In conjunction with the exhibit of Frank’s paintings at BAMPFA, Bancroft Library has created some exhibits featuring selected documents from the Frank Moore Papers in the display cases outside the Heller reading room and in the Helen Weber Kennedy Reference Center of Bancroft Library. The exhibits will be on display on the 3rd floor at The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, Feb. 1 – April 21, 2023.
Thanks to Steven Black for these photos.
(The photos are duplicated in the Gallery below so those interested can read the captions/descriptions the library wrote about what you are seeing.)
The first display in the cases outside the Heller reading room.The second display in the Helen Weber Kennedy Reference Center
January 25–April 23, 2023 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY ART MUSEUM & PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE
It was an amazing event. We are very happy that we made the trip to Berkeley for this.
Keith Wilson and Vincent Fecteau curated the exhibition. The opening featured the Curators’ Talk. It was hard to see how these two guys who had never even met Frank would be able to capture the depth and vastness that is Frank and his work. They were going to be speaking to an audience that included many people who knew, love and worked with Frank.
Their presentation brought tears to our eyes. Their talk was a duet … a tag team … getting deeper and more real with each turn. By the end you could see Frank there speaking through them as they channeled him.
Looking at the photos it looks like a night at Burnt Ramen between acts with the mix of art outlaws mingling and hanging out together in the magic that Frank always brought. It was so warming to be with everyone, enjoying …
The large outdoor video screen that displays announcements on the side of the museumKeith Wilson and Vincent Fecteau
GALLERY
Click on a thumbnail for a larger image
Hanging out with Michael Peppe before heading to the openingAttaboyKenneth AtchleyBeth Stephens and Annie SprinkleWalter FunkDr. Richard KerbavazBAMPFA Curatorial Assistant Claire FrostDinner after the opening
BAMPFA presents the paintings of Frank Moore — a performance artist, poet and so much more
Opening Jan. 25, exhibition focuses on the lesser-known body of work by the Berkeley countercultural activist who was also a playwright and filmmaker. Sponsored by Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive Jan. 19, 2023, 8:38 a.m.
Frank Moore’s portrait of musician Patti Smith was recently acquired by BAMPFA. Credit: BAMPFA
If you spent any time at Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus during the 1970s, you may have encountered a young man in a wheelchair with a mischievous smile and a long pointing stick strapped to his head of unruly brown hair. If you approached this man, you might have seen a colorful sign on his lap with a simple invitation: “Talk to Me.”
This was Frank Moore, one of the most distinctive and distinguished artists to emerge from Berkeley’s counterculture scene during the 1970s and ’80s. A Berkeley original, Moore (1946–2013) was known by his many friends and admirers as a prodigious poet, painter, playwright, performance artist, musician, filmmaker, shaman, presidential candidate, and public access television impresario. He was all of these things and more, all while living with a disability that limited his speech and motion but left his creative spirit unbound.
Today, Moore’s legacy lives on in his voluminous archives of art, film and written work, held at UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library. This year, Bay Area audiences will have a fresh opportunity to discover a portion of that material starting Jan. 25, when the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive unveils Frank Moore / MATRIX 280: Theater of Human Melting — the first museum exhibition dedicated to this extraordinary artist. Unlike previous exhibitions of Moore’s work, Theater of Human Melting focuses specifically on his paintings, a comparatively under-recognized aspect of his creative practice that is overdue for rediscovery.
Frank Moore as visiting artist at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1991. Credit: Linda Mac
Born and raised in San Bernardino, Moore spent his early adulthood at the Brotherhood of the Spirit commune in western Massachusetts and among radical communities in New Mexico, where he wrote articles for progressive publications under the pen name Unicorn. After relocating to the Bay Area to attend the San Francisco Art Institute, Moore became widely known for provocative performance art presentations that incorporated nudity and eroticism as well as shamanic practices and time-based elements.
In 1978, Moore converted a vacant storefront on Bancroft Avenue into The Theater of Human Melting, a workshop where he developed performances, wrote screenplays, and mentored fellow artists. Constantly experimenting with new forms of expression, he brought his creative vision to public access television in the early 2000s, producing a weekly arts program that later transitioned into a web series. Like many Berkeleyans of his generation, Moore was also active in radical politics throughout his life — most notably as a write-in candidate for President in 2008, when he ran on a platform of “radical love.”
The latest installment in the museum’s MATRIX program for contemporary art, the exhibition of paintings at BAMPFA offers a rare glimpse at Frank Moore’s prolific output as a painter, which is less widely known than his performance art but no less central to his practice.
Working with a paintbrush strapped to his forehead, Moore used oil paint to render evocative still lifes, landscapes, and portraits, ranging from anonymous nudes to pop culture icons like Batman, Darth Vader, and Frankenstein. Twenty-nine of these remarkable works will be presented at BAMPFA, including two works that were recently acquired for the museum’s permanent collection — one of which is a portrait of musician Patti Smith, Moore’s close friend and collaborator.
Silversurfer by Frank Moore. Credit: BAMPFA
“We’re delighted to present the first museum exhibition of Frank Moore right here at his hometown museum, which will reintroduce our audiences to an artist whose singular vision was shaped by this vibrant creative community,” said BAMPFA’s Executive Director Julie Rodrigues Widholm.
“Given Berkeley’s proud history as the birthplace of the disability rights movement, it’s especially meaningful for us to revisit the work of a Berkeley artist who was unbound by his physical limitations, and whose spirit of artistic innovation and inclusivity continues to inspire.”
Theater of Melting is guest-curated by Vincent Fecteau and Keith Wilson, both working artists with deep connections to the Bay Area, who will present a curator’s talk at the museum on Jan. 25 at 5:30 p.m.
To provide additional context on Moore’s life and work, the curators have chosen to feature the experimental video Let Me Be Frank, playing on a loop in the gallery. Although Moore is credited as the director, the segment was produced posthumously by his family as the opening sequence for a video series based on his autobiography, “Art of a Shaman.” Let Me Be Frank serves as a boisterously joyful introduction to Moore’s creative vision, driven by his passionate belief in the ability of human beings to connect.
Of related interest, selected papers from the Frank Moore Archive will be on display in the exhibit cases on the 3rd floor at The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, Feb. 1–April 21.
Here is the original article from the Berkeleyside
We just found the original sign that Frank had taped to the front of his board to get people for his film Erotic Play. The resulting raw footage became the Nonfilms. Here is the sign and the text that appears on it:
I AM LOOKING FOR PEOPLE FOR MY FILM
I WOULD LIKE TO SHOOT YOU FOR MY FILM. I JUST RECEIVED MY MASTERS IN PERFORMANCE/VIDEO AT THE SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE. I AM ASKING PEOPLE WHO I FIND ATTRACTIVE … ALTHOUGH MAYBE NOT IN HOLLYWOOD’S CONCEPT OF ATTRACTIVENESS, BEAUTY, SEXINESS. THEN I AND MY WIFE, LINDA, SHOOT THESE PEOPLE ALMOST LIKE IN PAINTINGS, IN DIFFERENT POSES, DIFFERENT CLOTHES, SOMETIMES NUDE (WHEN THE PERSON FEELS COMFORTABLE WITH THAT), FOCUSING ON DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE BODY AS ABSTRACT FORMS. THEN I WILL EDIT THESE PIECES INTO A SERIES OF COLLAGE SHORTS WHICH WILL BE FUNNY, BUT ALSO HOPEFULLY EXPAND THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY. ONE OF THESE SHORTS WILL SHOW PEOPLE JUST PLAYING AND HAVING FUN; ANOTHER WILL SHOW THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF BODIES; A THIRD WILL POKE FUN AT THE PIN-UP CONCEPT OF BEAUTY.
I HAVE BEEN DEALING WITH THIS SAME SUBJECT IN MY OIL PAINTINGS AND PLAYS … ESPECIALLY IN MY ROCK COMEDY, the outrageous beauty revue, WHICH RAN FOR FOUR YEARS IN S.F., AND IN MY FILM, fairytales can come true, WHICH WILL BE USED IN SPECIAL EDUCATION CLASS.
I HAVE BEEN SHOOTING ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE, FROM LITTLE BODIES TO OLD PEOPLE. IT IS FUN.
IF YOU WILL POSE, WRITE DOWN YOUR NAME AND PHONE NUMBER FOR ME, AND PUT IT IN MY BACKPACK, AND LINDA WILL CALL YOU TO SET UP A TIME FOR US TO GET TOGETHER. IT USUALLY TAKES TWO SESSIONS. DURING THE FIRST TIME, WHICH USUALLY TAKES BETWEEN ONE AND TWO HOURS, WE WILL JUST PLAY AROUND AND TALK ABOUT IDEAS FOR US TO FILM, COSTUMES, POSES … AND IN GENERAL, HAVE FUN. THEN AT THE SECOND SESSION, WHICH USUALLY IS BETWEEN ONE AND THREE HOURS, WE WILL VIDEO YOU.
Frank Moore
P.S. IN THE FALL AT U.C. THROUGH A.S.U.C., I AM TEACHING A COURSE IN THE ART OF PERFORMANCE … ARE YOU INTERESTED?
Frank talking to a student on Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley circa 1984.
Gestures was a ritual that Frank developed during his three year performance series at University of California, Berkeley in the 1980s and that he continued to use as a module in many of his performances for the next 30 years.
It is based upon the book MANWATCHING by Desmond Morris. During the ritual, those who choose to participate are paired, then strips of paper are drawn randomly from two bags and read aloud; one bag filled with the gestures (the complete list is below), one bag filled with adjectives.
The Gestures bagsAdjective and gesture strips.
Here is the introduction to the ritual that was read during a performance:
A Chanter sings:
“This is a ritual, a magical ritual, a ritual of Gestures which will open up a physical, magical force within those who choose to participate. At times the ritual will be very silly. At other times there will be a raw vulnerability, an intimacy that is not limited by social taboos, not framed in by romance or sex.”
“This magical ritual operates on the random principle. Magicians and mystics have used the factor of change throughout the ages to get past the rational, the logical, the linear, to get to inner knowledge or to universal wisdom. Shuffling the tarot cards and the throwing of the yarrow sticks for the i ching are but two examples of this random principle. In this ritual, the random principle, pulling gestures out of the box, will direct the ritual. Some gestures are silly. Some gestures are intense and intimate. The random principle makes each gesture equal. The random principle will remove the linear limiting taboo, sexual, romance context.”
“Linda will now pair people … to do the gestures.
The Chanter waits until Linda finishes pairing. Then the Chanter sings:
“Slowness is important in the quiet gentle sounds and laughter will help the magic. Watchers should refrain from talking during the ritual.”
“Each gesture has a special time length. You should keep doing one action until Linda sings the next gesture.”
“You will start releasing the physical force of eroplay in your bodies. This ritual will take eroplay out of social, moral, sexual, and romantic contexts, so that the focus will be on the pure magical fun and pleasure. It is important that each act be done gently, slowly, softly, completely.”
“Gestures”, U.C.B. Series, Spring 1985. Photo by Mary Sullivan.
Here is the complete list of gestures:
HUNCH YOUR SHOULDERS
PUT YOUR HANDS OUT PALMS UP
TILT YOUR HEAD TO ONE SIDE
LOWER THE CORNERS OF YOUR MOUTH
RAISE YOUR EYEBROWS
HUG YOUR LEGS
CROSS YOUR LEGS
CROSS YOUR LEGS
CROSS YOUR LEGS
CLASP YOUR HANDS ON YOUR THIGHS
OPEN YOUR EYES WIDE
OPEN YOUR LEGS WIDE
OPEN YOUR LEGS WIDE
OPEN YOUR LEGS WIDE
OPEN YOUR LEGS WIDE
SHAKE YOUR WHOLE BODY
SHAKE YOUR WHOLE BODY
OPEN YOUR LEGS WIDE
OPEN YOUR LEGS WIDE
WAVE
SMILE
LIFT YOUR EYEBROWS UP
BLOW A KISS
SHAKE HANDS. Focus on having all touching and exchanges be deep, gentle, firm, self-confident, and fun.
SPREAD YOUR ARMS AS IF YOU ARE GOING TO HUG
LOOK AT ONE ANOTHER, VISUALLY EXPLORE ONE ANOTHER, PASS TABOOS
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S BACKS
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S RIBS
PUT YOUR ARMS AROUND ONE ANOTHER’S SHOULDERS
MAKE BRIEF EYE CONTACT WITH THE OTHER, THEN JERK AWAY
HOLD HANDS
RUB EACH OTHER’S HANDS. Feel the gentle warming pleasure
EXPLORE EACH OTHER’S HANDS. Feel the gentle warming pleasure
HOLD HANDS. We have started releasing a physical force in our bodies, EROPLAY. We feel this EROPLAY now as we hold hands. This ritual will take EROPLAY out of social, moral, sexual, and romantic contexts, so that the focus will be on the pure magical fun and pleasure. It is important that each act be done gently, slowly, softly, completely.
RUB NOSES
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S BARE ARMS.
RUB FORHEADS
RUB EACH OTHER’S HEAD, HEAD TO HEAD. Turn on each other’s scalps. Make one another feel like a puppy having its belly rubbed.
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S SHOULDERS
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S BARE ARMS, ARMS ON ARMS.
RUB FORHEADS, FORHEAD TO FORHEAD
RUB EACH OTHER’S HEAD, HEAD TO HEAD. Turn on each other’s scalps. Make one another feel like a puppy having its belly rubbed.
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S SHOULDERS
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S ARMPITS GENTLY
RUB CHEEKS, CHEEK TO CHEEK
LOOK DEEPLY INTO ONE ANOTHER’S EYES
RUB ONE ANTHER’S FEET. Turn them on to an intense warm glow of relaxing pleasure.
STICK YOUR TONGUE BARELY OUT, CURL IT UP AND MOVE IT
HUG ONE ANOTHER…AND ROCK BACK AND FORTH GENTLY. Rock out of any fear or taboos…rock back to primative humaness of being one with another by physical contact
STICK YOUR TONGUE BARELY OUT, CURL IT UP AND MOVE IT
HUG ONE ANOTHER…AND ROCK BACK AND FORTH GENTLY. Rock out of any fear or taboos…rock back to primative humaness of being one with another by physical contact
STICK YOUR TONGUE BARELY OUT, CURL IT UP AND MOVE IT
HUG ONE ANOTHER…AND ROCK BACK AND FORTH GENTLY. Rock out of any fear or taboos…rock back to primative humaness of being one with another by physical contact
STICK YOUR TONGUE BARELY OUT, CURL IT UP AND MOVE IT
HUG ONE ANOTHER…AND ROCK BACK AND FORTH GENTLY. Rock out of any fear or taboos…rock back to primative humaness of being one with another by physical contact
CURL UP, HUG YOURSELF, AND GENTLY ROCK BACK AND FORTH. Rock into comforting trust
JERK YOUR HEAD VERY SLIGHTLY
SHOW EACH OTHER YOUR BARE BELLY AND RUB YOUR BELLY
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S BARE BELLY LIKE A PUPPY’S BELLY, SOOTHINGLY
RUB BELLIES, BELLLY TO BELLY
EXPLORE ONE ANOTHER’S BELLY
HUG ONE ANOTHER
SQUEEZE ONE ANOTHER’S HANDS
SHOW YOUR BARE CALVES TO THE OTHER
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S CALVES
EXPLORE ONE ANOTHER’S CALVES
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S CALVES, CALVES TO CALVES
RUB ONE ANOTHER, ALL OVER
RUB HEADS, HEAD TO HEAD
STROKE ONE ANOTHER’S HAIR
RAISE YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD AS HIGH AS THEY WILL GO
PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR GENITALS
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S BACK
EXPLORE ONE ANOTHER’S BACK
LOOK AT ONE ANOTHER
PUT YOUR HANDS ON ONE ANOTHER’S GENITALS
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S SHOULDERS AND NECK
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S CHEST
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S BREASTS
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S CHEST, CHEST TO CHEST
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S BREASTS, BREASTS TO BREASTS
EXPLORE ONE ANOTHER’S CHEST
EXPLORE ONE ANOTHER’S BREASTS
EXPLORE EACH OTHER BY USING EVERY PART OF YOUR BODY
RUB BODIES
INTERTWINE YOUR BODIES AND SLOWLY MOVE TOGETHER
ONE LAY UPON THE OTHER AND MOVE IN SLOW MOTION
EXPLORE ONE ANOTHER’S BODY BY USING EVERY PART OF YOUR BODY
RUB BODIES
INTERTWINE YOUR BODIES AND SLOWLY MOVE TOGETHER
ONE LAY UPON THE OTHER AND MOVE IN SLOW MOTION
EXPLORE ONE ANOTHER’S BODY BY USING EVERY PART OF YOUR BODY
RUB BODIES
INTERTWINE YOUR BODIES AND SLOWLY MOVE TOGETHER
ONE LAY UPON THE OTHER AND MOVE IN SLOW MOTION
EXPLORE ONE ANOTHER’S BODY BY USING EVERY PART OF YOUR BODY
RUB BODIES
INTERTWINE YOUR BODIES AND SLOWLY MOVE TOGETHER
ONE LAY UPON THE OTHER AND MOVE IN SLOW MOTION
RUB YOUR GENITALS FOR BODY COMFORT
EXPLORE YOUR GENITALS FOR BODY COMFORT
PUT THE OTHER’S HAND ON YOUR GENITALS AND GUIDE IT SENSUALLY
RUB EACH OTHER’S GENITALS, NOT FOR SEXUAL REASONS, BUT FOR BODY COMFORT
HUG ONE ANOTHER…AND ROCK TOGETHER
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S BACK
LOOK AT ONE ANOTHER
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S SHOULDERS AND NECK
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S CHEST
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S BREASTS
PUT YOUR HEAD ON THE OTHER PERSON’S SHOULDER. HUG AND ROCK TOGETHER
RUB FACES
RUB FACES, FACE ON FACE
EXPLORE FACES
STICK YOUR TONGUE WAY OUT
LICK ONE ANOTHER’S EAR
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S KNEES
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S THIGHS
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S KNEES, KNEES TO KNEES
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S THIGHS, THIGHS ON THIGHS
EXPLORE ONE ANOTHER’S KNEES
EXPLORE ONE ANOTHER’S THIGHS
HOLD ONE ANOTHER’S WAIST
EXPLORE ONE ANOTHER’S BUTTS
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S BUTTS
RUB ONE ANOTHER’S BUTTS, BUTT TO BUTT
RUB YOUR GENITALS FOR BODY COMFORT
PUT THE OTHER’S HAND ON YOUR GENITALS, GUIDE IT EXPLORINGLY. RUB EACH OTHER’S GENITALS FOR BODY COMFORT, CALMING AND RELAXING
RUB ANYWHERE ON ONE ANOTHER’S BODY
EXPLORE EACH OTHER BY USING EVERY PART OF YOUR BODY
RUB BODIES
INTERTWINE YOUR BODIES AND SLOWLY MOVE TOGETHER
ONE LAY UPON THE OTHER AND MOVE IN SLOW MOTION
RUB YOUR GENITALS FOR BODY COMFORT
RUB EACH OTHER’S GENITALS FOR BODY COMFORT
IN VERY SLOW MOTION, RUB YOUR BODIES TOGETHER AND TALK TOGETHER
Gestures at University of California, Berkeley, July 24, 1986
This is the poem that Frank wrote for a class of medical students at University of California, Berkeley:
NO CAN NOTS by Frank Moore Sunday, April 28, 2002
Talking to future healers & teachers & maybe future muckrakers & troublemakers Well, Not really future Because hopefully You are doing IT RIGHT NOW! Hopefully I’m not talking to the future guards Of the corporate normalcy Armed with can nots, Limiting futures from birth, Enforcing coloring only within the lines, Enforcing doing everything THE RIGHT WAY THE NORMAL WAY
Frank Moore at UCB with medical students. Recorded May 2, 2002 at University Hall, University of California, Berkeley.
This poem was published in the book Skin Passion, a book of poems and paintings by Frank Moore.
One of Frank’s oil paintings, “Patti Smith”, is included in the current exhibition , “Way Bay 2” , at the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA).
“Way Bay 2” is the second exhibition in a series covering artwork from the San Francisco Bay Area over two centuries. Way Bay 2 runs from June 13 – September 2, 2018.
Steven Black, from the Bancroft Library, recently found this photo in his own archives of Frank on U.C. Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza in October 1984. Photo by Steven Black.
