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Exhibition
Rachel Mason:
The Deaths of Hamilton
Fish
4 June – 25 July
2010
Opening reception: Friday, 4 June, 6:00pm
Live Music Performance:
9:00pm
The Deaths of Hamilton Fish is a musical project that weaves together
real and fictional characters into a murder mystery that’s set in New York
during the 1930's. The story will be told through film, music and artifacts in
the form of an installation in the gallery. The story and songs are written and
performed by Rachel
Mason.
The Deaths of Hamilton Fish project is based on a single historic
coincidence. The research for the project has been ongoing since 2005. When
Mason was researching a newspaper story on the date of Albert Fish's
electrocution at Sing Sing prison, she discovered an article about another
Fish’s death in the same
newspaper.
The story was written based on the lives of two men who died on the same day.
They were opposites in every imaginable way, but had one thing in common; they
shared the same name, Hamilton Fish. One was the serial killer Albert
Hamilton Fish, the other, Hamilton Fish II, son of the Governor of New York
State, whose political family extends back to the founding fathers of America.
In this fictional depiction of events and personages, Hamilton Fish II searches
personal salvation by attempting to find his murderous
doppelganger.
The film was shot at, and near locations where the real events occurred, such as
an abandoned house in Sleepy Hollow, NY, the haunted Untermeyer park, and the
burial grounds and church of the Hamilton Fish
family.
Cast: Dmitriy Ivolgin, Jeff Lunger, Rachel Mason, Adrienne
Sneed.
ABOUT THE
ARTIST
Rachel Mason is a songwriter, performer and sculptor. Trained as a sculptor at
Yale, her work finds autobiographical ties to history as she inserts herself
into the minds of characters in sculpture and video. Mason has created guerrilla
performances ranging from a music performance on a window ledge facing Broadway
in which she descended into the arms of police officers, to a rock opera with 30
dancers at the Park Avenue Armory. She has recorded five full-length albums, and
is included on a compilation of music with Devendra Banhardt, Josephine Foster,
Diane Cluck and Kath Bloom. Mason performs solo, with collaborators and at times
backed by a full band, alternating between costume changes. Dubbed "Marvelously
Strange" by Jerry Saltz of the Village Voice, Mason is a singer and
multi-instrumentalist playing drums, guitar, piano and accordion. Mason’s
sculptures and music have been featured in The New York Times, Los Angeles
Times, Flash Art, Art News, and
Artforum.
Mason’s work has been shown at the James Gallery at CUNY, University Art Museum
in Buffalo, Sculpture Center, Hessel Museum of Art at Bard, Circus Gallery, and
she has performed at venues including the Kunsthalle Zurich, The Park Avenue
Armory, Tonic, Art in General, La Mama, Galapagos, Dixon Place, The Slipper
Room, and The Empac Center for Performance in Troy.
NEW HOME ON THE
WEB
Marginal Utility is pleased to announce the launch of our new website at www.marginalutility.org.
The website features information on all current and past exhibitions, a calendar
of events, artist and edition info, etc.
You can also follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/mu_inc
Become a fan on Facebook: www.facebook.com/marginal.utility
CONTACT
US
If you have any questions, please contact: exhibition@marginalutility.org
319 N. 11th Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107
PHONE 917.355.4487 www.marginalutility.org
HOURS: Friday 5:00–8:00 PM, Saturday-Sunday 12:00–5:00
PM
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