Miss Rockaway: David Ellis

Friday night we stopped by the Miss Rockaway launch site to check on their progress. The boat was shaping up for its Sunday launch (which we missed; anyone got pix?), and the Barnstormers had completed the installation of a few dozen custom-painted stereo speakers on either side of the Paul the Plumber's pedal-powered ferris wheel. Barnstormer and artist David Ellis joined me on the ferris wheel, which was amazing, especially as I arced up over the glass-calm Mississippi at 10 pm. Thanks to David (who, to my surprise, is a high school friend of Minneapolis-based dancer and friend Leah Nelson, and was here installing a rubberized break-dance floor with Sanford Biggers during the Walker's presentation of One Planet Under a Groove: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art) for the Barnstormers DVD; see his work--from motion paintings and graffiti-covered chicken houses to his multimedia installation Orchestrion-- here. Here's a sampling of his amazing work: