In my last post, I discussed in detail on Matt Chewiwie’s artist statement which I had significant issue with. However, in order to contextualise the ideas that he discussed in his statement, we will observe one of his works shown in class. Using the ideas discussed in the statement, Chewiwie’s piece, Step Pad Poetry is the piece we observed. In particular, it focuses on Chewiwie’s “DDR obsession and personal strife” in which he retells the story of his life in general and how he was able to make a positive change with a dance pad and is done in collaboration with artist Pat Payne (Chewiwie, 2008).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoouBqguWzg
(Chewiwie, 2008)
He begins this performance by stretching in which he discusses about his issues concerning health and friendships in which he says that “Just when life is stepping on me again and again and again…that seems to be the perfect time for my best friend to tell me he’s never going to talk to me again.” (Chewiwie, 2008) This introduction with the stretching can help us in seeing the idea of the strain of life. As well, the fact that there is a spotlight onstage and yet he chooses not to do this in the spotlight as it implies not only to an audience that is a story that has not yet been told but also can imply as if he is not performing yet and as if the minute he steps into the spotlight, he is performing.
He then give a transition when he says the words “You don’t want to hear about that” which, as noted in the last post, reverts back to his artist statement in which he claimed that big issues and politics are beyond his scope.. This is meant to be use purposefully as a means to make the audience feel pushed away and as if we don’t want to know the details. However, at the same time, by doing that to the audience makes us more interested in the story. So, the use of the transition allows us to ask what happened and makes the audience want to know more about the incident that occurred.
Throughout the time he talks to us about his incident, we can also see the manner of his confidence in which he isn’t massively insecure and he has a stage presence which is confident. However, through the manner of how open he is in his body, he still looks as if he is insecure. This may be that he is trying to imply his nervousness but also the fact that he may have never told the story before. Therefore, by doing this, it makes the audience feel sympathetic towards him and as if they still hold a bond with him as he continues his monologue on how he has gained so much weight in the past couple of years. Thus, we could also see that this body presence also implies to us how this is not just personal to him but also as if there is a lot of “pressure put on his shoulders”.
The next transition then continues as he begins to explain about DDR in which he explains how the game works. Through the use of the body and voice, we are then able to see his comfort in which he gives a smirk as if he is reverting back to his childhood. Thus, he is therefore able to revert back to his childhood and child-like mind in which he is able to reflect once again on his statement in which he aims to bring out the “inner child” in everyone in the audience (Chewiwie, 2008).
There is a sudden change of mood in which Matt continues to reflect upon his friend and we suddenly get the feeling that he is reverting back to the sad times and the past has always been on his shoulders as if it has never been forgotten. Yet, this is very brief in which he then steps onto the mat to forget and possibly help him escape from the realities of the world. This is because he mentions about how kids were using this in an arcade and yet whilst the mat can help you in a cathartic manner, it also helps Matt in escaping from the troubles and worries of societies of which society expects of him. Thus, we could say that when he begins working on the mat, it is used as a form of escapism instead of a form of helping him cope with the struggles that he has encountered in society.
As he begins playing the mat, we begin seeing him starting and stopping as if he is constantly failing. This idea of it in which he speaks about the game laughing at him makes helps transition nicely into this idea of a struggle to get things right. As we see this frustration, we can see him reverting back to this idea of the struggle of trying to bring the inner child without him being too childlike thus creating more tension and frustration.
He then concludes the piece with the idea of stomping and using the stomps both in the physical manner of trying to create an escapism but also as a coping method. The use of this allows the audience to see this journey and allows us to see this overall win of a battle in which, by stomping on the various arrows, Chewiwie therefore wins the game.
To conclude, this piece of work does help Chewiwie’s work and statement and whilst he does touch on serious subjects such as his mental health and friendships, by being able to use this as a coping mechanism, it allows the audience to be entranced in what we are seeing leaving with a result and a success that we all wished that he was hoping to achieve.