Japanther
Encyclopedia
Japanther is an art project, established by Matt Reilly and Ian Vanek, then students at Pratt Institute
. Japanther was featured in the 2006 Whitney Biennial
and the 2011 Venice Biennale
, and has collaborated with a diverse pool of artists such as gelitin
, Penny Rimbaud
, Gee Vaucher
, Dan Graham
, Eileen Myles
, Kevin Bouton-Scott, robbinschilds, Dawn Riddle, Claudia Meza, Todd James
, Devin Flynn, Ninjasonik, Anita Sparrow and Spank Rock
. Japanther has made its name with unique performance situations, appearing alongside synchronized swimmers
, atop the Williamsburg Bridge
, with giant puppets, marionettes and shadow puppets, in the back of a moving truck in Soho, and at shows with giant dinosaurs and BMXers
flying off the walls.
Recent installations include The Phone Booth Project at Clocktower Gallery in New York.
'Described most recently as “art-rock installation paratroopers” and “a studied form of New Wave anarchism” by Flash Art, a “Performance Galaxy” by Vanity Fair, “Super hard, incredibly fast and overall inspiring” by Thrasher, “more accessible than other bands of its genre” by the New Yorker, and “the best band ever, straight up” by Tokion. Japanther has always been a band apart, running the gamut from performance art to punk rock and back again. Pushing parties to the limit ("Lincoln Center punk-rock concert turned mini-riot” -New York Post), Japanther returns in 2011 with Beets, Limes and Rice, a celebration of ten years in the underground and an ultra-contemporary meditation on "catharsis and being in love in a time of darkness.". Following on the heels of Rock ‘n’ Roll Ice Cream (2010), Beets, Limes and Rice was again recorded in the hills of Los Angeles with producer Michael Blum, who has worked with Michael Jackson, Madonna (Like a Prayer, Who’s That Girl), Pink Floyd
and Suicidal Tendencies
. From Venice Beach to Rockaway Beach, this new album delivers a new urban punk rock dance sound that bursts with California sunshine and amped-up collaborations with Ninjasonik, Erick Lyle, Total Warr and John McIntyr. Beets, Limes and Rice was written in the midst of "It Never Seems to End," an 84-hour performance piece in Vienna
, Austria
for TBA 21; in Paris, Venice, during cross-country travel from Juarez to Brooklyn to Bellingham, and lots of airports in between.
The band's latest album, Beets, Limes and Rice, was released on October 18th in digital and vinyl format from Recess Records, on CD from Japanther's own Tapes Records, on cassette from Lauren Records, and by Seayou Records in Europe. The artwork for the album was created by Monica Canilao, whose art focuses on craft, reclaimed materials, and “the meaning of home, the power of collectivity and the imprint history has left on me.”
Japanther’s next project is a November 2011 residency culminating in a performance at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center
(EMPAC). Japanther’s performance is commissioned in conjunction with Quote Unquote: Experiments in Time-Based Text, an interdisciplinary series presenting work by artists that use an existing text as a departure point for installation, film, and performance. For this new performance, Japanther presents an analog narrative of grand scale utilizing performance, live music, and animation, inspired by Walt Whitman’s The Mystic Saxophonist.
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
. Japanther was featured in the 2006 Whitney Biennial
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennale exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, USA. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932, the first biennial was in 1973...
and the 2011 Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
, and has collaborated with a diverse pool of artists such as gelitin
Gelitin
gelitin is a group of four artists from Vienna, Austria. The group was formerly known as gelatin and changed their name in 2005. They are known for creating sensational art events in the tradition of Relational Aesthetics, often with a lively sense of humor.Among their projects are a gigantic plush...
, Penny Rimbaud
Penny Rimbaud
Jeremy John Ratter , better known under his pseudonym of Penny Rimbaud, is a drummer, writer, poet, former member of performance art groups EXIT and Ceres Confusion, and co-founder of the anarchist punk band Crass with Steve Ignorant in 1977.-Biography:Rimbaud Jeremy John Ratter (born 8 June 1943,...
, Gee Vaucher
Gee Vaucher
Gee Vaucher is a visual artist who was born in 1945 in Dagenham, East London.Her work with Anarcho-punk band Crass was seminal to the 'protest art' of the 1980s. Vaucher has always seen her work as a tool for social change. In her collection of early works Crass Art and Other Pre Post-Modernist...
, Dan Graham
Dan Graham
Dan Graham , is a conceptual artist now working out of New York City. He is an influential figure in the field of contemporary art, both a practitioner of conceptual art and an art critic and theorist. His art career began in 1964 when he moved to New York and opened the John Daniels Gallery....
, Eileen Myles
Eileen Myles
Eileen Myles is an American poet who has also worked in fiction, non-fiction, and theater.She won a 2010 Shelley Memorial Award.-Early life and career:...
, Kevin Bouton-Scott, robbinschilds, Dawn Riddle, Claudia Meza, Todd James
Todd James
Todd James is a contemporary artist from New York City. Self-taught, he started painting when he was very young the New York subway system under the name REAS....
, Devin Flynn, Ninjasonik, Anita Sparrow and Spank Rock
Spank Rock
Spank Rock is an American hip-hop group consisting of rapper Naeem Juwan and producer Alex Epton . Their style is generally described as a mix of underground alternative rap and electro and rock.- Biography :...
. Japanther has made its name with unique performance situations, appearing alongside synchronized swimmers
Synchronized swimming
Synchronized swImming is a hybrid form of swimming, dance and gymnastics, consisting of swimmers performing a synchronized routine of elaborate moves in the water, accompanied by music....
, atop the Williamsburg Bridge
Williamsburg Bridge
The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway...
, with giant puppets, marionettes and shadow puppets, in the back of a moving truck in Soho, and at shows with giant dinosaurs and BMXers
Bicycle motocross
Bicycle motocross or BMX refers to the sport in which the main goal is extreme racing on bicycles in motocross style on tracks with inline start and expressive obstacles, and it is also the term that refers to the bicycle itself that is designed for dirt and motocross cycling.- History :BMX started...
flying off the walls.
Recent installations include The Phone Booth Project at Clocktower Gallery in New York.
'Described most recently as “art-rock installation paratroopers” and “a studied form of New Wave anarchism” by Flash Art, a “Performance Galaxy” by Vanity Fair, “Super hard, incredibly fast and overall inspiring” by Thrasher, “more accessible than other bands of its genre” by the New Yorker, and “the best band ever, straight up” by Tokion. Japanther has always been a band apart, running the gamut from performance art to punk rock and back again. Pushing parties to the limit ("Lincoln Center punk-rock concert turned mini-riot” -New York Post), Japanther returns in 2011 with Beets, Limes and Rice, a celebration of ten years in the underground and an ultra-contemporary meditation on "catharsis and being in love in a time of darkness.". Following on the heels of Rock ‘n’ Roll Ice Cream (2010), Beets, Limes and Rice was again recorded in the hills of Los Angeles with producer Michael Blum, who has worked with Michael Jackson, Madonna (Like a Prayer, Who’s That Girl), Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
and Suicidal Tendencies
Suicidal Tendencies
Suicidal Tendencies is a U.S. crossover thrash band founded in 1981 in Venice, Los Angeles, California by Mike Muir, its leader and only permanent member. The band is sometimes credited as one of "the fathers of crossover thrash"...
. From Venice Beach to Rockaway Beach, this new album delivers a new urban punk rock dance sound that bursts with California sunshine and amped-up collaborations with Ninjasonik, Erick Lyle, Total Warr and John McIntyr. Beets, Limes and Rice was written in the midst of "It Never Seems to End," an 84-hour performance piece in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
for TBA 21; in Paris, Venice, during cross-country travel from Juarez to Brooklyn to Bellingham, and lots of airports in between.
The band's latest album, Beets, Limes and Rice, was released on October 18th in digital and vinyl format from Recess Records, on CD from Japanther's own Tapes Records, on cassette from Lauren Records, and by Seayou Records in Europe. The artwork for the album was created by Monica Canilao, whose art focuses on craft, reclaimed materials, and “the meaning of home, the power of collectivity and the imprint history has left on me.”
Japanther’s next project is a November 2011 residency culminating in a performance at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center
Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center
The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center is a multi-venue arts center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, which opened on October 3, 2008.The director of EMPAC is Johannes Goebel...
(EMPAC). Japanther’s performance is commissioned in conjunction with Quote Unquote: Experiments in Time-Based Text, an interdisciplinary series presenting work by artists that use an existing text as a departure point for installation, film, and performance. For this new performance, Japanther presents an analog narrative of grand scale utilizing performance, live music, and animation, inspired by Walt Whitman’s The Mystic Saxophonist.
Discography
- The Last of the Living Land Pirates CD-R (2001)
- South of Northport EP (2002)
- Leather WingsLeather WingsLeather Wings is an album by Japanther. It was released by Menlo Park Recordings in 2003. The album was given 7.2 out of 10 in a review by Pitchfork Media.- Track listing :# "Leather Wings" – 1:12# "Buried Alive" – 2:50# "Pleased to Meet You" – 3:16...
(2003) - Dump the Body in Rikki Lake (2003)
- Japanther/Panthers Split 7" (2003)
- The Operating Manual for Life on Earth EP (2004)
- Japanther/Sneeze Split 7" (2004)
- Japanther/Viking Club Split CD (2004)
- Master of PigeonsMaster of PigeonsMaster of Pigeons is an album by Japanther. It was released by Menlo Park Recordings in 2005.- Track listing :# "Swearing" – 1:13# "1-10" – 2:59# "Midtown" – 1:04# "Divorce" – 3:03# "Happiness" – 1:47# "Gas Station" – 0:34# "Summer Hills" – 2:16...
(2005) - Wolfenswan (2005)
- Yer Living Grave EP (2005)
- Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty (2006)
- Japanther/ The Good Good Split 7" (2006)
- Skuffed Up My HuffySkuffed Up My HuffySkuffed Up My Huffy is an album by Japanther. It was released by Menlo Park Recordings in 2007. The album was also released on vinyl by Altin Village & Mine Records.- Track listing :# "See Evil" – 1:53# "Seventy Nine" – 2:00# "Mornings" – 1:54...
(2007) - Challenge 7" (2008)
- Chemical X Zine DVD (2008)
- Tut Tut, Now Shake Ya ButtTut Tut, Now Shake Ya ButtTut Tut, Now Shake Ya Butt is a studio album by American experimental punk band Japanther."Radical Businessman" was used in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV.-Track listing:# "Intro" – 0:51# "Um Like Your Smile Is Totally Ruling Me" – 2:10...
(2008) - Japanther/The Pharmacy Split 7" (2008)
- Rock 'n' Roll Ice Cream (2010)
- JapantherNinjasonik 7" (2010)
- Beets, Limes and Rice (2011)
External links
- Japanther.com
- Spinner Interview
- Flavorpill Fix Episode Four Animated and Curated by Japanther
- "Upstairs at the Square," with China Mieville
- "Big Apple Circus Goes Indie," at the New York Times' T Magazine
- "21 Questions with Ian Vanek" at the Nervous Breakdown
- "Japanther Warehouse Party," (Slideshow) The Village Voice