Alex de Campi: We'll have a poodle, a Baby Grand, and roses every day

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5.3.08 Little Miss Dysmorphia

Continuing my themes of bright colour, abstraction, and distortion/anonymity... a little side project for London cabaret performer Desmond O'Connor. Click the picture:

I had met Des over a year ago when he performed his song "Little Miss Dysmorphia" at Hip Hip, a Whoopee Club night at the Bethnal Green Working Men's Club. I immediately fell for the song, we were introduced to each other, chatted, and almost instantly forgot each other's names.

But he remembered my work, and I remembered the song. We got back in touch recently and amidst all my and his comings and goings across oceans we managed to pick a date in late January. I originally wanted to do something involving burning a Barbie doll - watching the plastic distort, melt and fall in on itself - and mixing that with Jacques Brel-style performance footage of Des. But then I went to an exhibition of Ira Cohen's Mylar Chamber photos and was struck by how much these simple pictures taken of reflections in shiny mylar ended up looking like distorted old master paintings. I began to wonder if the idea would work with moving images, as well as still images.

What I am most pleased about is how the video looks like I imagine a moving Francis Bacon painting - or Egon Schiele drawing - would. I'm also pleased about how visceral and uncomfortable this is to watch. When you do something experimental like this, with only one roll of film, no money, and stuff begged borrowed and stolen from other people,and it works, it feels great.

Still no word yet when my videos for The Duloks, The Puppini Sisters (second video) or Martin & Towers will be released. I'm back in the UK from around the 16th to film another video for The Real Tuesday Weld.