Oscar Alvarez

Outside, using the public stage of city infrastructure I examine body sensations in relation to the rhythms of urban space. A counter-rhythm is achieved through the dissonance of standing purposefully idle & listless. With a process intensive practice, and self-reflexive language I have developed my exercise JIMMY, a performed document of a man whose personal agency is subjugated by tyrannies of social patriarchy, and alienated by accelerated globalization. Each JIMMY has a uniform to step into; the outfit as object alludes to franchise and special trade jobs. JIMMY activates Home Depot car lots, construction sites, hotel entrances, & office lobbies with performance situations.

The last six years of my practice explores relational ontologies in the public & private space; outside vs. inside. Using performance as a situation that stands in opposition to the transactional nature, and social dynamics of capitalist structures. Central ideas culminate within multi-media installations, which display sculptural ephemera sourced from performance materials or sites.

Inside architecture, I scatter sculptural props to provide relational experiences between viewers and performers. The collective synergy confronts & exposes perverse intricacies of the self and collective. ‘BAND’ Shirts, a series of performance events, invites participants to wear hand drawn tee shirts with band logos. Each shirt performance uses the cultural vibe respective to a particular band’s brand as it’s stage. The audience’s engagement with that narrative results in a humorous repartee that is unsettling, though achieves special communion through generosity that surrenders itself to the desires of the collective, not the ego.