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Rob Roth
New York City director and visual artist Rob Roth is a inventive and influential presence in downtown art and culture. His multi-disciplinary work has been exhibited at a variety of venues including the New Museum for Contemporary Art, Performance Space122, Abrons Art Center, Galapagos Art Space, and Deitch Projects as well as the Whitney Museum of American Art. While his projects, solo and collaborative alike, are never predictable; they are immediately recognizable thanks to a distinctive blending of the imagination with the technical that has come to be a Rob Roth trademark. His apparently inexhaustible creative stamina and relentless pursuit of a defined mythology consistently results in works of unprecedented originality, always refreshingly unselfconscious.
Born in Queens, New York, as the "artistic" son of a NYPD cop and an adoring mother, Roth grew up feeling out of place in the starched, Catholic environment of his childhood. Art school was a natural and welcome destination, although his real education was to be had after graduating, in what were still dicey streets and truly underground nightclubs of lower Manhattan at the end of the 1980s. To this day Rob Roth's fertile imagination remains the most valuable tool he has in creating his wildly varied works of art.
After receiving his BFA from Pratt Institute in 1990, Roth co-founded Click + Drag, the infamous Saturday night at the legendary nightclub Mother, run by nightlife royalty Chi Chi Valenti and Johnny Dynell. Drawing the smartest and most interesting people in New York, Click + Drag boiled over with inspired happenings where Roth combined photography, design, performance and video installation that helped defined the aesthetic of an era. His work soon caught the eye of Chris Stein and Deborah Harry of Blondie, who hired him to create the art and packaging for their next two CDs as well as video installations for their international tours. Roth has worked constantly since the closing of Mother in 2001, creating work for such artists as Theo Kogan (Lunachicks) Justin Bond (Kiki and Herb), Caden Manson/Big Art Group and acclaimed performance artist Julie Tolentino. Commercially Rob has designed visual effects and movie title sequences for such films as El Cantante (Leon Ichaso) and The Brave One (Neil Jordan).
Most recently Roth directed ‘The Mystery of Claywoman’, a Mockumentary/Performance piece written and performed by Michael Cavadias and featuring Amy Poehler, Alan Cumming and Edgar Oliver. Claywoman follows on the heels of Roth's tremendously popular rock opera, Screen Test, starring Theo and the Skyscrapers and choreographed by Vangeline Theater. Screen Test will be making a special run in at New York City's Abrons Art Center in late October, 2008.
Rob has been featured in Interview Magazine, The New York Times, Time Out NY/London, Tokion, City Magazine, LiveDesign and The Village Voice.
• Interview on PS1Radio
• Interview on rip-her-to-shreds.com
NEWS
6.28.09
New Video of The Mystery of Claywoman at Le Petit Versailles Garden on June 20th 2009.
Scene from 'The Mystery of Claywoman - Screening and Lecture' from Rob Roth on Vimeo.
6.6.09
CLAYWOMAN @ LE PETITE VERSAILLESJune 20th, 2009, 8 PM
Le Petit Versailles
346 East Houston St.@ Avenue CFREE
After sold out performances at Deitch Projects, The New Museum for Contemporary Art and most recently opening for Antony and the Johnsons at Town Hall on Broadway, Claywoman returns for a one night only performance at Le Petit Versailles. This latest performance blossoms new themes, ideas and characters in an outdoor garden on New York City’s Lower East Side. A screening of The Mystery of Claywoman (featuring Alan Cumming , Justin Bond, Debbie Harry and Amy Poehler) is followed by a lecture touching on subjects that involve our fragile planet and our evolution as a relatively new species.
Directed by Rob Roth
Performed by Michael Cavadias and featuring Chris Miller
Makeup by Courtney Tichman
Costume by Todd Thomas
Movement/Butoh coach Vangeline
Lighting by Ben Kato
DP Trent Ermes
petitversailles@earthlink.net
www.lpvtv.blogspot.com
212 529 8815
Subway: F/V- Second Ave. - J/M/F- Delancey/Essex
5.8.09
Rob Roth and Darrell Thorne Installation at Manifesto.
May 9th, 7 - 10, Arena Studios 407 Broome St.
3.6.09
Screen Test Wins Live Design Excellence Award For Theater
2.22.09
Claywoman opens for Antony and the Johnsons
An edited version of The Mystery of Claywoman opened for Antony and the Johnsons sold out performance at Town Hall on Broadway Feb 19th and 20th.
Pictures here ... WWW.BROOKLYNVEGAN.COM
2.2.09
Screen Test Nominated For Excellence Award
You can vote online here.... WWW.LIVEDESIGN.COM
12.16.08
The Mystery of Claywoman in NY Observer
11.29.08
THE MYSTERY OF CLAYWOMAN @ THE WILD PROJECT
December 4 - 14, 2008 Thursday - Sunday at 8pm
“Wildly witty” – Michael Musto, Village Voice
“funny, uncomfortable and depressing - in that order.”- Paper Magazine
For more information or to buys tickets: $20
THE WILD PROJECT
www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/64232“The Mystery of Claywoman,” written and performed by Michael Cavadias and directed by Rob Roth, combines the forms of a documentary screening and lecture to actualize the story of Claywoman, a 500-million year old enigma who, legend has it, can cure anyone of their deepest pain. Utilizing both live performance and film, Cavadias and Roth delve deeper into the mythology and mysteries of Claywoman in the latest incarnation of her story. Written by Cavadias and directed by Roth, the cast of this film includes Amy Poehler, Alan Cumming, Justin Bond, Deborah Harry, Ruth Maleczech and Edgar Oliver . The piece was workshoped at Deitch Projects and had its New York premiere at The New Museum for Contemporary Art.
10.2.08
SCREEN TEST RETURNS FOR HALOWEEN 2008!
October 30 thru Nov 2nd 2008
Abrons Arts Center , NYC New York, NY,Screen Test, the devastatingly beautiful collision of video installation and rock show, conceived and directed by Rob Roth with the band Theo and the Skyscrapers, will be bringing its incredible costumes and theatrics back to NYC just in time for Halloween, with a special run at the Abrons Arts Center from October 30th thru November 2nd. Featuring postmodern butoh choreography by Vangeline, Screen Test merges dance, music, cinema and performance into a truly unique and haunting theatrical event.
October 30 | 7:30 pm
October 31 | 7:30 pm & 10 pm
November 1 | 7:30 pm
November 2 | 7:30 pmAbrons Arts Center 466 Grand Street at Pitt St , New York , NY 10002
www.henrystreet.org/arts $25 | www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/64232 | 212.352.3101
10.2.08
REMEMBER THE FUTURE? CLICK + DRAG REBOOTS 11/15
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 15, 2008
ROB ROTH, CHI CHI VALENTI and XRIS FLAMM UNVEIL
CLICK + DRAG 3:0 "THE HALLUCINOGENIC TOREADOR"
SANTOS' PARTY HOUSE
100 LAFAYETTE STREET NYC 9 PM-4 AMclicknyc.com myspace.com/click_drag_nyc
The pioneering "Cyber/Fetish/Gender-Hacking" party CLICK + DRAG, which ushered out the 20th Century in style, returns as a new large-scale annual this Fall. Two of Click's founding producers - director and visual artist ROB ROTH and impresario CHI CHI VALENTI - join with XRIS FLAMM of the long-running SMACK FETISH parties to shape this latest incarnation. The first of their cyber-spectacles, CLICK + DRAG 3.0: THE HALLUCINOGENIC TOREADOR, will be unveiled on November 15 at sympatico venue SANTOS' PARTY HOUSE.
CLICK + DRAG began as the Saturday-night weekly at Valenti's experimental MOTHER nightclub in 1996 and ran for four years in over two hundred themed editions. The new hybrid built on a body of work called INTERJACKIE, evolved by Roth, Valenti and costume/fashion designer KITTY BOOTS at JACKIE 60, beginning in 1994. With the addition of sex journalist ABBY EHMANN, the four producers explored the interface between nightclubs and computers as CLICK + DRAG built a fanatic following. With their rigorously enforced "STRICT CYBER/FETISH DRESS CODE" the producers ensured that only participants were allowed in. The creative collaboration introduced some pioneering aspects to the Nightworld, including Roth's notorious "Bathroom Cam", and also gave birth to THE MOTHERBOARDS NYC, a nocturnal online community.
When MOTHER closed in 2000 due to spiralling costs in its Meat Market neighborhood, Roth, Boots and Ehmann launched CLICK + DRAG 2.0, a monthly edition at FUN. In its new larger format, CLICK + DRAG was thriving until the events of 9/11 shut down Chinatown for many months. Since the last edition of Click 2.0 that Fall, one of the city's most seminal and creative parties disappeared for seven years - though its many tribes stayed connected online.
CLICK + DRAG 3.0 introduces an even larger format on two floors, preserving the night's strict dress code and pansexual mix of fetishists, artists, gender-hackers and "Glam Nerds." This rebooted evening was inspired by the Dali painting "THE HALLUCINOGENIC TOREADOR", cyber-shamanism, the writings of TERENCE MCKENNA, and the new tribalism that brings Click's audience and performers together both online and at large gatherings worldwide.
The event's two floors will feature multimedia works directed by Roth and installations and performances by many collaborators from the two previous iterations. These include 1.0 producer and Burning Man eminence ABBY EHMANN as the "KINK CONTROLLER", DJs JOHANNA CONSTANTINE and SAMMY JO, Minneapolis-based Trans-Star VENUS DE MARS with her band ALL THE PRETTY HORSES and "Method Go-Go" icon FALON. 21st century additions include sensationalist AMBER RAY, glitter-dusted cabaret troupe THE PIXIE HARLOTS, and DJs JOHNNY DYNELL, the "FAERIE DJ POSSE" MALAKAI and ANGELO (San Francisco) and XRIS_SMACK! The bill, dress code and theme is still evolving - look for full information and box office by mid-October.
$20 ADVANCE, $25 AT DOOR
*A STRICT DRESS CODE WILL BE COMPLETELY ENFORCED TICKETS ON SALE OCTOBER 10 21 AND OVER
8.10.08
The Mystery of Claywoman in La Daily Musto Blog
Amy Poehler Works For Free!8.1.08
FRIDAY, AUGUST 1ST
THE MYSTERY OF CLAYWOMAN @ THE NEW MUSEUM, NYC
Screening and Lecture - $8 Members, $10 General Public
www.newmuseum.orgDirected by Rob Roth - Written and Performed by Michael Cavadias
6.28.08
THE MYSTERY OF CLAYWOMAN | DEITCH STUDIOS LONG ISLAND CITY
Directed by Rob Roth - Written and Performed by Michael Cavadias
Saturday June 28th
The Mystery of Claywoman - Screening and Lecture @ Deitch Studios, Long Island City9PM
Premiere of the documentary film "The Mystery of Claywoman"Lecture to follow by Claywoman herself (time travel permitting)
Deitch Studios
4-40 44th Dr
Long Island City, NY 11101212 343 7300
http://www.deitch.com
3.28.08
CITY Magazine has a small piece on me this month.
3.28.08
Screen Test on the cover of LiveDesign Magazine
2.13.08
Recent press for Screen Test
1.27.08
New photos posted of Screen Test from it's run at Abrons Art Center January 12th and 13th.
12.11.07
To help with funding for Screen Test this coming January, I am appealing to you, my community of appreciative supporters, to help us. I am selling 4 limited edition signed prints of my original portrait of Theo Kogan . In addition to helping me spread the word about the sale of these special images, I wanted to invite you all out to the Rapture Café (200 Ave. A) on December 18th at 7pm (also my birthday), where one of the prints will be on display, for an intimate gathering of friends and Screen Test cast members. Please join us if you can, and please forward this to anyone you feel might be interested in purchasing one of these limited edition prints. The prints can be purchased directly at Rapture Café or on this site at the link below.
www.rob-roth.com/works/prints.htm
12.6.07
Screen Test - January 12th and 13th 2007
Screen Test will be making a special run at the Abrons Arts Center on January 12th and 13th at 8:30 as part of the Performance Space 122 COIL Festival, an annual winter festival of theatre, dance, new music and multi-media.
Tickets can be found at www.theatermania.comAbrons Arts Center
466 Grand Street at Pitt St
New York , NY 10002
9.4.07
This is a show I'm creating with Caden Manson , Theo Kogan, Sean Pierce and Jemma Nelson. We are premiering it in Rome this week.
CINEMA FURY "THE SLEEP"
Kollantino Underground
ROME SEPT. 8 & 9, 2007
Via Georges Sorel, 10
00177 Roma, Italy
Tel: +39 33 9730 1465Cinema Fury: THE SLEEP
reconfigures MP Shiel's manuscript "The Purple Cloud" with captured and recorded image sequences to critique the contemporary cultural landscape and environmental issues. In this genre classic written in 1901, an ambitious adventurer sets off to the undiscovered North Pole for fame and wealth. But as his expedition turns violent, a far greater tragedy occurs in the world he leaves behind. When he emerges from his hollow triumph to this new order, he must confront a dead world and a bleak new existence for the remainder of his life. Shiel's manuscript, as opposed to other "last man" stories, is uniquely probing, stark, haunting and suffused with sadness and rage. From the unrelenting bleakness and loneliness of the original manuscript, Cinema Fury extrapolates the crisis of contemporary survival, merging Shiel's story with current accounts of climate change, and jettisoning the information accumulation of a digital society to investigate a forced primitivism and a crisis of being. -------------------------------------------------------------8.16.07
Debbie Harry and I were interviewed for LOGO Channels , New Now Next show.
Check out the blog at LogoOnline-------------------------------------------------------------
6.29.07
I just directed the music video for Deborah Harry's "Two Times Blue" off the new solo CD "Necessary Evil".
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4.10.07
I am currently designing the opening titles for the new
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Neil Jordan/Jodie Foster film, "The Brave One".
The Film will premiere Sept 14th
El Cantante is out Aug 1st. I was the Visual Effects Designer.
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Here is an early review that mentions my subtitles design. Review here
New photos of Screen Test here
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World PremierePerformance Space 122
November 28th - December 3rd Tuesday - Sunday 8:00 p.m. With Thursday - Saturday Late Shows at 10:30 p.m. $20($10 Members)
150 First Ave. at E. 9th St.
NYC 10009
General Information: 212-477-5288In Screen Test rock show collides with video installation. Conceived and directed by Rob Roth with Theo Kogan and her band "Theo and the Skyscrapers", the performance blends haunting romantic imagery and modern apocalyptic paranoia with the gritty sensibility of underground NYC.
Theo and the Skyscrapers premiere a slew of original songs written specifically for this show. The music flows from melodic to assaulting while lyrically echoing themes of loneliness and longing, playing out on a 1940s Hollywood soundstage. Anger and humor combine to ask: What is artificial? What is real? and What role does fantasy play in survival?
Text by Romy Ashby and Rob Roth Costume Design: Todd Thomas
Music Director: Sean Pierce Choreography: Vangeline
Currently working on the movie "El Cantante" as Director of Animation, the new Jennifer Lopez/Marc Anthony Biopic of Hector Lavoe
Big Art Groups "Dead Set" has started production in Berlin. I will be returning to Berlin to finish video and animation. The show will open at the Hebel Theater, Berlin on Sept 28th.
Theo and the Skyscrapers "Broken Girl" debuts on Logo Channels "New Now Next" music video program.
4.4.06 - Video premiere this Thursday @ Monkeytown, Willamsburg
For Immediate Release / Contact: Earl Dax
Rob Roth-directed Theo Kogan Video "Broken Girl" Premieres at LAUNCH PARTY for FISHBOWL CABARET at MONKEY TOWN Deejays, Preview Performances and Q Me Con Warm-up
Thursday, April 6
8:00 PM - 2:00 AM MONKEY TOWN, 68 North 3rd St (L Train to Bedford) $5.00 cover Select liquor open bar from 8:00 to 9:00 PM"As much of Williamsburg steadily marches on toward its fate of high-rises and higher rents, it is heartening to see a good-humored arty project like Monkey Town put down roots..." - New York Times
ascension no 1 
the mystery of claywoman 
the brave one 
el cantante
whitney biennial
screen test
theo and the skyscrapers
blondie / debbie harry
kiki and herb
big art group
julie tolentino
richard move
click + drag 
