Alex Da Corte: 57 Varieties | Art21 'Extended Play'

Episode 260: At work on his installation for the 57th edition of the Carnegie International in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Alex Da Corte films a series of fifty-seven videos that combine personal narrative, art-historical references, and television characters, to create a contemporary portrait of America. Drawn to misunderstood and colorful characters, Da Corte is shown portraying Sesame Street puppeteer Caroll Spinney, the Wicked Witch of the West, the Statue of Liberty, the Pink Panther, and Mr. Rogers. Da Corte juxtaposes, remixes, and flattens these disparate images in order to tell new stories with familiar characters.

Filming at his studio in Philadelphia and a soundstage in New Jersey, Da Corte enlists a team of artists to create the one-of-a-kind makeup, costumes, and props. “We as a studio all really value material,” explains Da Corte, describing the hours that go into sewing costumes, building sets, and working with neon. Da Corte’s parents, siblings, nieces and nephews also join him on set, helping with the painting of an enormous rose lattice inspired by his grandmother. “My family is all I have; my family is everything to me,” says Da Corte.

Titled “Rubber Pencil Devil,” the final series of fifty-seven videos are installed within a glowing house built with colorful neon lights, inspired by Da Corte’s time spent drawing at a diner during art school. This dreamlike, immersive environment draws viewers in and evokes a range of reactions, from joy to desire to disgust. Da Corte’s images are paired with the words from Bob Dylan’s 1965 “Subterranean Homesick Blues” video and the artist wonders, “fifty years later, maybe this is a similar moment, in need of some empathetic conversation and maybe if I use [Dylan’s] words and pair them with my images, I might make sense of America.”

Alex Da Corte creates vibrant and immersive large-scale installations that include wall-based works, sculptures, and videos. Colorful and surreal, his work combines personal narrative, art-historical references, pop-culture characters, and the glossy aesthetics of commercial advertising to reveal the humor, absurdity, and psychological complexity of the images and stories that pervade our culture. Da Corte’s juxtaposition, remixing, and flattening of disparate images and icons detaches them from their original meanings, allowing him to tell new stories about familiar characters, with a mixture of empathy, criticism, comedy, and the macabre.

Learn more about the artist at:

CREDITS | Producer: Ian Forster. Interview: Ian Forster. Editor: Morgan Riles. Field Producer: Tina Kukielski. Camera: Jarred Alterman. Sound: Shapoor Pourshariati. Production Assistant: Adedoyin Pedro. Artwork Courtesy: Alex Da Corte & Karma Gallery. Music: Annie Clark & Austin Fisher. Special Thanks: All Ages Productions, Carnegie Museum of Art, Da Corte Family, Da Corte Studio Team, Hill Theatre Studio, Scott Ross, & Cara Yarmolowicz.

This film is possible thanks to the Arts, Equity & Education Fund. Additional support is provided by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the Art21 Contemporary Council; and by individual contributors.

TRANSLATIONS
Translated subtitles are generously contributed by our volunteer translation community. Visit our translation team at Amara for the full list of contributors:

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[Phresche]

This is the guy that does some of Tierra whacks music videos.. you are amazing and Creative is an understatement!! I choose you!

[HowToUvideos]

Saw this during the closing weekend at the Carnegie a couple weeks ago and loved it. You couldn't take your eyes off of it and kept wanting to see the next video.

[terimattal]

What a joy to run across!!!
Thanks so much

[wristsinside]

Love you and miss you, Alex. Glad you're still working and making beautiful art!!!

[acupoftea]

I absolutely love this!! I think Jim Henson sees this, and smiles 🥹

[wowhuhmike]

This brought tears to my eyes. First time learning of this artist. So grateful to find this, actually to be brought this, thank you YouTube auto play.

[ephjojovibes]

This is being exhibited in Toronto as I am typing this and I just saw it today and it was very compelling and fascinating

[OngoingBox]

loved this piece. hard to capture its impact in a different medium. it was really magical.

[WorldFungusChamp]

First thing that I thought about while watching this was "how much does he pay his assistants?"

[BobPagani]

I kept thinking, "How do you get funding for a project like this?"

[RR-obze]

I think it’s dope (: people complaining about exuberant funding wouldn’t know what to do with large funds anyways. This guy did a great job with the opportunity he was given. Congrats to him 😊

[Legendbourne]

My rabbit face painting work made Alex's Mood Board. :)

[Misterdemocracy]

Must be so nice to have a dad who is a venture capitalist.

[ZetaReticulian]

…. Self important intellectual drooling 🤤

[eliasthecreative]

There are way to many good artist for you guys not to have lots more videos

[ninadubois]

Wish I could experience this art without the artist's narrative.

[tzutzescu]

american consumerism at it's finest. take away the editing and you are left with some neons and ppl in costumes that try to justify the thousands of dollars wasted. at the end of the day it's nicely wrapped and narrated *shit*.