Flatscape ‘Sees Stars’ on Feb. 27

At 8 p.m. on Saturday, Mar. 27, Baton Rouge Gallery’s Flatscape Video Art Series will round out its 2010 season with the final installment of this year’s program: I’ll Be Watching You: Tales of Celebrity Obsession. Flatscape will conclude its 2010 run by contrasting two distinct films that mock and/or venerate celebrity and youth culture.

The first film of the night, Grapefruit (1989), a film by video artist Cecilia Dougherty, is a playful work featuring an all-female cast portraying The Beatles who are presented as pop culture icons that stop being people and become projections of society’s needs and desires. Based on the writings of Yoko Ono, Dougherty’s film mixes themes of female drag, pop hero worship, and cultural territory out of the norms of mainstream society. Grapefruit will definitely delight lovers and haters of all things banal and mythically sub-cultural.

Cecilia Dougherty’s artistic pursuits include video, photography as well as the web. Her work has been cited in books including “Lesbian Art in America”, “Chick Flicks”, and “Time Binds: Queer Temporalities, Queer Histories”. Also, she has been in publications including New Art Examiner, Framework and Millennium Film Journal. She is currently on faculty at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College, The Vermont College of Fine Arts, The Cooper Union (New York) and the International Center of Photography (New York).

The final film of the night is Laura Parnes’ experimental 1998 film, No is Yes. This unsettling, quick-paced MTV-style feature follows two teenage girls who are driven – accidentally – to horrifying and unspeakable interactions with their favorite alternative rock star. The film explores the commoditization of mutiny and revolution as it is marketed to youth culture through the eyes of two alienated youths.

Parnes’ body of work often blurs the line between conventional narrative film and experimentation. Featuring highly stylized sets, costumes and non-linear storylines she deploys experiences that cause audiences to physically and mentally enter her subconscious. Parnes’ work has been widely exhibited in Switzerland, Germany, Lithuania, and Spain and also throughout the continental United States.

As always, admission to each installment is free for all Baton Rouge Gallery members and just $5 for non-members.

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