Brice Dellsperger at Team Gallery

January 27, 2011 at 11:25 pm | Posted in contemporary art | 6 Comments
Tags: body double 13, body double 17, body double x, brice dellsperger, david lynch, fire walk with me, laura palmer, Team gallery, video art

If you live in/or are visiting NYC, do me a favor and go see the Brice Dellsperger video show at Team Gallery. I worked at Team part-time while in college. One summer during a group video art show, I sat in total darkness for eight hours a day while Brice Dellsperger‘s video called Body Double 13 (above) played on a continuous loop to the tune of the Tavares’ song, “More Than a Woman.” In that video Dellsperger recreated the famous scene from Saturday Night Fever when John Travolta and Karen Lynn Gorney dance in front of a crowd; only it’s Dellsperger that’s dancing superimposed, with himself dressed in drag, smiling coyly, hair blowing in the wind, and giggling at the camera. Watching it again makes me laugh so hard. It’s absolutely ridiculous and so fun. I have never forgotten that video; and for the hundreds of times I heard “More Than a Woman” that summer, I grew to love it more.

I would kill to see Dellsperger’s recreation of David Lynch’s Fire Walk With Me film called Body Double 17 again on the big screen. Luckily Team will be showing it. By removing all of the actors from the Bang Bang Bar scene, Dellsperger directs two sisters to play Laura Palmer and her best friend Donna Hayward within the movie-frame that you’re familiar with. The sisters also play every other role including the guys that try to pick the girls up. As the scene goes on, it’s easy to confuse which girl is which character as they interchange roles, making out with each other and getting wasted. My favorite quote to this day is simple line that one of the drunk dudes says while knocking back a bottle of Bud: “there’s no tomorrow.” I try to embrace that notion, though not often enough.

If you find yourself walking around Soho between February 14 – March 16, stop in and watch some of Dellsperger’s pieces. I guarantee the bizarre nature of his films will sit with you for a long time after viewing them.