Theaterlab Presents:
Like a Drawing
Featuring: Naoki Iwakawa, Ikue Mori, David Watson, and Takahito Inoue
Theaterlab Presents Like a Drawing, a performance that explores the essence of spontaneity and instant expression through the fusion of action painting and music, featuring the collaborative talents of Ikue Mori and David Watson. In this performance, music and painting intertwine as the artists respond to sounds and noises while creating art. The artists utilize their entire bodies, sometimes dripping or even throwing paint, in an exploration of primal states, intrinsic understanding, and the pursuit of beauty and truth.
November 30th, 2023
Doors at 7, Performance at 7:30PM
Performance inside the Theater
Tickets:
$15, plus fees
$20 Cash or Venmo at the door
Click HERE to purchase!
About the Piece:
Action painting is an endeavor to exist truly in the moment, seeking a cognition without intermediaries. The core of this show lies in the shared goal between Zen Buddhism philosophy and action painting. As the artists create, paint drips and spills, and they tirelessly keep moving. The canvas may occasionally tear, and brushes may break. These elements of chaos reflect the true nature of life itself.
The “Like a Drawing” show, with the collaboration of Ikue Mori and David Watson, aims to convey these elements, allowing the audience to deeply experience the beauty and truth of the moment and the essence of existence. The fusion of art and music, with the unique contributions of Mori and Watson, provides a once-in-a-lifetime experience, offering viewers inspiration and profound insights.
Naoki Iwakawa is a visual artist and creator of unique action-painting performances that produce expressive, large-scale works. In his work Iwakawa brings to fruition a rare sensibility capable of merging the chaotic and Dionysian quality of experience with the meditative quality of action. Born in Osaka, Japan, he moved to the States in 1991. In 1996, he founded the artistic collective and performance/exhibition space The Cave in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with Shige Moriya and became an artist-in-residence there. His work has been shown at OK Harris, Art Gotham, 450 Broadway Gallery, and Cast Iron Gallery in NYC. He was voted best action painter by The Village Voice. http://www.iwakawanaoki.com
Ikue Mori was born in Tokyo, Japan, and moved to New York in the late 1970s. Her additional recordings include Painted Desert (1997), One Hundred Aspects of the Moon (2000), In Light of Shadows (2015), Highsmith (2017), and Archipelago X (2021). She has composed soundtracks for filmmakers, received numerous commissions, and led workshops at institutions such as the New School, Stanford University, Dartmouth College, the New Music Conservatory at Mills College, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the University of Gothenburg. Mori performs in venues such as Roulette, The Stone, and Park Avenue Armory in New York City and at international festivals. She is a member of the 2022 MacArthur Foundation Genius Fellowship Class. https://ikuemori.com/home.html
David Watson is an experimental musician. A guitarist and bagpiper, his work encompasses improvisation, composition and scoring for film and dance.
He has worked intensively with a wide range of extraordinary artists, including Robert Ashley, Marcia Bassett, David First, Shelley Hirsch, Samara Lubelski, Chris Mann, Christian Marclay, Sean Meehan, Jennifer Monson, Ikue Mori, Bill Nace, Lee Ranaldo, Yoshi Wada, Alex Waterman, Matthew Welch, John Zorn, $75 Bill, amongst many others. He has worked with Ikue Mori for 30 years.
His bagpipe work has radically extended the vocabulary for the instrument.
His double CD for composer Phill Niblock’s XI label, “Fingering an Idea” was described in The Wire as “shimmering lines piling-up like an old Terry Riley piece.”His trio Glacial is an ongoing collaboration with two other highly acclaimed partners, Lee Ranaldo and Tony Buck.
He also has worked with many choreographers, notably Moriah Evans and also Jamar Roberts with the video work “Cooped” . He is currently a Chinati artist in residence in Marfa, Texas.. His work as a music organizer and in the last five years in New York through WoRk, Whether Permitting, Shift, FourOneOne, and now Striped Light, he has presented over two hundred concerts of ground-breaking music.
Takahito Inoue (b.1990. Tokushima, Japan) is drawn to chance meetings, and dedicated to capturing the moment.
COVID-19 policy: In guidance with the city and state COVID-19 policies, we will no longer be requiring masks, but strongly recommend them.