Dada Is a State of Mind: {HTP} explores PAINTER AND PATAPHYSICIAN THOMAS CHIMES

Thomas Chimes. Courtesy of Locks Gallery.
Thomas Chimes. Courtesy of Locks Gallery.

Intellectual property lawyer, art collector, and university lecturer Mari Shaw’s just-published book, Painter and Pataphysician Thomas Chimes excerpts 15 years of private conversations with artist Chimes. Her idiosyncratic book combines never-before-seen photographs, exhaustive research and analysis exploring Chimes’ major influences, anecdotal history from her discussions with the artist about painting, theater, philosophy, alchemy, the unconscious, and living and dying courageously.

Theater group Humble Treasure Productions, or {HTP}, has collaborated with Shaw to present PAINTER AND PATAPHYSICIAN THOMAS CHIMES: a dadaist performance/reading on February 24, 2015, at Slought, a non-profit organization that engages it audience in dialogue about cultural and socio-political change. The FREE one-off event explores the relationship between genius and marginality, the deadly impact of the commercial, fame-driven world on creativity, and the healing power of friendship and the arts.

Mari Shaw's book Painter and Pataphysician Thomas Chimes.
Mari Shaw’s book Painter and Pataphysician Thomas Chimes.

{HTP} directors Manon Manavit and Julius Ferraro have composed a madcap assemblage of puppets, jeering, and the unexpected in the spirit of dada, with live music by James Wadsworth Strong. Tristin Lowe, Stuart Netsky, Slought founder Jean-Michel Rabaté, and others will intervene. Manavit and Ferraro join Shaw in reading passages from her book.

Alfred Jarry, author of Ubu Roi and inventor of pataphysics, the science of exceptions, is the silent presence throughout these conversations, as well as the artists Jarry influenced, including Duchamp, Picasso, Joyce and Artaud. [Slought, 4017 Walnut Street] February 24, 2015; slought.com.

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