Taylor Mead: A Clown Underground

Description

If he had decided to live in Paris instead of New York, they'd have built several monuments to Taylor Mead a long time ago. —Gary Indiana

My philosophy is from Nietzsche: minimum of effort and maximum of error. It's gotten me practically nowhere. — Taylor Mead

Performer and poet Taylor Mead has starred in over 100 films and is a central figure in the history of underground cinema. Though best known for the films he made with Andy Warhol (including Lonesome Cowboys and Nude Restaurant), Mead has appeared in things as diverse as Saturday Night Live, Rip Torn’s staging of Hamlet and Midnight Cowboy. Now over 80 years old, Mead’s work has a mature innocence, and a celebration of (and longing for) peace and joy that is missing from so much contemporary art today. His performances often bring to mind Chaplin’s “tramp” character. He now spends much of his time writing, doing poetry readings and feeding stray animals. Mead will make his first San Francisco appearance in decades.

Taylor Mead in person Sep 18 & 19

Thu, Sep 18, 7:30 pm
THE FLOWER THIEF
BY RON RICE

The purest expression of the Beat sensibility in cinema. —P. Adams Sitney

“In Ron Rice's baggy-pantsed beatnik artifact, Warhol superstar in training Mead traipses with elfin glee through a lost San Francisco of smoke-stuffed North Beach cafés, oceanside fairgrounds, and collapsed post-industrial ruins. Boinging along an improvised picaresque up and down the city's hills, Mead teases playground schoolkids, gets abducted by cowboys in the park, and has a tea party on a pile of rubble with a potbellied bathing beauty.” —Village Voice (1960, 75 min, 16mm). Screening will be followed by a discussion and poetry reading with Mead.

Fri, Sep 19, 7:30 pm
LONESOME COWBOYS
BY ANDY WARHOL

Followed by discussion with Mead.

Long before Brokeback Mountain there was Lonesome Cowboys, a homoerotic satire of the Western with a hilarious, raunchy co-starring role by Mead. Shot on location at a ranch in Arizona used previously for John Wayne movies, Warhol edited the film while recuperating from his gunshot wound. Also starring Viva and Joe Dallesandro. (1967-68, 109 min, 16mm)

Sun, Sep 21, 7:30 pm
EXCAVATING TAYLOR MEAD
BY WILLIAM A. KIRKLEY
If you enjoyed any of the other Mead screenings, you won’t want to miss this poignant documentary, which offers many insights into the life of this underground superstar. The film follows Mead through his eccentric daily life, and examines the complete history of his film and performance work. Narrated by Steve Buscemi. (2005, 98 min, digital video)

More Info

Link

http://ybca.org

Call

415.978.2787 (Box Office)