This video depicts the first version of a pneumatic drum kit that I designed and fabricated for use within my “Bull and Wounded Horse” performance piece. As with most of my work, I also see these drums as sculptural objects. So while the drums find a use on stage, they are also intended to create music for the rest of the objects within the gallery setting. In the performance piece there are actually three drum kits, a robotic drum kit stage left and stage right, and a human drummer in the middle. In composing the music for Bull and Wounded Horse, I established a few moments within the performance where the robotic drum kit would establish a two measure beat then drop it. The human drummer, would then seamlessly pick up the same beat for two measures and drop it. The robotic drum kit would then pickup the beat for two measures. This robot / human / robot rhythmic sequence would establish a looping bed over which the rest of the band would vamp.
Selected Recent Performance Related Posts
The Devil’s Role in Art | My Response | Your Comments |Episode 136
Welcome to Episode 136, a meticulous dissection of an idea that hovers over the realms of theology, philosophy, and existentialism: “Why is God Hiding in Plain Sight?” As the head of the Graduate Graphic Design Department at Cranbrook Academy of Art, my quest for knowledge and understanding isn’t confined to design and art; it reaches into questions that stir the soul and provoke the intellect.
Mad King Screen Print from the Archive
I recently purchased a massive Synology server in order to harvest and centralize 15 years of work archived to CD-ROM. This two color screen print was produce to promote one of my many performances at “Here” in Soho. This is a rough and ready screen print on newsprint from when my studio was located on Greenwich […]
Elliott Earls Live at University of Georgia
Elliott Earls live at University of Georgia with Benjamin Teague on Mandolin and Jordan Dalton on Bass. The embedded video clip is from Elliott’s arrangement of Cluck Old Hen.