He has been described as one of Hollywood's most eccentric geniuses and intriguing personalities.
Crispin Hellion Glover, established avant-garde artist, director, actor, and writer, will be performing the extremely rare Crispin Hellion Glover's Big Slide Show (Part 1) and showing It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE, the second film in his trilogy "IT," at Market Arcade Theatre in Downtown Buffalo on Dec 15.
Glover has appeared in large-scale blockbuster hits and low-budget independent films, covering a spectrum of talent and attracting the likes of directors Steven Spielberg and David Lynch.
Glover stands out in the media for his distinctive and idiosyncratic personality that has made his Hollywood roles memorable. Many might remember him for his roles as George McFly in the Back To the Future series, the Knave of Hearts in Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland, and Grendel in Beowulf.
However, Glover's own artistic endeavors are far from the Hollywood limelight. He directs, produces, and writes his own independent works, which are funded by his large-scale Hollywood performances.
Jill Mertz, UB alumna and organizer of the event, says that Glover is unlike most artists because of his artistic drive and his desire to have complete artistic control.
"What [Glover] is doing is really taboo," Mertz said. "He wants the audience to react and participate in an unconventional way when approaching his films. He goes against the Hollywood codes and the rules [filmmakers have come] to obey."
Glover's unique 35mm avant-garde films can only be viewed when he performs alongside them. Following the viewing of his film and performance, Glover's program includes an extensive question and answer discussion.
Ric Royer, an artist and organizer of the event, has already seen Glover perform four times and plans on booking him for the second time in Providence, R.I. Royer says that Glover's eccentric work is truly a one-of-a-kind and intimate process.
"The films are very unique because he accompanies them," Royer said. "[This] is very rare in our day and age, [as] commercially released films gain an audience with more speed because of the mass distribution, [and Glover] self-distributes the films individually. This is very much related to control over [Glover's] ideas [that is] expressed, but also to inject each performance with a little bit of liveliness."
Glover plans to start his show with Crispin Hellion Glover's Big Slide Show (Part 1), during which he will perform a one-hour dramatic narration of eight different profusely illustrated books. The images from the books are projected behind Glover during the performance.
The performance will be followed by It Is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE, a 35mm film written by Steven C. Stewart and directed by Glover.
The film is an extremely unconventional autobiographical re-telling of a relatively unaccepted point of view in mainstream society. Stewart, who has cerebral palsy, expresses ideas about females and sexuality from his standpoint as a man with a physical disability.
"The second film is a more complete work," Royer said. "It's a lot juicier, and Glover also admits that it is probably [the] best film he will ever make in his entire career."
Chris Fritton, a UB alumnus and artist who designed the event poster, is planning to help out with the show. Fritton believes that the show will be worthwhile because of Glover's literary material and magnetic personality.
"You can see [Glover's] multifaceted personality enter his art and vice versa," Fritton said. "[Glover] is someone who has made an effort to extend his art into every aspect of his daily life. [When you meet him], you don't know if you're getting Crispin as the actor, artist, and so on."
Part of Glover's eccentricity is that as an artist, his identity is manifested through his various personalities as both an actor and an artist. He has been known to appear onstage as his character Rubin Farr from the movie Rubin and Ed.
At the same time, Glover likes to show that he is accessible and wants to connect with fans through his after-performance dialogue period, meeting period, and book signing.
E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
