Jaimie Warren Is A Total Character | ART21 "New York Close Up"

[Jaimie Warren, Artist]

I'm a big believer in odd characters.

I think it's something that was truly inspiring

and important to see as a kid.

Maybe it's just because I'm not young anymore,

but when I watch music videos

or when I see actors,

I feel like everyone is so beautiful.

I need these genuine weirdos in my life again.

[WHITNEY HOUSTON'S "ALL AT ONCE" BEGINS PLAYING]

[HOUSTON] ♪ All at once ♪

[WARREN] ♪ I finally took a moment ♪

♪ and I'm realizing that ♪

♪ you're not coming back... ♪

Whitney Houston is definitely hugely important to me.

Freddy Krueger is one of those characters, too.

♪ ...and I can't forget you ♪

♪ though I must face it all alone. ♪

♪ All I want... ♪

I feel like it's my ideal world that I'm creating.

This is the inside of what my brain looks
like, or something.

[HOUSTON AND WARREN] ♪ ...so much more than
it shows, ♪

♪ all at once. ♪

["Jaimie Warren Is a Total Character"]

I'm from Wisconsin

and I've got a pretty Wisconsin family.

Packers and beer.

And motorcycles.

[ROARING SOUND OF A MOTORCYCLE MOTOR]

I would always organize giant "capture the
flag" games in the forest

or, like, make haunted houses and stuff like that.

In college, I was constantly taking pictures.

I was one of the people who was taking photos, like, non-stop

and doing weird D.I.Y. costuming

and inserting myself into different scenarios.

I realized I had hundreds of these self portraits.

It was just me entertaining myself.

But that's what people really were excited about.

Seeing what I'm capable of

with the resources that I have,

it's just fun for me.

I'm fifty characters, and they're all pretty bizarre.

Most of them are pretty far from how I actually look.

You can see that I am Boy George,

and I am Phil Spector,

and I'm an ice cream cone,

and I'm Yoda.

It's more about showing

this really crazy array of characters that I can be.

I especially like the grosser or weirder the character is

or the further it can be from me;

but using my own characteristics and changing them,

not just, like, covering myself up with a costume.

Being able to see that it's me,

but that I look completely different,

I think that's a really fun challenge.

--And a wink.

[LAUGHER]

--Yes!

--Oh my god!

--We'll do one more.

--Just try and look really scared, if you can.

--Just be like...

I was asked by a gallery space in Bed Stuy,

called American Medium,

to take over their office space

as a studio space for the summer.

I knew that I wanted it to be a music video,

and I knew that I really wanted to do Freddie Mercury.

--We have to make it happen quicker.

--Okay, one more, one more.

--We can do this.

I don't think there's really any work that
I've done by myself ever.

I've always had help.

And it's always been people from my community

that I've already been collaborating with in some way.

I'm, like, asking them to be a part of this.

That's also what makes it fun for me, too.

--This is a recreation of a painting from
about 1370

--called "Saint Cosmas and Saint Damien"

--by Matteo di Pacino.

There's an ill man in a bed

who has a leg that has the plague.

A plague leg!

And there are two saints who are trying to heal him.

Remaking something that is pre-existing--

like, you already have so much to work with,

and then it's all about every little decision
you're making from that.

♪ Can... ♪

[QUEEN'S "SOMEBODY TO LOVE" BEGINS PLAYING]

[QUEEN] ♪ Anybody ♪

♪ find me ♪

♪ somebody to ♪

♪ love. ♪

[MUSIC FROM AN ALTERNATE VERSION OF THE SONG BEGINS]

[WARREN] ♪ Each morning I get up, I die a little ♪

♪ Can barely stand on my feet... ♪

All these newer large-scale pieces are kind of

my own weird versions of the "We Are the World"
music video.

You know that one, right?

By Michael?

[USA FOR AFRICA'S "WE ARE THE WORLD" BEGINS
PLAYING]

♪ We are the world ♪

♪ We are the children... ♪

That crazy mashup of all these different people.

Like you have Kenny Rogers singing next to
Cyndi Lauper

and Ray Charles with the singer from Journey.

Not only because so many of those artists
have these

incredibly epic ballads that just stick with
you

for the rest of your life,

but they all helped along my artistic spirit

and I feel like with almost all the images

I want them to be like an homage to these characters.

♪ ...keep shining ♪

♪ knowing you can always count on me... ♪

I do want these characters to be best friends,

or to create something wonderful together.

I really like artwork that makes you laugh.

And then, if the audience can recognize the
characters

or also kind of understand me as an artist--

why I made the decisions to be Miss Piggy
or Missy Elliott.

So, why should they not be totally connected

in this weird alternate universe that I'm creating here?

And why should they not be friends?

And why should I not thank them for that!?

So I am.

Thank you.

That's what friends are for. [LAUGHS]

♪ Wishing you'd come back to me... ♪

[LAUGHS] I'm sorry!

♪ I start... ♪

♪ ...you like a moment... ♪

Shit!

♪ And all my dreams were shattered ♪

♪ all at once. ♪

Okay! [LAUGHS]

[MAN, OFF SCREEN] That was great!