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What compelled you to make this piece? How does this work address issues that are important to you or close to your heart?
Joe: A masochistic need to debase and humiliate myself.
Emily: A neurotic drive rooted in the separation/individuation phase of infancy.
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From THE PHONY TRILOGY
(POOL BOY, CADDY, THE HORROR). |
How does living in the New York metropolitan area affect your work?
Joe: All an artist has to work with, really, is his or her neuroses and disorders. New York City exacerbates one's natural psychopathology in a most beneficial fashion.
Emily: Our collaborations are all based on escaping from New York: whether to the golf course, the swimming pool, or the beach. We set our tapes in those recreational locations so we can have an excuse to get away, which, being workaholics, we could never otherwise allow ourselves to do.
In including your work in REEL NEW YORK, do you think your piece in any way pushes the medium of television, or the viewing audiences' expectations of that medium?
Joe: Pushing the envelope is not our paramount consideration. If it were, it would probably be just as boring and pretentious as so much "serious" video work is.
What about access to the tools of production and post-production?
Joe: Easier: Now that the post-production is done on computer, I don't have to leave the apartment anymore.
Emily: Harder: Now that the post-production is done on computer, I hardly ever get to leave my apartment.
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From THE PHONY TRILOGY
(POOL BOY, CADDY, THE HORROR). |
Why did you become a film/video artist/maker?
Joe: I was having a hard time adjusting to life in the correctional institution, and my caseworker felt it would help me if I could sublimate my masochistic and destructive drives into making art videos.
Emily: Joe's caseworker at NYSCA (New York State Correctional Association) contacted me about placing a troubled youth when he was paroled. I said okay, and Joe and I have had a fruitful collaboration ever since.
Do you feel the New York independent film/video community has changed in recent years? Do you find support living and working in such a large community of artists?
Joe: Not many places left to see or show experimental films. Video is all the rage in the art world. Time to head west, to Hollywood, or at least Las Vegas.
Emily: No comment.
Do you have any interesting behind-the-scenes stories about the making of this particular work?
Joe: Shooting on location in Cambodia I contracted a case of tapeworm. When it made itself known after returning to the States, instead of having it removed I have kept it inside me, assuaging my ever-present sense of loneliness.
Emily: Few people appreciate that the tape is completely different when viewed in reverse: sad, even tragic. We now advise people not to view THE PHONY TRILOGY in reverse because of the possibility of immediate onset of major depression.
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