Rachel Mason

Rachel Mason is an American artist whose work includes performance art, music, films and multimedia projects.

Rachel Mason
Born
Rachel Mason

Los Angeles, California
NationalityAmerican
Known forPerformance, Sculpture, Music, Film,
AwardsLower Manhattan Cultural Council Artist, NYFA Project Award, Blaire Dickinson Memorial Prize, Emmy Award Nomination for Circus of Books

Early life and education

Mason was born in Los Angeles, California, to parents Karen and Barry Mason.[1] She has an older brother, Micah, and a younger brother, Josh.[1] Her mother was initially a journalist and her father worked as a special effects engineer in the film industry.[1] When her parents got into financial difficulties in the mid-1970s, they got jobs distributing porn magnate Larry Flynt's Hustler magazine as well as gay porn publications. In 1982, Mason's parents took over the gay porn bookshop Circus of Books in West Hollywood, without telling their children what they did for a living.[1] They also produced gay porn videos, starring Jeff Stryker.[2]

Mason attended Wonderland Avenue Elementary, Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (LACES) and Cleveland High School in Reseda. Mason received a BFA in art from UCLA and an MFA from Yale University. In New York she worked as an assistant to video and performance artist Joan Jonas.[3]

Performance Art Works
Rachel Mason's Real Time performance of Trump's Inaugural Speech, January 20, 2017

On January 20, 2017, Mason's character FutureClown performed a live streamed lip-synch Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions of President Trump's inaugural address as he was delivering it on national television.[4] In 2013, FutureClown lip-synched a full 13 hour filibuster speech delivered by Senator Rand Paul.[5]

Rachel Mason, Wall, 2001

Mason's earliest works included performances and centered around the body and architecture. As an undergraduate, Mason scaled the eight-story (now demolished) UCLA art building dressed as her fictional character, Terrestrial Being. This piece represents one of a series of performances for video focused on this character.[6]

Rachel Mason and dancers at Park Avenue Armory

Between 2004 and 2010, Mason staged performances where she transformed into political leaders singing selections of works from her two Songs of the Ambassadors albums. Ranging from Manuel Noriega to Saddam Hussein. For the research into these songs, Mason conducted interviews with Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General who provided insight into some of the political leaders such as Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, Manuel Noriega, with whom she struck up a correspondence from his prison cell in Florida.[7]

Her performances often included dancers and collaborations with musicians and guest artists. Performances occurred at the Park Avenue Armory (New York), Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit (MOCAD), JMOCA in Los Angeles (Justin Hansch's Museum of Contemporary Art), and Kunsthalle Zürich.[8]

Sculpture
Kissing President Bush, by Rachel Mason

While a student at Yale University, she created Kissing President Bush which was featured on the cover of the New York Times Art Section during the Republican National Convention held in New York, in 2004. In this sculptural work, the artist depicts herself kissing President George W. Bush.

Between 2006 and 2010, Mason created a collectible set of porcelain figurines of the various political figures involved in conflicts during her lifetime. In each conflict she included herself as an imagined ambassador.[9]

Starseeds, by Rachel Mason (Yoko Ono, depicted) 2014

In 2014, Mason created an exhibition of polymer clay doll sculptures with mirrored bodies, of female identified artists. The series, Starseeds, was presented first at Envoy Enterprises gallery in New York and then LTD Gallery in Los Angeles.[10]

Musical Works

In 2016, Mason released Das Ram, an album of eight synth based pop songs on the Los Angeles label, Cleopatra Records.[11]

In 2013, the soundtrack to her film The Lives of Hamilton Fish was released as an album of 21 songs.[12]

In 2012, Mason released an album with her band Little Band of Sailors which featured an original album cover made by John Baldessari, her mentor and teacher.[13]

Mason released two albums of songs whose lyrics imagine being inside the minds of various political leaders. These albums, called The Ambassadors, Vol. I and Vol. II[14] include songs written in collaboration with guest writers, artists and musicians including Josephine Foster, Jennifer Herrema, John Knuth, Julian Hoeber, Emory Holmes III, Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer. Mason performed at art institutions, and which entailed costume changes where she morphed into leaders such as Saddam Hussein, Mobutu Sese Seko, Deng Xiaopeng, and Jimmy Carter.[15]

Films

Her debut feature film The Lives of Hamilton Fish is a musical art film with no dialogue. Mason often performed the entire soundtrack live in front of an audience while touring the film to museums and festivals. The film's story is based on a true coincidence Mason discovered.[16] Two obituaries of two men, both named Hamilton Fish, were printed on the front page of a newspaper from January 16, 1936.[17] Hamilton Fish (aka Albert Fish) had been a serial killer while Hamilton Fish II had been a statesman. The latter was a descendant of 18th century politician Alexander Hamilton,[18] who was killed in a duel by Aaron Burr; a large part of the film was shot on location at the Morris–Jumel Mansion where Burr once lived.[19] The film also portrays one of the first known psychics, The White Crow, aka Leonora Piper.[20]

The Lives of Hamilton Fish premiered at London's Raindance Film Festival in 2015,[18] and Mason performed with the film as a live performance at museums including LACMA,[21] Art in General, Henry Art Gallery,[22] Corcoran Gallery, Albany Institute of History and Art,[23] The Horse Hospital (London), Pineapple Underground Film Festival (Hong Kong), and Night Gallery (Los Angeles).[24]

Mason's 2019 documentary feature film Circus of Books was acquired by Netflix and executive produced by Ryan Murphy.[25] It is based on the story of the historic gay landmark Circus of Books, a book and magazine store that her parents ran from 1982 until 2019.[26][1] The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26, 2019[27][28][29] and was the opening night gala presentation at the 2019 Outfest film festival.[30][31] It was available for streaming on Netflix on April 22, 2020.[1][32]

"Rachel's art is fluid — it's always easing in and out of different forms. She is a songwriter and performer; she's an actress, of a sort, who performs as if channeling the poetic inner souls of controversial leaders like Fidel Castro and Manuel Noriega." -- Claudine Ise[33]

References
  1. Muhammad, Jaja (2019-12-11). "Our parents ran a secret gay porn empire". Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  2. "BBC World Service - Outlook, Our parents' secret gay porn empire". BBC. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  3. "Rachel Mason". Rachel Mason. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  4. Miranda, Carolina (Jan 20, 2017). "The L.A. artist who lip-synced Donald Trump's inauguration speech as a clown". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  5. Murphy, Tim (July 25, 2013). "After Hours | The Filibuster, As Performed by a Scary Clown". New York Times. New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  6. "Performance Artist Rachel Mason Discusses Her Many Faces". www.culturedmag.com. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  7. Mason, Rachel (2016). "The Ramsey Clark Interviews" (2016, Summer). ArtFCity. ArtFCity. Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  8. Enrico (March 13, 2008). "Rachel Mason / Performance at Kunsthalle Zürich, Switzerland" (2008). Vernissage.tv. Venissage. Retrieved March 13, 2008.
  9. Yood, James (May 2009). "Rachel Mason Exhibition Review" (May 2009). Artforum. Artforum.
  10. Frank, Priscilla (February 25, 2014). "Artist Sculpts Doll Versions Of Her Female Heroes, From Louise Bourgeois To Beyonce". Magazine (February 2014). Huffington Post. Huffington Post. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  11. Cotner, David (April 21, 2017). "Was That A Good Revelation?" (Spring 2017). L.A.Record. L.A. Record. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
  12. "VICE Exclusive: Listen to the Soundtrack of Rachel Mason's 'The Lives of Hamilton Fish'". Vice. 2015-05-01. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  13. Ise, Claudine (September 26, 2011). "Introducing Rachel Mason". Art21. Art21.
  14. "The Ambassadors II, by Rachel Mason". Rachel Mason. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  15. O'Neill-Butler, Lauren. "Rachel Mason". artforum.com. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  16. Wise, Damon (October 2, 2015). "Raindance- Rachel Mason on Making the Leap from Art to Film". review (October 2015). Variety Magazine. Variety. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  17. "The Cannibal and the Statesman: Rachel Mason Performs Her Karaoke Rock-Opera Film". Observer. 2014-06-04. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  18. Wise, Damon (2015-10-02). "Raindance – Rachel Mason on Making the Jump from Art to Film with 'The Lives of Hamilton Fish'". Variety. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  19. "The Lives of Hamilton Fish: A 'Strange In-Between' of a Rock Opera, Music Video, Art Piece". Bedford + Bowery. 2015-07-21. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  20. Gorce, Tammy La (2015). "The Film 'The Lives of Hamilton Fish' Is About a Politician and a Criminal". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  21. Duelund, Theis (2015-06-23). "Murder Ballad Musical The Lives of Hamilton Fish Screens at LACMA Tonight Los Angeles Magazine". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  22. "Rachel Mason: The Lives of Hamilton Fish - Henry Art Gallery". henryart.org. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  23. "The Lives of Hamilton Fish: A Film Song by Rachel Mason - Albany Institute of History and Art". www.albanyinstitute.org. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  24. "Interview: Rachel Mason". Echoes And Dust. 2016-08-07. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  25. Kroll, Justin (2019-04-25). "Netflix Acquires Tribeca Doc 'Circus of Books,' Exec Produced by Ryan Murphy". Variety. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  26. "Preserving WeHo's Circus of Books: A Documentary by Its Owners' Daughter". WEHOville. 2017-06-23. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  27. "Circus of Books". Tribeca Film Festival. 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  28. Dry, Jude (April 26, 2019). "'Circus of Books' Review: A Perfect Portrait of Mom and Pop's Gay Porn Shop". IndieWire. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  29. Uhlich, Keith (April 29, 2019). "'Circus of Books': Film Review | Tribeca 2019". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  30. "Opening Night Gala: Circus of Books". Outfest. 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  31. Debruge, Peter (July 23, 2019). "Film Review: 'Circus of Books'". Variety. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
  32. "Circus of Books | Netflix Official Site". www.netflix.com. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  33. "Center Field | Characters, Not Caricatures: The Multifarious Art of Rachel Mason | Art21 Magazine". Art21 Magazine. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
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