Retrospective Exhibitionist and Difficult Bodies

Overview

In Retrospective Exhibitionist, a landmark solo for Gutierrez, he shuttles through his own real and imagined performance history, excavating the vulnerability of what it is to be watched by others. Using a TV/VCR, boom box, mic and amp, video camera, and other simple props, Gutierrez looks at the merciless unraveling of time and its impact on live performance and a life spent on the stage. In Difficult Bodies, Gutierrez continues his confrontation between performer and viewer. Three women move together in a simple formal design that makes the kinetic power of their bodies and their connection to each other unmistakable and immediate. Their insistent actions fill the space with the rhythms of attraction and repulsion, as they continually approach and resist the audience. Gutierrez creates the live music for the trio in which sounds and words are looped incessantly to create a symphonic, epic delirium.