Michelle Handelman makes confrontational works that explore the sublime in its various forms of excess and nothingness. Her videos have shown at Georges Pompidou Centre, Paris; ICA, London; American Film Institute, and her live performance spectacles at Exit Art, NYC; Jack the Pelican, NY; Jack Tilton/Anna Kustera Gallery, NY; Cristinerose Gallery, NY; Palm Beach ICA and The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. Recent projects include “The Laughing Lounge” for Performa 05; “This Delicate Monster”, (touring); “Passerby
Before moving to New York in 1999 Handelman directed the critically acclaimed documentary, “BloodSisters”, winner of the 1999 Bravo Award, and was involved in a series of collaborations with Monte Cazazza, pioneer of the Industrial music scene in San Francisco. She has a rich and varied history in the pop culture scene having collaborated with Eric Werner, co-founder of the industrial performance group Survival Research Laboratories, creating sound effects for Jon Moritsugu’s ITVS production, “Terminal USA”, and through her work with Cazazza forging relationships with the following bands who have provided music for her work: Psychic TV, Coil, Chris + Cosey, Lustmord, and Larsen.
Her fiction and critical writing appears in Inappropriate Behaviour (Serpents Tail, London); Apocalypse Culture edited by Adam Parfrey (Feral House Press, LA); Herotica 3 edited by Susie Bright (Plume Books, SF) and several publications including Filmmaker Magazine, Soma Magazine and Indiewire.com. She is the winner of several grants and awards including a NYSCA Individual Artists Grant and the American Film Institute Visions Award. Handelman is assistant professor in the department of Media and Performing Arts at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston. She lives and works in Brooklyn.
Flaming Fire is the twisted creation of Patrick Hambrecht, mid-Western son of a Baptist preacher. He imagined the group as an eerily masked Greek chorus, inspired not only by his religious upbringing, but his avid passion for comic books and creepy things that go bump in the night. In order to realize his vision, he enlisted the help of his talented wife, Kate, and a rotating group of musical friends, from comic book writer/ performer Lauren Weinstein to Dewanatron, Joe McGinty, and Dame Darcy. Flaming Fire’s weird and catchy songs, lively stage show, and unique costumes have helped gain them a strong fan base at home in New York, and a growing fanbase throughout the nation.They’ve shared the stage with such acts as Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, The Apes, Faun Fables, Peaches and Psychic TV.
Flaming Fire recently released their new album, When The High Bell Rings, to rave reviews and they have gained much press (NY Times, Chicago Tribune, The New Yorker) for their Illustrated Bible Project, a live salon and website project wherein they invite professional artists and laypeople to illustrate a verse of the Bible in whatever manner the artist sees fit. A night with Flaming Fire is a raucous, whiskey swilling, crowd pleasing blend of the wacky and the profound.
“Where did all the kooks go? L.A.? Well, at least some of them have stuck it out in the city and they are in Flaming Fire, an awesomely kooky, theatrical band singing songs of biblical plagues and Egyptian sexual practices. Picture the Butthole Surfers, the Residents, the Manson Family, and the B-52’s all running amok in a Kenneth Anger film. They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore.” – VICE Magazine