Overview

Like many of their generation, when my wife's Greek parents immigrated to America (via Australia) they went into the restaurant business. And like many of their generation, they were very successful, rising quickly up the economic ladder, fully embracing the American dream. Sometimes I work for them when they need a little extra help. It is good honest work. These are some images from summer evenings when a mix of cultures and aesthetics is bathed in warm sunlight.

Overview

"You and Me" depicts my oldest daughter Maria, then four years old, captured at a particular moment in her childhood. She has just finished her first ballet recital and is holding the bouquet of flowers that I had given her.
Our children transform in front of us, while we are not looking. I am old enough to have seen how quickly this time goes by, how for the parents, in the arch of our lives, the entire length of their childhood is just a small moment.
My recent art projects have focused on my experiences of becoming a new father. They are a response to the instant change that takes place when you are no longer the center of the world and you must become second to the new life that you have helped to create. A response to the primal feeling that instantly overtook me at the arrival of my first child, of the knowledge, the true knowledge, of the certainty beyond any certainty the I had ever known before, that I would do anything to protect her. Anything.
I had brought her the flowers that she wanted. On this day she was a princess. Always she will be a princess. My daughter shared a special moment with me, her father. And now hopefully, I have shared it with you.

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FLOAT: A video installation with a claw foot bathtub, a video monitor, headphones, fabric, and pillows. 2009
Viewers are invited to sit in the tub to best experience the installation. Float is a response to events of my early childhood when, while battling Lupus, I was required to spend large amount of time floating in a bathtub, filled with hot water, wearing a life preserver. This was to reduce the swelling in my stiffening joints. The video features my daughter, now almost the same age as I was then, floating in a bathtub wearing a life preserver. The video is shot from above. The audio features a poetic and sweet look at mortality through sounds, memories, and a conversation between my daughter and myself about God.

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Production photos from TATTOO
A video projection with stereo sound.

Sound, action, and text combine to tell a story about a childhood illness and facing one's own mortality.
A woman stands in front of the camera and takes on a series of poses, first those of a fashion model, a second group more spiritual actions, most referencing Buddhist Mudras, and finally actions that become more aggressive, wild, and expressive.

Overview

The Tricky Part
Digital Video 06 min. and 06 sec.2004
"Morgan Showalter (USA) makes a comment on and a comparison between the different codes that can be found in basic cultural behaviours. He chooses typical activities of three completely different civilizations, those of Korea, Europe and America, and through the rhythm and the movement of the human bodyâ??a dependable carrier of messagesâ??he underscores the substantial distance that separates these civilizations. The contradiction becomes instantly apparent, and reveals past experience in a condensed form."
Dr. Vicky Karaiskou Art Historian
From the exhibition catalogue for 38th Parallel, The Horizon. Skironio Museum, Athens Greece

The Tricky Part depicts images and sounds from countries on the 38th parallel
where the artist has lived or worked. He has focused on what initially seem to be traditional forms of movement. These actions however, all have their origins in other cultures and times. A sub-theme of self-awareness and discovery alsol inks the works through song lyrics, actions, and intentions.

Overview

Morgan Showalter and Patricia Lazou
"Broken"
04min, 26 sec.
2003
Broken is a story of the ache and beauty of love, of the touch of another, of the flutter of the first kiss, of a wounded heart. Through dance, image, and personal fragments of memory an impression is given of universal experiences.