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Article: Jim Shaw's top ten.(art events)
- Article from:
- Artforum International
- Article date:
- November 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Artforum International Magazine, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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1 Miss Velma's Bicentennial extravaganza, CHRISTMAS IN AMERICA, is the most amazing piece of video I've ever seen. Existing at the low-budget end of Aimee Semple McPherson's LA-based Christian spectacle tradition, she's been putting on glitter-encrusted performances for decades. In this, her masterwork, all manner of poetry, song, and theatrics is enacted on tinsel-draped sets. In the crowning segment, Miss Velma does a Native American dance in a red, white, and blue headdress, shoots out balloons at forty paces with a pistol, and plays a carol on a penorgan. A one-woman variety show for Jesus.
2 It's hard to imagine a more godforsaken place than Slab City, ...