The Lab

The Lab is a nonprofit experimental art and performance space located in the Mission District of San Francisco.

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Dynasty Handbag: Shell of a Woman & Cliff Hengst

8pm Doors / 8:30pm Show
$25 Guests / $15 for Members
SOLD OUT – a limited amount of standing room tickets will be made available after 8:45pm

Shell of a Woman is "crackpot genius" Dynasty Handbag's expert powerpoint lecture on the "10 Greatest Works Of Art" according to the internet.  Professor Bags will "explain" (make up lies) about the work's origins which naturally devolve into semi-autobiographical/insane narratives peppered with songs, dance numbers and psychedelic inner monologuing.  For example, did you know that Picasso's Guernica is about PETA activists setting free cows from a factory farm on the I5 and the subsequent rebellion of said cows against their liberators and Jackson Pollock's famous sloppy wiggle paintings are representations of wild 90's pasta dishes that were served in a revolving restaurant in Time's Square - plus more true facts plus a tap dancing numbers to Black Sabbath's "The Wizard" plus a remake of the pirate classic "Yo Ho Ho It's The Artist Life For Me".

“One of the nuttiest and most brilliant artists working today.” –Artillery Magazine
“...hilarious and extraordinarily original.”– Paper Magazine
“Outrageously smart, grotesque and innovative.” – The New Yorker
“one of the most insanely funny, tone-perfect pieces of performance art I have seen in years.” – New York Times

Jibz Cameron is a performance/video artist and actor living in Los Angeles. Her multi-media performance work as alter ego Dynasty Handbag has spanned 15 years and been presented at such institutions as MOCA, PS1, Joe's Pub, The Kitchen, REDCAT, The Broad Museum, The Hammer Museum, The New Museum of Contemporary Art New York, among others. She has been heralded by the New York Times as “the funniest and most pitch perfect performance seen in years” and “outrageously smart, grotesque and innovative” by The New Yorker. She has written and produced 7 evening length performance pieces and countless short works that have been performed in clubs and venues internationally. She also has produced multiple video works and 2 albums of original music. In addition to her work as Dynasty Handbag she has also been seen acting in films, theater and television (internet web series no one has seen). She works as a professor of performance and comedy related subjects as well as lecturing and teaching workshops. Jibz also produces and hosts Weirdo Night!, a monthly comedy and performance event in Los Angeles.

Cliff Hengst is an artist and performer, with a BFA from SFAI and current teaching position in the SFAI grad program. Hengst’s "Mr. Akita," a one-man play written and directed by Asher Hartman, was recently performed at the Berkeley Art Museum. He has exhibited his work at SFMOMA, Southern Exposure, The San Francisco Arts Commission and Gallery 16 in San Francisco. Hengst has performed and exhibited at Hauser & Wirth, Machine Project in Los Angeles and The Tang Museum at Skidmore College in New York, and most recently at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia.

Photos by Charlie Gross

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