Mad Cow

“Mad Cow”

Installation and Performance by Billie Grace Lynn

Dedicated to Paula Harper

From August 25^th to September 29th, 2012 at Aluna Art Foundation

Mad Cow Project Room

Press Release

Aluna Art Foundation presents Billie Grace Lynn in “Mad Cow”,a performance created for a radical transformation, which inaugurates its experimental Project Room giving the name to this space. This Saturday August 25th, at 9pm, begins the artist´s ritual to become “Mad Cow” through a series of gestures of despoiling, such as to let the public shave her hair. A symbolic initiation for her projected journey in South Florida driving a sculpture that gives title to the performance: a diesel motorcycle unified with the skeleton of a cow.

This feminine version of Easy Rider, which is part of a whole project of artistic life, contains other journeys that changed her life. At age 24, Billie traveled by road from Louisiana to the Art Institute of San Francisco to do her master in art. It was 6 years after the death of his mother, who died at age 50 without having fulfilled her desire to be an artist. Determined to complete this truncated destiny, drove to the San Francisco Art Institute with no other possession that a group of cow skeletons that a farmer neighbor had accumulated in a shaped mound, and whose vision she has seen as a potential –and rare- sculpture, that moved her.

In the following decades, she did nothing with these bones. Yet, in a mysterious way, they were linking her to the existence of these creatures on earth. The kind of deep reflection of “the other” that arises from some form of identification, led her to discover the consequences of abuse in their consumption, not only for the animal species, but for the ecological balance. It was not until now –at the age of 50- Billie Grace Lynn is prepared to use them in a new journey: among her chopped hair and the bones of cows, there is a link, a narrative that sources images of violence and voracity depleting the earth.

Billie dedicates the performance to her friend and colleague Paula Harper: “She was a mad cow herself”, she explained.

About Mad Cow

By Billie Grace Lynn

 “In 2008, I created the Mad Cow, an electric bicycle with real cow bones that resembled a running cow skeleton. I rode this “Mad Cow” around Miami, stopping to answer questions about the bike and talk about the consequences of industrialized meat production. Inspired by the enthusiastic reception of both the bike and the message in Miami, I began contemplating a trip across America on a more powerful Mad Cow, playing off the film “Easy Rider.” Upon winning the West Prize in 2011, I rebuilt the Mad Cow as a full-­‐sizedturbo-­‐diesel-­‐powered-­‐waste-­‐veggie oil-­‐burning motorcycle, and now, after the year-­‐long build, the motorcycle is complete and ready to ride. I will complete my cross-­‐country journey, to incite a conversation/spectacle concerning the environmental consequences of industrialized meat production. I see the striking and humorous motorcycle as an ideal entree to invite discussion on factory farming with everyone, especiallythosewhoarepassionateaboutbothmotorcyclesandmeatbutresidein areas with a strong voting record against environmentalism”.

Billie Grace Lynn: “Mad Cow” as a feminine version of “Esay Rider”

By Adriana Herrera

Billie Grace Lynne created this performance for a radical transformation. The ritual of the artist that, through a series of gestures of stripping, as to left the public shear her hair, begin to become “Mad Cow”. A symbolic initiation for her projected journey in South Florida driving a sculpture that gives title to the the performance: a unified diesel motorcycle skeleton of a cow.

This feminine version of Easy Rider, which is part of a whole project of artistic life, contains other journeys that change her life. At age 18, Billie traveled by road from Louisiana to San Francisco after the death of his mother, who died at age 50 without having fulfilled his desire to be an artist. Determined to complete this truncated destiny, drove to the San Francisco Art Institute with no other possession that a group of cow skeletons that a farmer neighbor had accumulated in a shaped mound and whose vision she has seen as a potential –and rare- sculpture that moves her.

In the following decades she did nothing but these bones. Yet, in a mysterious way, they were linking her to the existence of these creatures on earth. The kind of deep reflection on “the other” that arises from some form of identification, led her to discover the consequences of abuse in their consumption, not only for the animal species, but for the ecological balance. Now –at the age of 50- Billie Grace Lynn is prepared for use then in a new journey: among her hair and gestures, and the bones of cows, there is link, a narrative about the violence and voraciously depleting the earth.

Billie Grace Lynn: “Mad Cow” como una versión femenina del filme “Esay Rider”

por Adriana Herrera

Billie Grace Lynne creó este performance para una transformación radical. El ritual de la artista que a través de una serie de gestos de despojamiento, como el dejarse trasquilar la cabellera, empieza a convertirse en “Mad Cow” como iniciación simbólica del viaje que emprenderá manejando en el sur de la Florida la escultura que da título al performance: una motocicleta diesel unificada al esqueleto de una vaca.

Esta versión femenina de Easy Rider, que forma parte de un proyecto de vida artística, contiene otros viajes que marcaron su destino. A los 18 años, viajó por carretera de Luisiana a San Francisco tras la muerte de su madre –quien murió a los 50 años sin haber cumplido su deseo de ser artista. Decidida a completar ese destino inconcluso, manejó hasta el Art Institute de San Francisco sin otra posesión que un grupo de esqueletos de vaca que su vecino ganadero, acumulaba y cuya visión había contemplado como una escultura en potencia.

En las décadas siguientes no hizo sin embargo nada con estos huesos que sin embargo de modo misterioso la fueron enlazando a la existencia de estas criaturas sobre la tierra. El tipo de reflexión profunda sobre “los otros” que surge a partir de algún modo de identificación, la llevó a descubrir las consecuencias del maltrato en su consumo, no sólo para la especie animal, sino para el equilibro ecológico. Entre los cabellos cortados de Billie Grace Lynn, quien tiene ahora la edad que su madre tenía al morir, y los huesos de las vacas se hila una narrativa sobre la violencia del consumo animal y la voracidad que agota la tierra.