The Clown Unmasked: Photos by Jim Moore

[post 149]

Jim Moore, whose photography I wrote about in this early blog post, has a new show of clown photos opening tomorrow at Manhattan's Cornelia Street Café. Since I realize most of you aren't anywhere near New York City, I'm planning to have a glass of wine in your honor at tomorrow's opening — one glass per missing blog reader — provided the wine's free.  I also thought I'd show you some of what you're missing with this preview of photos from the exhibit.

But first here's the official program introduction to the exhibit written by — quelle coincidence — little old moi:

If they hold a clown show in New York and Jim Moore's not there, do they still do the show?   I wouldn't know, because I'm not sure if that's actually ever happened. 

Since his early days as a street performer and photographer in 1970’s New York, Jim has made it his business to know every variety performer and to be everywhere they performed. And to photograph them. Constantly. He lived the life and knew the people, then and now.  Whether he shot you in performance, on location, or in his studio, he’s always had that uncanny ability to capture the essence of these highly individualistic characters — especially the clowns and eccentrics.

And he never stopped doing it.  For 40+ years!  Like all fine photographers, Jim has more than just a keen eye and polished technique. He has an instinctual feel for his subjects and, above all, their total trust.  In this revealing exhibit of miniatures, he shoots not only from his honorary front-row seat, but meets the performers backstage, in his studio, in their homes, in their rehearsal spaces — capturing the person and the persona and giving us a glimpse into a more deeply textured world.

On with the show!

John Leo

Joel Jeske

Audrey Crabtree

Ambrose Martos

Matt Mitler

Glen Henroy

Kevin C. Carr

Eric Davis

Clowns Ex Machina

Hilary Chaplain

Tanya Elchuk

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For more of Jim's work, see his excellent blog, Vaude Visuals.

Cabaret Cabron at the NCI & the Photography of Manel Sala "Ulls" — Live from Barcelona #6

[post 086]

There's a cabaret performance each of the four Saturday nights as part of the month-long curriculum at the Nouveau Clown Institute. I was involved in the first one and even shot some Flip camera video of it. Unfortunately, I later lost the camera with the second-half footage on it. Fortunately, the still photography shot by Manel Sala "Ulls" is extraordinary enough to ease my pain. Click here or on the image to go to his Picasa album of the first cabaret at the The Coco Loconuts Club.



Manel is clearly Europe's answer to Jim Moore. His Picasa home page has 101 albums, and the vast majority are devoted to circus, clown and cabaret performers, as these screen shots of just some of his albums show:



And for the latest stuff, check out his excellent blog, Circ .. Manel Sala "Ulls"

But back to that first week's cabaret. A lot of it was put together day-of, but the results were pretty strong, especially for performers working together for the first time. Here are two pieces from the first half, shot from not a perfect angle with my late great Flip camera.

If you watched the first slide show, you might be wondering what all those gleaming bare asses belonging to luxuriously-oiled men were doing in a clown cabaret. Well, they were the Las Vegas Acrobats, as choreographed by Grada Peskens, though no doubt inspired by that Jango Edwards fellow. The challenge here for the performers was to do the act with the utmost conviction, what Jango likes to speak of as one of the twenty axioms of clowning: attitude. Simply put, you the performer have to believe 100% in what you are doing if you want the audience to. Or as Eddie Cantor once said of Laurel & Hardy: "It's their seriousness that strikes me. They play everything as if it might be Macbeth or Hamlet."



If for some reason you want a better view of all that flesh, you'll have to check out Manel's album.

This next piece grew out of my physical comedy class, and I was very pleased with the creativity the students brought to it. We had been working on chase scenes, a trademark of physical comedy but also a cliché. (Or as Chaplin once complained, must every movie end with a chase?) And for us indoor clowns, without cars and trains and broad avenues and hundreds of cops, what's possible? The challenge became to draw upon the elements of the chase, but to expand the possibilities by going beyond naturalism, playing with rhythms and embracing the absurd. Six or seven different pieces were created in class and none of them, I'm proud to say, resembled a conventional chase. This piece is based on the famous running of the bulls popular in Pamplona and other Spanish towns.

First a few high-rez stills to make up for the low-rez video.







And here's the video....



Curtain call. Moi (left) with Jango (in a suit!) and Grada.

The Photography of Jim Moore

[post 009]

Jim Moore, colleague of and paparazzo to a generation or two of street performers and new wave vaudevillians, has a new photography exhibition in New York running through next week. You've probably seen Jim's work even if you don't know it, and many of you also saw him in the Academy-Award winning documentary, Man on Wire, where he swivels his head with the best of them. (BTW, this movie is available on Netflix instant play.)

For the 98.3% of you who can't get to Jim's show, here are a few goodies. First of all, here's Jim's web site.

And the press release for the show:

[The usual Scribd note: click on icon in upper-right corner to view document full-screen; click again on same icon to return to blog.]
Jim Moore Press Release-finalpdf

Publish Post

And here are all the nice things Jim made me write about him for his show catalog:

Like all fine photographers, Jim Moore has more than just a keen eye and polished technique. For over four decades he has displayed a sixth sense, a knack for being in the middle of the action. No, Jim, was no Robert Capa or Eddie Adams, dodging bullets in some war zone to get his shots. Instead, he was living and breathing the world of — what should we call it exactly? — the eccentric performer, including but not limited to the clown, juggler, wirewalker, magician, busker, sword swallower, puppeteer, new vaudevillian... that ancient tribe that has been delighting and astounding audiences since pre-historic times, and whose singular skills and presentation make a statement that resonates louder than ever in this age of mass-produced entertainment.

Jim began as a street performer in the 70s and made it his business to know everyone. And to photograph them. He saw their shows, sometimes even performed with them. Above all, he lived the life. Whether he shot you in performance, on location, or in his studio, he’s always had that uncanny ability to capture the essence of these highly individualistic characters. The result is a remarkable visual history of some amazing people. Enjoy!

And here's a short slide show with some sample shots:

Jim Photos