John Geary is an accomplished inventor, set designer, concert guitarist and multi-disciplinary artist whose work has exhibited all over the world but the first time I laid eyes on his work, Geary was dressed head-to-toe in a red devil costume with a hard-on running alongside the I-10 freeway in Santa Monica California pointing menacingly at cars with one hand, a pitchfork in the other. This work was called DEVIL ARREST (part of a larger work called LIVE DEVIL) and to celebrate it’s release as part of Volume 2 of The Druid Underground Film Festival’s “Best of” DVD we interview him about his career:
BURGESS: You documented your tour around the country making brief but energetic public appearances as Satan. The LA Times quoted you, writing that your project was a spoof on the sightings of Bigfoot, Elvis, etc., intended to make people "perceive they had seen the devil and then deal with it." Can you elaborate on your intentions and talk about your experiences on that project?
GEARY:I was riding my bike one day along the beach and I caught something out of the corner of my eye, on a nearby cliff. When I turned to look, it was gone. This started me thinking about giving other people the same experience. I wanted to insert something unusual into an average commute and then disappear without any explanation. I wanted to make people wonder if they really saw the devil.
Geary as the fallen angel
BURGESS: During your final performance you were arrested in the suit but thankfully you documented the entire incident on camera (via ground and air). So did they actually take you to a jail cell in your get-up and if so how long were you in there and what were onlookers/cops/inmates reaction?
GEARY:I was handcuffed and taken to the Santa Monica Police station. The police were pretty nice to me when they discovered I was an art student. I was put into a holding cell by myself with my suit on for a couple hours. When I was released, there was a news crew trying to interview me.
BURGESS: You made a series of postcards for the 2012 Venice Beach Biennial that are pretty funny. Can you talk about the importance of humor in your work?
One of Geary's 2012 Venice Beach Biennial postcards
GEARY:I like to keep myself amused. I like when unexpected things occur which break reality, if only for a moment. The postcards were a way of combining my creative writing with my photos of sunsets. The result are these trippy postcards, which I think are fitting for Venice Beach.
BURGESS: You hold 2 US Patents for your inventions, what are they?
GEARY:When I was in grad school at UCLA, I had a knee injury, which required crutches. This was the first time in my life I needed crutches and I couldn’t believe how bad the design was, and how few options there were. I designed my own crutches and decided to patent them.
BURGESS: What artists have inspired you?
GEARY:Far too many to name. Lets say Marcel Duchamp, Leonardo da Vinci, Bruce Nauman, David Lynch, Jimi Hendrix….to name very few.
BURGESS: Tell me about the show you’re exhibiting right now in Los Angeles at C. Nichols Project.
GEARY:My current show is called “Black Dust”, and it’s a show of charcoal drawings of cute animals.
Geary with his charcoal drawings (photo by Jordan Schwartz)
Don’t let filmmaker/photographer
Danilo Parra’s easy-going demeanor fool you. Though he captures quiet and
intimate images, volatility is either just about to surface or a working
condition behind the scenes. Here he talks weaponized Quaaludes in South Africa
and wet cats.
Photo by Danilo Parra from danilop.com
BURGESS: In Jamaica you recently shot
a music video for controversial Jamaican dancehall artist Vybz Kartel called
“My Crew.” Kartel was convicted for murder and sentenced to life in prison
earlier this month. Can you talk about your experiences on that project?
PARRA:I was in Jamaica doing a story
on the current Dance Hall music scene in Jamaica. As part of the doc, we were
putting out all our efforts to get an interview with Vybz in jail, but since he
was within the trial process, we were denied the interview from his lawyers.
After hours of waiting outside the court to get a shot of his car pulling away,
we met some of the people who were raised, musically, by him. They took us to
his old neighborhood in Portmoore where many murals of his face were painted on
the walls. Since we were shooting for Vice, and Vice was putting out a vinyl of
his last album, we asked the members of his neighborhood if we could shoot the
last Vybz Video with them. And they were very amped.
BURGESS: Can you talk about your
ongoing documentary work with Vice and your latest piece in South Africa?
Photo by Danilo Parra from danilop.com
PARRA:My work with Vice has spanned
over 8 years now, 5 years of it as a freelance doc shooter/producer. I used to
be a full time editor for 3 years but now as a freelancer, I produce/shoot the
show “Hamilton's Pharmacopeia”. Hamilton and I get along really well so it's
like traveling with a friend more than a job but some of the situations we get
into can get pretty hectic. Our last documentary we did was shot in South
Africa and was about the recreational use of HIV medicine and it's psychedelic
side effects. It was the most complicated story I have worked on yet with
Hamilton but I loved how it turned out. Hamilton has a very special charm about
him that usually gets our documentary subjects to go way out of their way to
show us something for our films.
BURGESS: Soft piano music plays over
images of loving hands bathing a miserable, mewing cat in your film “Torture
Room” and “Laundry” is a love story brutally neutralized by apathy in a really
hilarious way. You often combine opposing elements in order to create striking
images in your work. Why is it important for you to mix elements in this way?
Still from "Torture Room" exhibited by The Druid Underground Film Festival
PARRA:I think the narrative can be
brought out if you have these types of opposing elements. For Torture Room, I
tried to create music that would let the viewer feel the tortured cats
emotions. I knew it would be funny to see this cat in particular getting a bath
in slow motion so I wanted to guide the emotion into how the cat feels rather
than how the viewer feels laughing at it.
BURGESS: You made a music video for
the band ‘Fantasmes’ in which two lover’s faces melt super nasty after a
passionate kiss at the end of the world. Any ambitions to direct a horror film?
PARRA:Yes the Horror film genre
would be great to work with. More psychological thriller than horror though. My
favorite films are films like The Shining and The Brood, which include gore,
but in a more elegant and thought provoking way.
Photo by Danilo Parra from danilop.com
BURGESS: As your directing reel
continues to expand talk to me about your crew. Who are your core people?
PARRA:My crew varies on project to
project. The bigger projects usually include Anchor Light, my friends lighting
company, and all the people who run it. Kevin Hayden (head of Anchor Light) is
a DP I work with a lot and Sydney Buchan, is the producer of the company. They
both keep me organized and make sure that I'm doing the right pre production to
have a smooth production. I put together visual shot lists set to music that
help me out a lot in terms of finding pacing and overall flow of a piece.
BURGESS: From the titular Theremin
player in Mr. Grillo: The Thereminist (2013) to 74-year-old jazz saxophonist
Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, your documentary subjects reveal intimate details
as if the audience were a close friend leaning in for details over a living
room coffee table. What are some strategies to creating personal portraits?
PARRA:The saxophonist has a well
known album called "Humility in the Light of the Creator," I'm not a
religious person, but I understand the humility he speaks of and how it
benefits personal relationships. I usually re-learn humility every time I work
with these types of documentary subjects but the comfort is there from the
start since I usually find people that I know I would get along with.
BURGESS: What can we expect next?
PARRA:For the (Vice) Pharmacopeia
series, our next doc is on weaponized Quaaludes in South Africa. I won't go
into too much, but it will be a very conspiracy driven documentary with lots of
mystery. For my own work, I'm doing a few hip hop videos at the moment that I
finishing up, and I'd like to do a short film soon. I'm also shooting a
dysfunctional remix of the story of Aladdin that Adam Green is directing. It
will be my first feature narrative that I work on.
Danilo Parra’s short films have been exhibited by the Druid Underground Film Festival during the 6th and 7th annual seasons.
