October 14 - November 11, 2006

FAUSTUS’S CHILDREN

Michele O’Marah, Dave Jones and Tim Jackson

Faustus’s Children – a collaborative single channel video and installation conceived by Michele O’Marah, David Jones and Tim Jackson – alchemizes familiar narrative references simultaneously transcending and deconstructing Hollywood’s veneer. The plot, scripted by Dave Jones, a frequent contributor to past O’Marah works, follows a cliché of affluent young men in the aftermath of a conspired murder.  The untimely death is avenged by a supernatural force, which lures each conspirator into the woods and ultimately their deaths.

A psychedelic parody, Faustus’s Children challenges all expectations of form and content.  As with other O’Marah works the piece draws on popular pop culture references. The narrative, adapted from well-known sources (Donna Tart’s The Secret History, Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope), moves beyond storytelling convention. The ham-fisted dialogue parodies the upper class. The characters, portrayed by a cast of Los Angeles artists and writers, sip endless cocktails and pontificate oblivious to the disappearance of their fellow conspirators lured away from their bourgeois cabin enclave.

All aspects of the work were handmade by the artists. The video takes place on two sets, the cabin and the woods, both hand crafted by O’Marah.  The supernatural, represented by low-fi ethereal effects created by painter, Tim Jackson, are the antithesis of the blockbuster aesthetic.  The visual impact is bold and distorting, drenched in color and pattern the work at points has a quality that is closer to painting than filmmaking. When combined with the fragmented editing and time structure, sensibilities and concepts evident in O’Marah’s most notable works, Valley Girl (2002), White Diamonds/Agent Orange (2001) and Peacehead (2004), the result is a complex viewing experience rich in narrative reference and visual structure.

The exhibition and opening reception, scheduled for fall 2006, will premiere at Chinatown’s Sister gallery.  The installation will include both sets, the video, artifacts which create the supernatural, as well as photographic portraits of each character.

Credits for Faustus’s Children

Ian: 
Dave Cull

Francis: 
Tim Buggs

Peter: 
Gerald Davis

Claire: 
Bettina Hubby

Lance: 
Mike Slack

Richard: 
Ross McClain

Conceived of and Produced by Michele O’Marah, Tim Jackson, David Jones

Written by David Jones

Set Construction, Shooting and Editing by Michele O’Marah

Special Effects and Death Sequence Design by Tim Jackson

Original Music by Kelly Marie Martin and David Jones with vocals by Nicole Antolin and piano by Snax

Sound Editing by Frank Bradley

Extra special thank you to Ivan Golinko, Carolyn Schmitt, and Katie Brennan

Additional thanks to Liz Larner, Chris Grant, Debbie King, Jay Schuette, Anthony Pierson, Evan Holloway and Patterson Beckwith