, costumes and props to alter his appearance.

Some of his clips start forebodingly, as in I can be happy trapped in a living room with a rabbit that has no eyes. Initially, we see a rabbit held in place by a faceless lab coat. The rabbit is on a steel medical table with a large needle at its side, a patch of shaved fur on its back. We expect and fear the worst. Instead, in the next scene we see Becker in a blond wig making a feeble attempt to escape a locked room, staring at a bucolic painting, avoiding the accusing, eyeless gaze of a stuffed rabbit while he recites:

“Many people equate their physical location with a sense of happiness. We have internalized the notion that only a location other than the one we are in can bring us a sense of peace. We are always looking to tomorrow’s location to find inner happiness…when that happiness is always inside no matter the location always waiting to be accessed.”

The piece is a collision of high- and lowbrow concepts. It is a Zen koan which encapsulates the internalization of finding peace within oneself. To continually seek happiness outside oneself is a futile exercise.

come deer children is an exhortation to children to embrace unfettered joy and chaos before the agonies of adulthood set in. There is an expectation of violence in daddy kill green grass with son, in which a father and son stand over a patch of sunlit lawn. A board is placed over the grass and the pair return to find the grass underneath withered.

In bobby xp1 Becker has outfitted himself in a homemade robot costume and wanders through a quiet suburban street, cataloging his interactions with the residents. He encounters a sad disabled woman knitting and attempts to comfort her. Next he comes upon a man repairing a bicycle, then finally his creator, Ralph, for whom he fetches crackers and “a cold one.”

Becker injects absurdity into the ordinary, creating blatantly silly situations. Confinement by societal constraints or physical restraints, whether real or imagined, is central to many of his pieces. He conveys a deep need to seek escape, freedom and acceptance. If there is a streak of sadness that runs through the clips, however, there is also a playful element that diffuses whatever tension may build. Despite the darker moments, Becker’s mixed tape is ultimately an optimistic one, an act of generosity to give solace to the viewer.

For his opening at Hallwalls he invited the audience to participate in his performance. Cartoonishly oversized, three-fingered felt gloves in primary colors were handed out; inside one found a thin strip of paper, like a fortune in a fortune cookie, with instructions. On Becker’s signal, the audience was told to follow the instructions on the paper, which involve both hand motions and noises. (For example: “Color jumps over arm and upon landing says ‘Yeah.’”)

One initially feels self-conscious, even a little foolish, then reluctantly joins in and discovers it’s not that bad once you don’t care what you look or sound like; soon you find yourself laughing. At the end of the performance, Becker had the gloves and the audience connect with one another. It’s a metaphor for his works—on the surface they’re a bit ridiculous, you wonder where they’re going, in the end they’re an amusing delight.

Tape Number One is on view until April 5 at Hallwalls, 341 Delaware Avenue (854-1694/hallwalls.org).

—lucy yau

Questions or Comments for Artvoice? Send e-mail to editorial@artvoice.com • Article last modified 3/5/2008 Issue Navigation> Issue Index > v7n10: Food Not Bombs (3/6/08) > Mixed Colors This Week's Issue • Artvoice Daily • Events Calendar • Classifieds