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Every art form has its own unique language. Speaking the language fluently, be it gospel, conceptual art, or the Queen's English, is what the personalities featured in this edition of State of the Arts do - and with panache. State of the Arts: Language explores how a modern dance choreographer, a traditional gospel singer, and a conceptual visual artist use the language of their respective aesthetic traditions in order to create meaningful art. And, one of the ultimate theatrical plays on language, "My Fair Lady."
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Wednesday, November 28, 2007 @11:30 pm
 Preview
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art
polyglot
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the
third chimpanzee, 2002, dot-matrix
painting on vinyl, 9 x 9 foot
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Raphael
Montañez Ortiz makes art that is the
product of self-imposed discipline, complex
methods, and ritualistic processes - some
drawing on his Puerto Rican, Portuguese, and
Native American heritage. Language is key
to his current large-scale digital collages,
in which words are visual - and images can
be read. In the 1960s Ortiz developed his
own movement, Destructivism, an experimental
art process that included destroying and reconstructing
objects in public performances, was made famous
when Ortiz destroyed a piano on The Johnny
Carson Show by "playing" it with
an ax. A resident of Highland Park, he is
a professor of visual art at Mason Gross School
of the Arts at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
see clips from three of the artist's film
and video work: "golf",
"henny
penny: the sky is falling", and
"ghost
in the machine"
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| eliza
doolittle, the title character in my
fair lady |
my
fair lady Is how you say something as important as what you say? Gary Griffin, director of the McCarter Theatre's 2004 revival of the 1956 Lerner and Loewe classic “My Fair Lady,” reflects on the relevancy of the 1956 musical to our own time. Presented in the Berlind Theatre, it was a "chamber" version of the production, featuring two pianos and ten performers. Two classic songs are featured, "The Rain in Spain," and "Why Can't the English Teach Their Children."
watch a rehearsal performance of "just
you wait"
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royal
regatta
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| three
women at the royal regatta. photo credit:
harvey wang |
"Henley
Royal Regatta" is a 3-minute video by
director Harvey Wang presenting the upper
crust of British society as they enjoy their
patrician version of a tailgate party at a
five day rowing event in Henley along the
Thames. The video was a Director's Choice
at the 23rd annual Black Maria Film and Video
Festival in Jersey City. The festival, named
after the world's first motion picture machine
built by Thomas Edison in West Orange, tours
the country exhibiting new works from independent
film and videomakers.
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| queen
esther marrow, star and co-creator of
in mahalia's light, performing on-stage |
sacred
words
State of the Arts explores the language of gospel music through the legacy of the great Mahalia Jackson, as brought forth in Passage Theater's 2004 world premiere of “In Mahalia's Light,” starring Queen Esther Marrow. Queen Esther's musical style is inspired by Mahalia Jackson's emphasis on traditional gospel, and their shared belief in music's power to change the world. Marrow met Jackson in 1965, when Mahalia was headlining Dr. Martin Luther King's World Crusade.
 hear queen esther marrow's rendition of "how i got over" from her album,
God cares (emi gospel, 2002)
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