Alexis Gideon

Alexis Gideon
Alexis Gideon performing at Manhattan's New Museum January 17, 2013

Alexis Gideon (born December 24, 1980) is a visual artist, director, composer and performer best known for his animated video operas. In 2013, Manhattan’s New Museum of Contemporary Art paired Gideon with William Kentridge in a joint program.^[1] Gideon has performed his video operas over 350 times^[2] at various venues including Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga (2016),^[3] Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2015),^[4] Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco) (2015),^[5] Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden (2014),^[6] Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (2014),^[7] Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2013),^[8] Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson (2013),^[9] Oklahoma City Museum of Art (2013),^[10] Portland Art Museum (2013),^[11] Wexner Center for the Arts (2012),^[12] Times Zone Festival (Bari, Italy) (2010),^[13] Sudpol (Luzerne, Switzerland) (2010),^[14] Centre d'Art Bastille (Grenoble, France) (2010),^[15] Baltimore Museum of Art (2009). Gideon is notable for his fusion of music, visuals, literature, and mythology.^[16] Gideon's work is in the collection of the Spencer Museum of Art^[17] in Lawrence, Kansas as well as in the Debra & Dennis Scholl Collection in Miami, Florida. Gideon has been cited as a vital and visionary artist, both in the US^[18] and internationally.^{[19][20][21][22]}

Early life and education

Gideon was born and raised in New York City. He graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and the Performing Arts. Gideon attended Wesleyan University under the mentorships of Anthony Braxton and Neely Bruce, graduating in 2003 with a major in musical composition and performance.^[23]

In 2003, Gideon formed the experimental performance art band Princess with Michael O’Neill (MEN (band)) while living in Chicago.^[24][25]

Gideon began producing music as a solo artist in 2006, and released two solo albums. He is a multi-instrumentalist, and regularly switches between guitar, percussion, horns, harp and electronic instruments while performing. He has toured nationally with Dan Deacon.^[26]

In 2008, Gideon released his multimedia opus, Video Musics. The piece would become the first in a series of three animated operas that feature multicultural literary texts as their starting point.^[27]

Work chronology

Music

2005 Princess CD (Sickroom Records)^[28]

2007 Welcome Song CD (Sickroom Records)^[29]

2008 Flight of the Liophant CD (Sickroom Records)^[30]

Animated Video Operas

2008 Video Musics

Video Musics (also known as Video Musics I). Thematically based in Hungarian folk tales, the work combines a number of drawing and animation techniques with recorded music and live performance. Gideon toured the 20-minute piece for two months throughout the United States and Europe, including performances at The Baltimore Museum of Art and Fleche D’Or (Paris, France).^[31]

2010 Video Musics II: Sun Wu-Kong

"Video Musics II: Sun-WuKong" is an hour-long piece is based on the 16th Century Chinese novel Journey to the West. It has been performed live over 100 times in nine countries at venues including SUNY Stony Brook,^[32] Kawenga (Montpellier, France)^[33] and Sudpol (Luzerne, Switzerland).^[2][34] The Confucius Institute of Portland State University sponsored multiple performances.^[35] Gideon was awarded a project grant from the Regional Arts & Culture Council of Oregon to create the piece.^[36]

2012 Video Musics III: Floating Oceans

Video Musics III: Floating Oceans is a reworking of the metaphysical works of Lord Dunsany and draws from An Experiment with Time by John William Dunne, both early 20th century Irish writers.^[37] The piece uses stop-motion animation exclusively. Cynthia Star (Paranorman, Adult Swim, Coraline (film)), who co-animated Video Musics II with Gideon, was Artistic Director. The 40-minute film toured as a live performance nationally and internationally. It has been performed 70 times including at Manhattan's New Museum for Contemporary Art, and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. The Regional Arts & Culture Council of Oregon awarded Gideon his second project grant to create the piece.^[38]

2015 "The Crumbling"

"The Crumbling" is a 21-minute stop-motion animation video opera set in a dream-like mythic town following the trials of an apprentice librarian as she tries to save her city from crumbling down around her. The piece explores the importance of word and symbol in a decaying culture, as well as the marginalization and persecution of people based on heritage, gender, race or belief, and all that is lost in such persecution. "The Crumbling" takes a modern and innovative form, while drawing from ancient texts and esoterica such as the Kabbalah, Hermeticism of ancient Egypt, the mystical beliefs of Hildegard of Bingen, Alchemy of the 16th Century, and the mid 19th Century occult beliefs of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor. During screenings, the film is accompanied by live musical performance. The live music mirrors the action exactly, and the animated characters' mouths are perfectly in sync with the sung lyrics.^[39] Gideon received an artist-in-residence grant to complete the project from the Investing in Professional Artists Program, a partnership between the Heinz Endowments and the Pittsburgh Foundation.^[40] Gideon's "The Crumbling" has been compared to the work of artist Matthew Barney.^[41]

References