May 20, 7pm
Join Los Angeles-based performance artist Scotch Wichmann in an entertaining evening celebrating his new book TWO PERFORMANCE ARTISTS KIDNAP THEIR BOSS AND DO THINGS WITH HIM. Scotch will present a brief history of performance art, read excerpts from the book, and perform a short performance piece that promises to be memorable. Pick up your copy of the book down the street at Elliott Bay Book Company!
And read Scotch's response to our question, "Who Was Your First Hero?"
About Scotch:
Scotch Wichmann is a writer, performance artist, comedian, actor, and filmmaker whose madcap riffs about his trailerpark childhood, neurotic delusions, and Hollywood obsessions spurred the San Francisco Chronicle to describe his work as like "eating and snorting [drugs]...then freebasing...then reaching for the turkey baster." A two-time finalist in Northern California's largest comedy competition, he's a regular feature and host at comedy clubs across the country, keeping audiences rolling before national headliners like Bill Burr, Barry Sobel, Laurie Kilmartin, Eddie Brill, and many more.
Scotch began as a performance artist in the early 1990s. A protégé of seminal L.A. performance artist John M. White, he launched himself into the underground L.A. performance art scene with his debut pieces, SNORTING MOUSE FUR and HAVING A BALL: ONE TESTICLE'S PUPPET SHOW. His live work continues to be featured at galleries, art venues, and fringe festivals around the world. He’s also a member of Wet The Hippo, a performance troupe nominated for Best Comedy and Best Stunt at the 2013 Hollywood Fringe Festival.
In 2007, Scotch launched Meth Coffee, an underground coffee company in San Francisco as both a branding experiment and an ongoing performance. Calling himself "The Drinker," he acted as the company's cracked-out spokesman, attracting a swarm of press from CNN, NBC, FOX, NPR, Maxim, The Washington Post, and The New York Times while selling super-caffeinated coffee beans in white druggy bags. The product was eventually banned in several regions, including the state of Illinois by its Attorney General, who found the whole concept objectionable.
In a strange turn, actor-director Shia LaBeouf was caught plagiarizing Scotch's performance art manifesto in January, 2014, as well as writings by performance artist Marina Abramovic. Scotch responded on February 13, 2014 with a 6-hour protest and performance entitled #IAMPLAGIARIZED for a crowd of hundreds outside the Los Angeles gallery where LaBeouf was staging his #IAMSORRY "mock apology" stunt.
Scotch works increasingly in TV and film. He folded himself into a killer's suitcase for the late-night TV short HACKSAW (2005), played an overgrown baby in OUTER SUNSET (2007), and made his directorial debut with SECRET TO A BETTER LIFE (2011), a short that was featured at the 2011 Nihilist Film Festival and the 2012 Freethought Film Festival.
His writing has appeared in magazines, anthologies, and online. His debut
novel, Two Performance Artists Kidnap Their Boss And Do Things With Him—a screwball dark comedy about two performance artists struggling to make it—will be published by Freakshow Books April 10th, 2014. The book was a 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel First Round Finalist, and Kirkus Reviews called it a “raucous debut satire” with a “fertile, scabrous comic imagination.” To learn more, visit www.2p4m.com