Can You See?

This weekend Marten Evergreen performed our 12th live performance art piece since 2011.  

We were invited to participate in the electronic music experience called GRAVITY in downtown Boise on Saturday April 25th. 

Marten Evergreen is (from left to right): Krysta Nebeker, Lukas Evergreen, Lisa Marten.

We are a performance art company that collaborates with other artists and performers. Marten Evergreen is all about having fun and peforming avant-garde productions with multi-mediums of art (music, dance, painting, drama) in ways that bring us to the public in hopes of connecting with our community through creativity and love. We perform the emotions and the stories of the individual - these lead them to the need and the expression of art. The art we share is beyond the dance, beyond the paint, beyond ourselves. It is that moment, that climatic mental state, just before, that art is. 

Our work explores relational aspects of human spirituality and identity. As we use our bodies to create art, much like the catalyst of performance art in the 1960's and 1970's (2D artists took visual art into 3D by utilizing the body in performance). We are re-addressing the original intent from visual two dimensional work into the third dimension and then back into the second dimension. Being 2D artists ourselves, we do this by performing our mixed media avant-garde work upon a canvas (with a reveal at the end) and therefore going from 3D back into 2D. 

Normally we have a few months notice before we are to perform (which gives us ample time to work on our performance piece, rehearse, and prep). We were notified 2 1/2 weeks before the event that they really wanted us to perform and so we got to work quickly revising/rehearsing a piece that we had already been planning (at least on paper). 

We took some of our rehearsal/prep time to re-do our "bubble" armature. For years we've either been performing sans splatter protection or using 4 stationary pvc poles cemented into 5 gallon buckets and wrapped with saran cling wrap. This time we took it to a new level and created a cube out of pvc piping and joints. WE would then wrap the entire cube with the saran cling wrap. This would give us the ability to rotate the cube any direction we want. We normally have a separate stretched canvas on plywood that we lay on the ground of the "bubble" to dance on as we throw paint. But this time we stretched the canvas completely across the bottom square of the cube, creating a canvas flooring for our painting. For this performance we would be rotating the cube up at the end of the performance so the audience would be able to see the painting we created while dancing. 

GRAVITY ran from 3pm to 10pm but we needed to load in and set up with the rest of the entertainment crews at 10am. It was located in an outdoor parking lot that sits in Boise's city center. So we got to hang out the entire day connecting with the crews and mingling with the crowd until our performance at 9pm. 

We have occasionally performed inside in concert venues and bars on stages with stage lighting and controlled climate, but with the nature of our kind of street edgy avant grade kind of performance art...we normally perform outside in alley ways, parks, parking lots, and backyards. And with performing outside we have experienced our share of extreme weather (snow and freezing cold, high winds, spurts of rain, and intense 100 degree F temps). Performing at GRAVITY was no exception. The day was mostly blue skies and sunny with the occasional cloud coverage coming through...but we battled really cold high winds throughout the day/night and this made wrapping the cube with the saran cling wrap very difficult. Due to the high winds, about a 1/2 hour before our performance we ended up calling in a crew of our own to help us wrap the cube and hold onto it during the entirety of our performance. (we were envisioning the cube flying off into the air...sort of the opposite of "gravity") 

Boise has a population of a little over 200,000 people (add in close neighboring cities and it might be roughly 500,000) and we have been known for being behind the times a bit from some of the larger cities. Technically we are relatively small when it comes to things...but we have seen a number of well known big name entertainers come through over the years, along with an influx of more urban influence with the arts and culture. We (as Marten Evergreen) felt very honored to be a part of GRAVITY (it was the first time we'd ever been asked to perform for a music festival crowd (normally we perform at various kinds of art events)...and we were to do so at the same time as the headliner.

GRAVITY was a 16 and up ticketed event. So there was a wide range of people attending. 

The music was electronic techno dubstep sound with DJs that were featured from all over the world! They came from Seattle, Oregon, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New Zealand. We got to perform at the end of the night accompanying headliner MT EDEN 's set (a dubstep DJ duo from Auckland, New Zealand). 

 "Can You See?"

Performance art piece by:

MARTEN EVERGREEN

artist statement

Do you know who you are now? So often in life when experiencing struggles we fail to see who we really are within. Our past failures and future anxieties can blind us and bind us from stepping into our true potential and our true identity today. Freedom doesn't happen instantly, it is a process. Goals and dreams aren't achieved by wishing, it's a choice. That choice must happen now. Love and unity do not naturally flow, it's hard work to maintain balance. 

Can you see?

piece summary 

With our crew holding onto the 4 corners of the cube (that was wrapped in saran cling wrap with the canvas flooring) and shooting a spot light into the cube...

We entered the event space from the outside in black pants, large oversized black shirts, black veils covering our faces, and barefoot. Lukas and Krysta carried a black 2x4 board (that had black cloth fringe hanging from it) between them on their shoulders. Lisa was hanging from it (hands grasping a bar that was fasted with a rope and knees over another bar with a rope). The imagery was the 3 of us representing 1...blinded and blinded to our true identity. We made our way through the crowd in the parking lot as the music was pumping out 80,000 watts from the stage. Eventually we arrived at the front of the cube and Lukas and Krysta lowered Lisa to the ground and all 3 embraced as 1 (signifying the self ready to search for who they are). Lukas entered the cube through a slit in the saran from the side and sat in knelt in the center of the canvas. Krysta and Lisa continued to embrace and then joyously removed each others blindfolds. They both entered the cube from slits on either side. As the music continued to beat Lukas began to rise and dance and remove his blind fold. Krysta and Lisa danced around him squirting colors of paint on the canvas from squirt bottles abstractly creating a large eye. The inner movement continued with all 3 of us dancing to the music, paint being squirted and thrown (representing the process the self takes to begin to truly see...to not just hope and dream or mourn and fear...but to enter into liberation of identity. At one point the music paused  and held between songs and all 3 came to the center in a kneeling position holding onto each other with backs to the audience. When the music started back up and crescendoed, Lisa and Krysta ripped off Lukas' black shirt to reveal a silver mirrored tank top (representing clear vision). Throughout the continued dance and painting Lukas would ask Krysta and Lisa "can you see?" and when the answer was eventually "yes" from both Krysta and Lisa ripped off their black shirts to reveal silver mirrored tank tops as well. Then Lisa and Lukas exited the cube and Krysta came to the center. With the music she raised a bucket of black and in joyous celebration dumped it over her onto the canvas creating the "pupil" of the "eye". Krysta then exited the cube and the 3 of us and our crew raised the cube towards the audience to reveal the painting. 

The true self can see. 

and it was full of color and life! 

The finished painting.

Here we are afterwards with our crew. We are so thankful for our friends! That wind was so strong, we couldn't have done this one without them! They held onto that cube with all they had and in many ways they held onto us. 

WE LOVE OUR FANS! 

After we were finished with our performance we had a few moments to connect and converse with the audience and then we were able to join the dance party up front at the concert. Here's a glimpse of MT EDEN cranking up the tunes and pumping the jams for us. Their music was so fun to dance to!

And I want to give a shout out to some of our Marten Evergreen fans. We have a huge following locally and on-line. We couldn't do what we do with out you! Thank you for your support, encouragement, and love! Thank you for supporting local artists! 

Here's a photo of some of our fans who came out to see us perform on such a cold and windy night (with such short notice of the event). 

WE LOVE OUR FANS!

 Here are a couple of videos shot by friends capturing moments of the performance.... 

pre-Marten-Evergreen-canvas
Posted by Ryan Rodriguez on Saturday, April 25, 2015

Man, Gravity tonight was killer! Thanks to Marten-Evergreen for performing!! I love you guys!
Posted by Jessie Nilo on Sunday, April 26, 2015