Every month, Just Buffalo Literary Center hosts an all-out art affair featuring music, video, food and poetry. This reoccurring event was dubbed BIG NIGHT.
Last Saturday, award-winning poet John Beer appeared at the Western New York Book Arts Center to round out the night of poetry readings and video art.
The Portland, Ore., native was accompanied by indie-pop musician Terry Cuddy and local video artist Goda Trakumaite, whose performances added another element to what would otherwise be a typical poetry reading. Despite the snow, BIG NIGHT still drew in a crowd of around 100 attendees.
"I thought it was really enjoyable," said Bonnie Taylor, 28, of Buffalo. "It was rhythmic, personal and amusing in a way that I could relate to."
The event began with a viewing of Trakumaite's video art, which was a compilation of different videos she's created in the past. Projected onto a pull-down screen, the video consisted of sporadic, shaky video clips with trees and buildings that abruptly cut between each other. The result is unsettling but also intriguing. Trakumaite's video then transitions to images of different apartment buildings, where she narrates her journey to find a place to live in Philadelphia.
The narrations are personal, diary-like and, at times, humorous.
Trakumaite's work is not traditional video art by any means. It can be unnerving for some, but overall, Trakumaite has had positive feedback for her work.
She recalls a few people who have said they find it easy to identify with her work, despite its personal tone.
"I feel that's really great ... when you make artwork about yourself [and] people don't feel like it's super self-indulgent or not interesting," Trakumaite said. "It's just another way of communicating or telling somebody something. It's like sharing a moment."
Next, Cuddy took the stage, wielding an acoustic guitar.
Cuddy is part of the Auburn, N.Y.-based band, A Cast of Thousands, which blends indie-pop and country seamlessly. Cuddy's live solo performance drifts away from his band's aesthetic and he makes it his own.
With just a guitar and his voice, Cuddy filled the Book Arts Center with warm, smooth chords and a suave voice with an exceptional range.
The highlight of Cuddy's performance was a song called "Why Does Love Hide?" that serenaded the audience with a slow, mellow melody complemented by Cuddy's expressive voice.
For Cuddy, the BIG NIGHT exhibition is a break from usual performances.
"Usually I play on a stage at nightclubs or bars," Cuddy said. "What I like about [BIG NIGHT] is that it combines the things that I really enjoy: film, video, poetry and music."
After a short break, well-renowned poet John Beer ended the night with readings of his work.
Beer's book, entitled The Waste Land and Other Poems, received the Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America. His work has been highly regarded by esteemed poets, such as Lewis Warsh, and publications, such as the Chicago Review.
Beer's work is far-reaching and encompasses different styles.
One poem, titled "Descriptive Poem," described a detailed reading of lamps and anthropomorphizes the inanimate objects in a way that ascribes life, humor and creative perspective to the seemingly unexciting area of lamps.
Another of Beer's poems, "Welcome Back, Hegel," depicts a setting where German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel is a principal of a modern-day high school. Beer's piece, which sounds like the basis of a sitcom, satirically follows relationships, gossip and the drama that forms between the likes of Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Frida Kahlo and Martin Heidegger.
One of the reason's Beer's poetry was so well received is because of its accessibility to different types of people. Regardless of their interests, fans of his poetry find something to connect with in his work.
"I try to make it as lively as possible to include humor and both references to popular culture and ... the history of literature to provide a number of different entry points that someone might pick up and come into," Beer said.
Beer was also happy to read his writing alongside the works of the other artists in the same night.
"It really enriches any kind of art to have it in conversation with other art forms," Beer said.
Aaron Lowinger, co-curator of the show, was quite pleased with the overall turnout of the collective art show. He expressed his desire to keep artists connecting with other artists, something made possible by events such as BIG NIGHT
"It's really helpful for artists who work in a certain field to make sure they have contacts with other artists in other fields," Lowinger said. "[In] a city like Buffalo, that's possible."
The next BIG NIGHT will take place Saturday, March 23 at 8 p.m.
Email: arts@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Mhdariby / Wikimedia Commons
