Pat Oleszko, photo by Jim R. Moore
In Don’t Miss This Jim R. Moore celebrates a decade spent photographing performers, the motley crew of outcasts who busk, do vaudeville, haunt sideshows, wrangle stand-up and — even act in theaters. Moore calls us to the transient and temporary enchantments of what he terms “eccentric performing arts.” Focusing on honesty and authenticity, he excavates manifestations of “physical truth” which can be seen as the electricity between live performer and witness — raw, unedited, unmediated and defiant of entertainment’s commercial lust. The street performer whacks our senses in a way that YouTube and TikTok only sometimes even aspire to. These prophets awaken what is spontaneously human in us through their predicament as beings channeling the hidden depths of laughter and soul.
Jennifer Miller, photo by Jim R. Moore
With such photographic riches, it’s hard to land on a couple images to give a flavor of this New Vaudevillian scene, but we might start with offbeat versions of the body. Contorted, daubed, hairy and beleaguered amidst modernity, the bodies of eccentric performance art deliver us to a world that is all possibility and no rules. Jennifer Miller and her Circus Amok can create mayhem in the tiniest ring, and infect the audience with a love of extravagance as gaudy as their circus garb. Moore never misses the exuberantly manic quality of such characters.
Julie Atlas Muz, photo Jim R. Moore
Julie Atlas Muz has clawed out a unique niche as a Queen of Performance Burlesque that blithely pirouettes from salacious to bodacious with winks and nods to shattered conventions at every step. While no still can do justice to a movement artist, do try her Big Balloon Act on YouTube. Pat Olesko, that fountain of fabric and wordplay, describes her vocation as a process of collecting and correcting “drawing on words, odd pictures, the environment and diverse notions gathered from the lost and profound.” Moore’s photographs honor this tradition of eclectic commentary on the world, hinting at the faces of doom readily glimpsed under the mask of the grotesque.
R. Sikoryak, photo Jim R. Moore
The microphone is a weapon and with texts in hand R. Sikoryak scathingly interprets the founding documents of our craziness with comics such as Terms and Conditions (on contracts) and The Constitution Illustrated featuring aptly chosen characters from Krazy Kat, and Wonderwoman to Alison Bechdel and beyond. The late beloved Tom Murrin, the Alien Comic, appears in the light of Luna Macaroona, where, as we write, he is perhaps chasing the dish with a spoon, while eating green cheese, of course. Moore has always captured the best of twisted facial expressions, outré gestures and flamboyant costume. We have Moore’s roving camera to thank for immortalizing so many of these rollicking moments, ensuring ephemeral humor may enjoy a limitless afterlife.
Tom Murrin, The Alien Comic, photo Jim R. Moore
All photos from Don’t Miss This, copyright Jim R. Moore. 2022