FLAT 4

FLAT 4
Untitled (Carnival)
A Statement written by Michael Thomas

Splayed on its back, a defenseless clown. Its guts facing the sky for all to see, this is, Untitled (Carnival). Duguid and Olson's latest in an ongoing collaboration exploring the edifice of comedy through prop, and antics. Pilfering methods handed down from Keaton, through Ball, then on to Burnett, there is this notion that comedy lives inside its bits and pieces. Duguid and Olson dig in, removing those lusty signifiers; the grease paint, and the shaving cream pies. Only to reassemble the remaining pieces-parts as a wonderfully original portmanteau, complete with verve and panache.

Here, they embrace space not as a constant but as a network of loosely tethered events and objects that demand immediacy. Making Untitled (Carnival), more of a meal with many colors than a practical guide to art as determinism. Our entree being, simultaneity served with suspension of action therein. They invite us to a tapas serving punchlines, zingers, and spoonerisms that encourage flights of reason and speculation without succumbing to the allure of their profundity as decadent nibbles.

This work, like its predecessors, the gag, the skit, and the routine, are all cobbled from ruthless calculations flirting with the banal. This certainly isn't the addled ravings of Johnny Cum Surrealist. Nor is it a dream landscape of hyper-sexual longing. Its also not self gratification served to you in a pint-sized mug for two bits, and a kick in the ass. Sure, Duguid and Olson revel in their rapport of coercion and sedition like gleaming twins beneath blue bonnets. But they're only re-imagining their copious reservoir of experiences, assembling the tools necessary to convey the brevity of something poignant and shared. In short, the tools of comedy appropriated for the purpose of aesthetic revelation, quantum insight, and RED HIGH HEELS.
Glossary

port•man•teau
Pronunciation: \pȯrt-ˈman-(ˌ)tō\
1 : a large suitcase
2 : a word or morpheme whose form and meaning are derived from a blending of two or more distinct forms (as smog from smoke and fog)

de•ter•min•ism
Pronunciation: \di-ˈtər-mə-ˌni-zəm, dē-\
a theory or doctrine that acts of the will, occurrences in nature, or social or psychological phenomena are causally determined by preceding events or natural laws

spoo•ner•ism
Pronunciation: \ˈspü-nə-ˌri-zəm\
Etymology: William A. Spooner †1930 English clergyman & educator
a transposition of usually initial sounds of two or more words (as in tons of soil for sons of toil)


http://www.floorlengthandtux.com/archives/flat4.php

FLAT 4

Images from the FLAT 4 show held in December, 2009

FLAT 4

FLAT 4

Images from the FLAT 4 show held December, 2009

On the Midway Just off to the side

It has come to our attention that we do not own a pair of RED HIGH HEELS

Performed on November 27, 2010

It has come to our attention that we do not own a pair of RED HIGH HEELS

1. RED HIGH HEELS our a must in every woman's closet

2. It has come to our attention that we do not own a pair of RED HIGH HEELS

3. This Friday is BLACK FRIDAY

4. On BLACK FRIDAY we will shop for RED

5. We will not be buying KITTEN HEELS, they are for pussies

6. Our RED HIGH HEELS must be at least 3 inches high

7. RED HEELS fit into the joke the if you can't make art good, make it red

8. We will be purchasing and wearing our RED HIGH HEELS as ART

9. In the end the RED HIGH HEELS will sit in our closet

10. Then we will have taken care of a must in our closet

"Pie Art" -- Finger Pie Fight

This is the Finger Pie Fight that took place in the gallery, "Pie Art", space created by Meg Duguid & Catie Olson.

"Pie Art"

For the Last Supper in Fall, 2009, we created a pie sculpture mailed from Chicago to NYC. This sculpture work, entitled Pie Art, is our take on pie and high art. Essentially we created a larger-than life-sized sculptural lemon meringue pie that has a slice cut out of it. This pie sculpture is two and a half times larger in scale than an average sized pie, and perhaps two and a half times tastier (?). The diameter of the pie is 24” across. In the place where the slice would have been is our two-person exhibition, white walls, a wood floor and clip lighting—our “Slice of Gallery” so to speak. In our Pie Gallery, Meg and Catie showed the remains of a finger pie fight inside the mini "Slice of Gallery". Small banana cream pies lay next to cherry pies as well as chocolate cream remnants with graham cracker crumbs and their pie tins. The mini pies were about the size of a quarter, but still held up in the finger pie fight. Next to the Pie Art space we displayed the cut out piece of lemon meringue pie on a small white plate. The slice allowed the viewer to see the internal pie layers since the cut out slice portion has “white pie cube” walls. The pie sat upon the mailing box/ box (approximately 50lbs.) smartly "serving" as its pedestal.