Erika Yeomans is a director/writer of video, film and performance projects. From 1989-1999, she was the Artistic Director of the performance art collective Doorika. She is interested in the restructuring of myth, narrative and the cross-pollination of other medias. Yeomans produced and directed over 17 original theater productions that toured venues throughout the United States. She has also created high-profile performance art/multimedia projects such as the installation project Cardboard, Vinyl, Rhinestones: The Denim Fiancé. Since 1999, Yeomans has focused on filmmaking. Her videos have won awards and screened at film festivals and art institutions around the world. As a director/writer, Yeomans' work tends to be theatrical, genre driven and fetishistic. In all of her projects, Yeomans' is interested in blurring the line between humor and pathos. Her work has been exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum, Sandra Gering Gallery, and Artists' Space. A collaborative piece with Virgil Marti was shown at the last Delaware Biennial. Filmmaking has become a means to fully realize the ideas and methods that have informed my work in theater. Repetition, elliptical text, shifting points of reference and visual juxtapositions are all conventions I employ to tap both the familiar and the foreign. Issues of gender, class and culture are part of the myth constructed in my art work. My recent solo endeavors in video art and performance include the sound project CHUBBY BUDDY at New York's AC Project Room (2001), "Cardboard, Vinyl, Rhinestones; The Denim Fiancé'" (1999) a Levi's commissioned art installation/performance project with Virgil Marti and the award-winning digital video THE FORGERY (2000). The latter is screening at various film festivals in the U.S. and Europe and broadcast on Japanese television in 2002. CHUBBY BUDDY (the last castrato) is an experimental narrative based on 'reminisces' of Francis Howard, a New York publisher who gives up a career and marriage in order to act upon his impulses, which include pretend commuting, voyeurism and eventually - toy theft. CHUBBY BUDDY was originally conceived as a live sound project for the New York Gallery AC Project Room's Sound Series in 2001 and inspired by 70's films such as: Carnal Knowledge, The Swimmer and The Stepford Wives. Actor Mot Filipowski performed the text with cinematic sound bites and musical ambience created by turntablist DJ Cruzmissile. In 2003, the sound project was re-imagined as a short art film. AWARDS Magnolia Film Festival Advancement for Cinema Award, The Forgery 2002 Cinewomen Special Jury Award, The Forgery, New York, 2000 Levi's/Downtown Arts Festival, Artist Commission, 1999 Gambit Theater Award, New Orleans, 1990 VIDEO & FILM The Forgery Magnolia Film Festival, Mississippi, February 2002 Long Island Film Festival, New York, September, 2001 New Filmmakers, Anthology Film Archives, New York, April 2001 Silverlake Film Festival, Los Angeles, September 2000 Brooklyn Film Festival, New York, September 2000 Euro Underground Tour, Chicago, London, Prague, October 2000 Hardhead Flair Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, September 2002 Arizona State University Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona, April 2002 Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, January 2002 Snack On Arts, Brooklyn, Cable Arts Channel, aired July 2001 Ocularis, Galapogas, Brooklyn, December 2000 911 Media Arts Center, Seattle, October 2000 Ars Electronic Festival 2000, Linz, Austria, September 2000 In The Mix Experimental Film & Video Festival, New York, November, 1998 Scope 3, Artists' Space Gallery, New York, June 1998 In Search Of Bas Jan's Miraculous New Filmmakers Series, Anthology Film Archives, New York, November 2000 Cinemateket, Danish Film Institute, Copenhagen, December 1999 Impakt Festival,Utrecht, Holland December 1997 World Wide Video Festival, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, September 1997 T.A.F.F., Tacoma, WA September 1997 Artists' Space Gallery, New York, June 1997 Sara Ranchhouse Publications Infomercial with Matt Konichek Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, March 1997 Printed Matters, New York, October 1996 MEDIA PROJECTS Chubby Buddy, AC PROJECT ROOM; Sound Off Series, New York, April 2001 Cardboard, Vinyl, Rhinestones; "The Denim Fiancé" Levi's/ExpoSure/Downtown Arts Festival: New York Sept. 1999 & Delaware Biennial 2000 Incidental Chaos, x art foundation, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, Nov 1996 DOORIKA THEATER, Artistic Director 1989-1999 AIJR FIST Ice Factory 99, Ohio Theater, July 1999 THE FORGERY Franklin Furnace Netcast, February 1999 Ohio Theater, New York, September-October 1998 THE FORGERY-"exquisite corpses" Links Hall, Chicago, March 1998 Downtown Arts Festival, New York, September 1997 HERE's American Living Room Festival, New York, August 1997 Ontological Theater, 7 Min. Series, New York, May 1997 BATHE ME, Gertrude Stein's Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights! Ontological Theater, June 1997 Chicago Filmmakers, September 1996 DEAR Ohio Theater, New York, October 1995 Chicago Filmmakers, September 1995 FAKENESE Performance Art Festival, Cleveland, May 1995 SAAJURY (Trilogy) Blue Rider , Chicago, April 1995 AKOGARE NO PARI (Part 3 Paris of our Dreams) Bailiwick Art Center, Chicago, January 1995 THROES (Part 2 Trilogy) Vineyard Theater, Performance Zone, New York, November 1994 Chicago Filmmakers, August 1994 HARDHEAD FLAIR (Walter Abish's In So Many Words Pt 2.) Doorika Gallery, Chicago, November 1993 THE MOST OF SHAVE (Walter Abish's In So Many Words Pt. 1) Doorika Gallery, Chicago, May 1993 PARLANDO Doorika Gallery, Chicago, December 1992 SATELLITE BABUSHKA Doorika Gallery, Chicago, April 1992 FATHOM BLAZER Doorika Gallery, Chicago, November 1991 IN A WAY IT WAS A CRISIS Edge of the Lookingglass, Chicago, April 1991 NORTH OF THE LAKE World Tattoo Gallery, Chicago, November 1990 THE SUN HATH DROOPED Dixie Auto Electric, New Orleans, June 1990 TENNESSEE IN NEW ORLEANS Cafe Brasil, New Orleans, February 1989 BIBLIOGRAPHY/INTERVIEWS www.ausgang.com fall 2002, published article "Pop Porn". New Filmmakers Series, Anthology Film Archives - Q &A Discussion, April 2001 Citytripping.com, Lex Lonehood, October 1999 Surface Magazine, September 1998 Chicago Tribune, March 1998, Justin Hayford World Wide Video Festival, September 1997, Willem De Weelden NPR-This American Life, April 1996 Women in Performance Journal, Jon McKenzie, Fall 1995 EDUCATION University of New Orleans, MFA Program Drama & Communications New York University, BFA GRANTS Experimental Television Center Finishing Funds 1999, Polen Foundation 1999, Illinois Arts Council 1998, Franklin Furnace Performance Fund for Performance Art Award 1998-1999, Franklin Furnace Production Assistance Grant 1995, NEA-Midwest Tour Grant 1995, CAAP Grant 1994, Cleveland Performance Festival, 1994, Performance Zone 1994 COLLECTIONS RoARTario Art-Action, Paris and Berlin Symposium Library, 2001 Mondo Kim's Video, New York Franklin Furnace - Netcast CD-Rom 1998-1999, Printed Matters, New York San Jose State University, Visual Resources Library, Video Collection White Columns, Video File, New York Artists' Space Gallery, Artists File, New York