#RIP: PERFORMANCE ARTIST, CLARK RENDER

Downtown New York has lost another of its brightest lights, Clark Render.

Best-known for being one half of the hilarious, long-running duo, The Dueling Bankheads, along with partner David Ilku, Render appeared in Wigstock: The Move as well as as Ghostlight –a biopic of sorts, about dance legend Martha Graham– along with countless club appearances.

Render’s partner in those indelible Bankhead performances, David Ilku, had this to say of his friend,

“One of the funniest, most brilliant performers I’ve ever known. It’s like we had the same brain at times working together, only mine saw things in the positive and his in the negative. I guess together it made for some wacky punk comedy. He was one of my oldest dearest friends and I’m deeply mourning his passing. Love for Clark. Three cheers!”

Playwright, producer and performer Ryan Landry had this to say about Render,

“Another one of the true greats of the East Village performance scene has died. Funny. Sensitive. Smart. A thinker. An absolutely brilliant human. One half of the legendary ‘Dueling Bankheads’. The GREATEST Margaret Thatcher you have ever seen. A kook. A comedian.”

Linda Simpson said,

“Clark was always comedy gold, the driest humor imaginable!”

ChiChi Valenti (wife of Johnny Dynell) said,

"Our dear, brilliant and ill-fated friend CLARK RENDER died yesterday. I met him in the "Danceteria 80s" where so many of our lifelong friends were made. I was a bartender and Clark my ‘cocktail hateress"‘ Beginning with his incarnation there as DIXIE, The Danceteria Lady and continuing through the entire decade of JACKIE 60, where he played so many roles to perfection - to his appearances at LOW LIFE and finally GHOSTLIGHT a few years back, he was a treasured friend and collaborator. Most famously as one-half of the DUELING BANKHEADS with David Ilku, he was side-splittingly funny - after a backstage evening with Clark I often had the same abdominal pains as after doing crunches.. THAT funny!"

Fellow performer, Nora Burns, posted an early video of Render as Margaret Thatcher that shows his raw talent, intelligence, deadpan delivery and outrage that fueled many of Render’s performances.

An early World of Wonder Production, U.S. TV that ran on BBC4 in England, showcased the cracked sensibility the DB’s possessed, even with just one phrase as material.

In his honor, as a Bankhead would say,

“Pour one out, dahling.”

#CheersQueers! You’ll be missed.

DRAMA AT MY HOLIDAY PARTY AT THE W UNION SQUARE! GUY IS EJECTED FOR COLORING OUTSIDE THE LINES!

So, doing collaborations for me now is like second nature at this point. I’ve done a backdrop painting for Stella McCartney in Paris, an exhibit for the Queen’s Jubilee in London for Jonathan Adler and a mural/ exhibit for the Newport Folk Festival for Squarespace in Rhode Island among others. This holiday I partnered with W New York Union Square to create a color by number from my #WithYouseries around their worldwide theme of #StopTheClock2016. I based the linework on their photo of word balloons that spell out the theme. I worked with my longtime assistant, artist Jamie Meehl & W’s Jessica Saraniero to create a postcard coloring project for the Living Rooms of W New York Union Square & Lexington Avenue locations, along with a giant partially colored mural on their Park Avenue facing windows. 

Last night, we had a fun holiday coloring party with a giant version for guests to paint. It was great fun. Champagne, food and lots of fun people; writer Christopher Mason, artist Mel Odom, photographer and Downtown diva Maripol, DJ of the moment Valissa Yoe, International Playground‘s Johnny Pizzolato, actors David Ilku & Ryan Landry, promoter Daniel Nardicio, Saks’ Tim Hemmeter, designer Katy K and too many more to list. You always try to invite a good mix of your friends, “influencers” and fun people and that's exactly what I got. One uninvited guest pushed past me, rushed the easel, grabbed a brush and paint and started attacking the painting! Jessica and I looked at each other, like “WTF!?”… I tried to get him to calm down and not go nuts but when he grabbed my friend Cameron‘s wine, slugged it down, I realized this was only going to get worse. So, security came and took him out in a quiet, respectful way. Most of the guests were unaware of what had just happened. Crisis averted, but EXCITING! As friend said later, 

“It’s not a party until someone gets kicked out!”

Party guests, along with hotel visitors, get a marker set and are invited to color in the postcard anyway they like. Once they decide it’s done, they post it on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtags & handles  @WNYUnionSquare @WVieques @TreyNYC #WithYou #StoptheClock2016. Yeah, I know it’s a lot of hashtags but here’s a payoff! The chosen winning post gets two nights at W Vieques in 2016. I’ll give you a chance to win here. Click on the line work below to enlarge and drag it onto your desktop to download and print it out. Follow the instructions and you really might win. Here’s a tip: not that many people have entered so far and “real creativity” might get you an edge. Be inventive about how you color it in and with what. If you’re having a holiday get together, print them out on card stock and have a group coloring event.

I made a limited edition of 61 signed #StoptheClock prints for the party guests last night, so we’ll keep an eye for people posting those as their own. Otherwise, knock yourselves out! Good luck! Happy 2016!