67 Books | Grendel Reads Grendel

Tonight at 6pm at Brian Feldman's 67 Books on the roof of the downtown Orlando Public Library, Grendel Reads Grendel.

Outsider Art Fair 2010

by Mark Baratelli

Winter Park small business Frames Forever & Art Gallery (941 Orange Ave Winter Park, FL 32789) held the 2nd Annual Outsider Art Fair on Saturday March 20, 2010, timed to coincide with the 51st Annual Winter Part Sidewalk Arts Festival down the road.

The first site visitors saw at this frame shop-turned-event-space was performance artist Brian Feldman doing a sequel to sleepwalk, a piece he premiered at the 2009 Outsider Art Fair. In the first version, Feldman let people walk over him as he slept inside a case for 50 hours. This time around, he let people walk below him while he sleepwalked above them, hence the title sleepwalk: i walk over you. The ten foot high scaffolding and man-with-blanket was a draw to the drivers zooming by.

Brian Feldman gets his beard shaved LIVE

On December 31, 2009 at 7pm, Brian Feldman staged a public beard shaving at Urban Stylez Barbershop in Downtown Orlando as his 30th and final performance piece of 2009. Below are screen grabs from the event made possible via Ustream, filmed by Brian's dad. And is this a first? The blog post was posted BEFORE the event even ended.

ChanuIKEA by Brian Feldman

Brian Feldman, Orlando's only performance artist that we are aware of, did a piece called ChanuIKEA on December 18, 2009 at 7pm at IKEA Orlando next door to The Mall at Millenia. This is what happened. More photos here.


A group of us arrived at IKEA with no idea where to go or what to do, including Orlando Weekly's Seth Kubersky.


Brian set up the plug-in blue candle thing. (Kidding.)


We were seated.


Brian's mother explained the dreidel and Chanukah.


The story of Chanukah in children's book form.


Sweet rubbery fish in plastic bags were passed around.


The dreidel, the book and the fish.


We were summoned in Yiddish or Swedish to follow Brian.


A wiry blonde man reading from a script in Yiddish or Swedish took over for Brian and began the tour.








An IKEA employee tailed us.


I had no idea what was going on.


Brian got into a bed and sang like he did in his "Under the Covers" performance this summer.


We walked, security took our photo and none of us (I think) knew what was going on.


I carried my coffee and confusion with me.


Brian stops to tie his shoe and I get a peek at all the crap he is carrying.


Brian hands out programs with song lyrics.


Please buy me a new video camera.

Orlando continues its reign as worst city for pedestrians with cyclist death

A cyclist was killed at the corner of Church Street and Hughey in downtown Orlando November 23, 2009 at 9:30am, the same time performance artist Brian Feldman cancelled & postponed his pedestrian performance art piece, designed to bring attention to pedestrian deaths. Perhaps this will bring even more awareness to pedestrian safety. On November 9, 2009 Orlando was named worst city for pedestrian safety with over 1 million residents.

Pillow Fight Day comes early!

Brian Feldman puts on Pillowlando (Facebook Group), a local version of Pillow Fight Day, which happens around the world on the first Saturday in April every year. People meet up at a location carrying soft pillows, wait for the signal and then have a pillow fight. Now he's created Pillow FRight Day: same thing as the other one, but this one happens October 31, 5pm-5:15pm. Location to be announced.

Orlandoans of all ages who love free, fun, public events like pillow fights, creative interventions, games and interactive art installations are invited to show up and take part, as well as other Central Floridians and curious tourists who find out about it as Pillow FRight Day draws near.

A Few Rules: Soft pillows only! + Swing lightly, many people will be swinging at once. + Do not swing at people without pillows or with cameras. + Remove glasses beforehand! + The event is free and appropriate for all ages. + Wait until the signal to begin. + IMPORTANT: Please, please, please do not use feather pillows! (This is a feather-free fight.) + If anyone has a hard pillow, you should return it to the shop, because it’s faulty. (Halloween costumes and unique pillows definitely encouraged.)

Brian Feldman sloths his way through another 30 hours of doing nothing

For a 30 hour non-stop period of time starting 6pm October 23, 2009, you can see Brian Feldman's latest piece called "Sloth" in the front window of The Cameo Theatre (1013 E Colonial Dr Orlando FL 32803). He'll be doing a "sedentary performance on the sin of wasting time." This is part of the Emotions Dance Company two-night 7 Deadly Sins, “a sinfully seductive art show of temptation, indulgence and pleasure featuring artwork and performances.” Sounds dirty. Is this porn? While Brian Feldman's "Sloth" is free to observe, the dance concert is $20 online or $25 at the door.

A public dare for Brian Feldman

I challenge you, Brian Feldman, to beat this:

The Radical - watch more funny videos

Photos | Mobile Art Show #1

Mobile Art Show | Orlando, FL
On August 5, 2009, TheDailyCity.com's very first Mobile Art Show took to the roads of Orlando, Florida. From 10am to 7pm, the show was either prepping, showing or traveling. For this first show, a UHaul was chosen to carry the over-40-piece collection of locally-made art because it was easier than getting an ice cream truck, which is the ideal vehicle for this. The locations for each stop were sent via twitter to twitter.com/mobileartshow. I, Mark Baratelli, was the driver and Brian Feldman was the co-pilot. Dan Ginader assisted me in the hanging of the art.

Photos:
--Orlando Sentinel photo gallery | 44 photos
--Ours, a sampling | 51 photos
--Ours, all of them | 252

Press Coverage:
--Orlando Sentinel "Best Bet"
--Metromix Weekly Event Pick
--Orlando Weekly event page
--EmmaBunny for SMV, an LA shop

What is Mobile Art Show:
Dan Ginader, friend to The Daily City, came to Stop #2 (Enzian Theatre) with his daughter and got some video of the proceedings there, went back home (after an errand-run to Publix) and edited together this video! He is awesome.



Truck Interior:
I rented the truck for a total of two days, so I could spend one day hanging the art and decorating the truck. When I was done, I made this video tour. The white bottles are filled with bubbles.



Stop #1 | 11:30am-12:00pm
Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell
Orlando Ave at Fairbanks
Brian thought it would be funny if we went to a "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell" for our first stop, as there is a song called "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell." One visitor to the show told us there was not enough Christian art.







Stop #2 | 12:15pm-1pm
Enzian Theatre
Orlando Ave, Maitland
After I decided to go to Enzian, everyone and their mother told me not to go there. I ended up selling one Barf Hand and three rings and a photographer from Metromix came by.







Stop #3 | 1:15pm-230pm
United Arts/ Clear Channel parking lot
Maitland, FL
Three people from United Arts came out of their offices, but only two actually got into the truck. A woman from a nearby office walked up to the truck and asked what it was. I said it was an art show. She turned her head, screamed at her friend across the parking lot "Its an art show!" and continued walking away.





Stop #4 | 3pm-3:45pm
Edgewater Drive parking lot
This stop got rained out. Also, I left the back door open on the ride from Maitland and the floor and some of the paper on the walls got wet. Disaster. The co-owner of Infusion Tea sent me an email the day before, inviting me to park my truck in his lot. When I showed up, he claimed he had no idea I would be traveling in a UHaul and appeared startled. We did not set up the show and moved onto the next stop.


Stop #5 | 4pm-4:45pm
Parramore Community Garden
I chose this spot to bring attention to this wonderful urban garden endeavor. I love it, I think there should be more of them, and anything I can do to help, I will. Google it and go see it.





Stop #6 | 5pm-6pm
Loving Hut on Colonial
Brian, my co-pilot, wanted to stop here so we could pull in front of the giant hot dog and give them the vegan middle finger. The artist who made the baby girl reindeer screenprints showed up on a moped! Also, Orlando Sentinel photographer Matthew Simantov, the publisher of a wakeboarding magazine and his wife, their two babies and a photog from Metromix showed up!







Stop #7 | 6pm-7pm
Barnes & Noble on Colonial
Erika from "War of the Worlds" and Brian thought it would be fun to park the truck in front of Barnes & Noble and get asked to leave. So I did. And we did.





Final Tally: 7 stops



Bye Mobile Art Show


Thank you: Brian Feldman, Dan Ginader, Jozie, the artists in the show, Orlando Sentinel, Metromix Orlando, Orlando Weekly and Erica for publicizing the show to every single human being who came in and out of Barnes & Noble until we got kicked out.

Feldman, Twitter, you know the drill

What's next for Brian Feldman? On the eve of his sixth year as a performance artist, Feldman ponders the number one question he gets asked: “What’s Next?” Control Brian Feldman’s decision making process for 24 hours by responding to his unscripted prompts at twitter.com/BrianFeldman. Saturday 8 August 2009 8:00 AM to Sunday 8 2009 at 8:00 AM EDT (24 Hours). Location(s) Determined By Participants. When you twitter about this (and you will) use the hashtag #WhatsNext. Facebook Event Page

Photos: Taco Truck Taste Test #2

Taco Truck Taste Test #2 was Tuesday July 28, 2009, at 7pm at the taco truck on the corner of Conway and Curry Ford Road. (What is Taco Truck taste Test?) This truck's main dish was "Mofongo," which is an oily, greasy pile of fried-then-smashed-plantains with your choice of meat on top for the unexpectedly high price of eight dollars. People hung around and ate for about an hour including performance artist Brian Feldman and Sketch artist Thomas Thorspecken, who sketched the event. The next one is Saturday, August 22, 2009.

Mark and Dan Ginader do a quick audio wrap up:


-See photos from the June 30th Taco Truck Taste Test.
-Read an Orlando Weekly article about Taco truck Taste Test.









(Photo Credit for the above photo: Brian Feldman)





(Photo Credit for the above photo: Brian Feldman)