Wasteland 2 A Short Film by Andrew H. Shirley
WHEN: Friday May 5, 2017 6-11pm
WHERE: Good Mother Gallery 408 13th St, Oakland, CA 94612
WHAT: WASTEDLAND 2 by Andrew H. Shirley (Beer and popcorn will be served)
ABOUT THE FILM: In a post apocalyptic land, the last few remaining inhabitants are the spirit animals of graffiti writers. This existential fantasy follows three solitary vandals (played by Wolftits, Avoid, and Smells) who cross paths while on the hunt for the meaning behind the abandoned enigmatic artwork left behind by UFO 907 (another nomadic artist). Roaming from one decaying zone to the next in a never ending search for beer, weed, and a wall to paint, these artists form a pact with the rest of the surviving mystics (played by Rambo, Noxer, EKG, and others) to attain the answer to their unanimous question of their futility- "What's the point?"
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION: This traveling exhibit had it's debut in Detroit last September in a former Lincoln Motor Car assembly plant turned Make Art Work gallery. The film has since been on tour transforming spaces into a immersive film experience in the shape of a three dimensional post apocalyptic-graffiti-wonderland. Here questions of fate and self collide with graffiti folk lore through word play, interactive kinetic sculpture, paintings, artifacts, and characters - all centered around thematics from the film- created by the actors themselves and members of the notorious Brooklyn based 907 graffiti crew. This environment allows the viewer to enter the psychology of the narrative, to identify and ultimately re-define the way one traditionally engages with film and artwork.
Trailer https://vimeo.com/147150111 Website www.wastedland2.com Presshttps://wastedland2.com/press/
As with the original Wastedland (10 min/ B&W/ 2008), for Wastedland 2 Shirley asked several prominent NYC graffiti artists to create costumes and masks in the likeness of what they believe to be their spirit animals. Then, using the same landscape the artists typically employ as a backdrop for their artwork, they traveled from the mountains of Upstate New York to Black Mountain, North Carolina, filming in squalid buildings and freight train yards along the way, illegally. The mystical theme of the seeker was incorporated into the process of production, letting the film write itself from narrative exploration and unscripted improvisation. It was not until the film had been edited that the script finally finished itself.
Andrew H. Shirley finds an obsession in living experimentation. Shirley is a multi disciplinary artist whose work has appeared in PS 1, MOCA, Museum of Sex, McDonald's International, and whose films have screened at festivals in over 300 cities worldwide. As a social architect, he has curated the underground into public events from institutions such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music to a secret tree house art gallery he built in upstate NY. He resides in Brooklyn, NYC, with his cat Myrtle.
EXHIBITING ARTISTS INCLUDE: Adam VOID, Amy Smalls, Andrew H. Shirley, DARKCLOUDS, George Vidas, Greg Henderson, Noxer, RAMBO, Robin Drysdale, Ryan C. Doyle, SMELLS, UFO 907, William Thomas Porter, WOLFTITS and local Bay Area vandals (TBA).
“A new Wizard of Oz for the Anarchist Street Youth.” Charlie Ahearn Director of Wild Style
“Unreality has made an unexpected narrative incursion into the usually predictable world of Graffiti Art or maybe this is Graffiti’s break-in into the abandoned back lot of the Brothers Grimm.” Bill Daniel Director of Who is Bozo Texino? : The Secret History of Hobo Graffiti and author of Mostly True.
“Wastedland 2 is a road trip without road, a therapeutic buddy film without saccharine, staged in a post apocalyptic terrain that is revealed as graffiti oasis. The hapless beer- and weed-fueled journey is pure youthful angst suspended in chemicals and many in the audience laughed in recognition at the head-banging frustration voiced about fundamental life questions by these furry characters.” Jamie Rojo & Steven Harrington of Brooklyn Street Art