Mat Bevel: Giving the Arts an Edge

Performance art is just that: movement, backdrops, music and props combined with elaborate speeches to create a work rougher and more improvised than theater, inclined to shock and disturb the viewer as often as it entertains them. In the past, this occas ionally involved explicit nudity, self-mutilation and all manner of strange contortions (look up Annie Sprinkle at the library if you want a sample of the rough stuff).

Lucky for us Tucsonans, so far removed from that New York scene, Ned Schaper is here to provide his own home-brewed version of performance art, mellower and more mature than the confrontational artists of the past. As Mat Bevel, head of the eponymous Mat Bevel Institute and the Mat Bevel Orchestra, he is the ringleader of a witty, pun-laden and thought-provoking circus of the absurd. His new show, "Artificial Heart," performed in the building of the former Downtown Performance Center (which Schaper now ow ns) is a masterful display of wit, prop wizardry and raw creative power. He's a one-man creative juggernaut: a quiet, harmless-looking man with the power to shake a viewer's world of beliefs and constructs to its foundations.

A man of numerous talents and seemingly unlimited creative energy, Mat Bevel has been crafting his blend of found-object sculpture and spoken-word dialogue for six years. He creates large, complex and often kinetic sculptures from all sorts of scraps and junk, turning these conglomerations into props, scenery and even characters for his performance pieces.

With the Mat Bevel Orchestra (featuring Jane Kaiser on keyboard, Jim Marshall on saxophone, and Bevel on bass) he creates extremely odd, quirky tunes that combine elements of jazz, blues, and just plain weirdness. Thick with puns, plays on words and buzzw ord jargon, these songs become the audio backdrop and fill material for his performances.

"Artificial Heart" itself is a play in 24 short parts, with elements of musicals, dance, circus and pantomime. Performing on a stage crowded with his monstrous creations, Bevel goes through costume and character changes in a steady stream of humor and lay ered metaphor. Sometimes he is a character on stage, other times he reverts to a simple prop as the music takes the foreground. Each character personifies a certain area of human experience or societal function that Bevel wants to parody, deconstruct or m erely explore. From the military (personified by Private Parts) to media figures (embodied in Walter Ego) Bevel skewers the sacred cows of Western society, throwing in jabs at the Catholic church, commercialized society and of course the artificial nature of modern romance.

"Artificial Heart" was conceived as a response to Valentine's Day, but was delayed a month due to a property dispute with the city. The elements of the performance are too numerous to list, but it includes a mock wedding, live drumming with Swami Robbi Bo bbi, numerous costume changes, motorized and illuminated props and the cool, intricate shadows of his performance space. He makes excellent use of the space itself with colored and sequenced lighting and high-quality audio.

Bevel has a remarkable skill for making the absurd seem common while pushing the common towards the absurd. He'll do something absolutely ridiculous, and do it for just long enough for the audience to get comfortable with it - then do it for just enough l onger to push you past tolerance into a state of unease. He's not concerned with mere entertainment, or he'd just be a clown, and be brilliant at it. Instead he wants to challenge you, to make you realize (using very indirect and esoteric methods) how ing rained your everyday responses are and how flimsy the structures can be that underlie American culture.

Ned Schaper as Mat Bevel is a true original, a synthesizer of diverse skills and ideologies into a potent, occasionally disturbing and ultimately satisfying performance. His esoteric humor is certainly not for everyone, and an open mind is required before you even step through the door. His dialogue is as challenging as it is funny, his delivery intentionally as stiff and awkward as the assemblages crowding the stage. He's the last of a sadly vanishing breed, an artist who demands thought and participatio n from his audience and offers mental and emotional epiphanies in return. We're lucky to have him here in Tucson.

"Artificial Heart" is showing this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 530 N. Stone Ave (look for the graffiti murals of the former DPC) at 8:00 p.m., doors open at 7:30.p.m Tickets are $6.00, call 571-8202 for info. The next show "Crash Caravan" premieres May 2.