Sophia Cleary as a part of Inverted Jester curated by Gillian Walsh at Performance Space New York, 2018
A performance centered around the concept of “Male Trivia” where I ask men hard questions such as “How are you?”
“Intense, aggressively weird” and “like electric coils wrapping ever more tightly around your sensibilities, her humor demands, and it dares, and then it delivers an unbelievable, nightmarish lap dance to someone you know.” —Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Photos by Gillian Walsh.
Emerging Artist, 2015
performance view, The Performing Garage, NY, NY
“Sharp and funny” — Jennifer Krasinski, ARTFORUM
To be an artist is to mourn your life – and this is pleasurable. At what point has an artist emerged? Is emerging to be born? In this show Cleary challenges the belief that the “emerging artist” is someone who is full of potential. The emerging artist is someone who is dying and/or already dead.
Photos courtesy of the artist.
Penis (2014-2018)
performance view, The Kitchen, NY, NY
Feminist punk band & collaboration with Samara Davis.
“Self-referential, but never saccharine.” —Nicole Disser, Bedford and Bowery
“Pumped up inspiration without any of the genial bullshit.” —Priscilla Frank, Huffington Post
Photos by Paula Court.
God Bless The Group, 2013
performance view, Judson Memorial Church, NY, NY
Performed by Amity Jones, John Arthur Peetz, David Kirshoff, Allison Brainard, Ted Christensen, Adjua Greaves, Joseph Teeling & Sonia Stagg.
In this dance, the ensemble is presented as a corporeal, living .Gif, or an animated, narrative cul-de-sac. While the group gyrates in place, they travel along a purgatorial journey with no arc. Through this work, Cleary plays with boredom — of the performers and the audience — and questions our expectations around form & narrative, and attention span.
Photos courtesy of the artist.