TWO JOHNS AND A WHORE
Group Show Curated By Lisa Derrick
Coagula Curatorial presents Two Johns and a Whore, featuring artists John Fleck and John Roecker, two notoriously controversial and confrontational media artists, coupled with a group show by twelve artists exploring the literal, symbolic and allegorical nature of prostitution.
Curated by Lisa Derrick, this exhibit is a direct and unapologetic exploration of art, love, sex, and commerce.
Award-winning performance artist John Fleck pushes cultural buttons and tackles taboos with his self-scripted shows. In 1990 he and three other performance artists became known as the NEA Four. Lynchpins of the Culture Wars, they were denied funding by the National Endowment for the Arts because of right wing political pressure.
Fleck has won four LA Critics Circle Awards, eight DramaLogue, seven LA Weekly and two Backstage West awards, all for outstanding performance, and appeared in numerous films and television series, most recently True Blood.
Fleck’s first foray into studio art, like his performance art, conversely reveals both his interior workings and the transgressive humor he uses to layer and shield his vulnerabilities, while utilizing cultural references and his own body in mixed media expressions to further enhance the viewer’s experience.
Filmmaker and cultural deconstructionist John Roecker spent the majority of his childhood locked in his bedroom escaping reality, drawing pictures and dreaming of making films and music. He eventually grew up and made films and music. He still draws pictures to escape reality, and the results are on display for the first time at Coagula.
Roecker’s documentary series, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Gay Porn Stars was banned by Amazon until media and activist pressure caused the sales giant to cave.
Svengali, Roecker’s neo-noir webseries, crossed gender and cultural boundaries, while his first feature length film, Live Freaky Die Freaky, managed to offend liberals and rightwingers alike while disturbing even hardened horror genre critics such as FanGoria Magazine.
His feature length documentary about Green Day, Heart Like a Hand Grenade will be released in 2014.
These two artists are joined in their first ever gallery show by a group of artists who respect and admire Fleck and Roecker’s works and outlaw, creative spirits.
Within the theme of prostitution, the concepts of sex, love, art money and “selling” oneself are laid bare.
Artists in the group show include: Anthony Ausgang, Kelly Blunt, Sheila Cameron, Jane Cantillon, Stacy Lande, Louie Metz, Rafael Reyes, Bradford J Salamon, Oriana Small (aka Ashley Blue), Mike Street, Kelly Thompson, and Mimi Universe.
The exhibition runs January 11, 2014 to January 25th.
Coagula Curatorial is open Wednesday Thru Sunday, Noon – 5 PM. Located at historic Ling’s Market in Downtown L.A.’s Chinatown the gallery is a leading contemporary art gallery founded in 2012 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Coagula Art Journal.