Jeff Perkins slide performance

On Sunday night a small L.A. audience encountered a performance of light by pioneering artist Jeff Perkins. Associated loosely with Fluxus and known for producing hallucinatory light shows for rock concerts since the 1960's, New York based Perkins was in town screening his documentary film about the painter Sam Francis in conjunction with the CAA conference. Artist Jon Pestoni organized a low key event at the studio of Evan Holloway where Perkins performed a two hour improvised collaboration with musicians Greg Lenczycki and Ted Byrnes. Beginning with a minimal black and white grid like pattern, Perkins produced a mesmerizing, flickering light show with the relatively simple use of four slide projectors and two spinning disks. The musicians performed relatively well but at times it felt like they were attempting to compete with the masterful hand of someone who's been playing with shadows to astonishing effect for all these years.