WEBVTT

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[Jaimie Warren, Artist]

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I'm a big believer in odd characters.

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I think it's something that was truly inspiring

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and important to see as a kid.

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Maybe it's just because I'm not young anymore,

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but when I watch music videos

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or when I see actors,

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I feel like everyone is so beautiful.

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I need these genuine weirdos in my life again.

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[WHITNEY HOUSTON'S "ALL AT ONCE" BEGINS PLAYING]

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[HOUSTON] ♪ All at once ♪

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[WARREN] ♪ I finally took a moment ♪

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♪ and I'm realizing that ♪

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♪ you're not coming back... ♪

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Whitney Houston is definitely hugely important to me.

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Freddy Krueger is one of those characters, too.

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♪ ...and I can't forget you ♪

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♪ though I must face it all alone. ♪

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♪ All I want... ♪

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I feel like it's my ideal world that I'm creating.

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This is the inside of what my brain looks
like, or something.

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[HOUSTON AND WARREN] ♪ ...so much more than
it shows, ♪

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♪ all at once. ♪

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["Jaimie Warren Is a Total Character"]

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I'm from Wisconsin

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and I've got a pretty Wisconsin family.

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Packers and beer.

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And motorcycles.

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[ROARING SOUND OF A MOTORCYCLE MOTOR]

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I would always organize giant "capture the
flag" games in the forest

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or, like, make haunted houses and stuff like that.

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In college, I was constantly taking pictures.

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I was one of the people who was taking photos, like, non-stop

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and doing weird D.I.Y. costuming

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and inserting myself into different scenarios.

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I realized I had hundreds of these self portraits.

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It was just me entertaining myself.

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But that's what people really were excited about.

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Seeing what I'm capable of

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with the resources that I have,

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it's just fun for me.

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I'm fifty characters, and they're all pretty bizarre.

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Most of them are pretty far from how I actually look.

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You can see that I am Boy George,

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and I am Phil Spector,

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and I'm an ice cream cone,

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and I'm Yoda.

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It's more about showing

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this really crazy array of characters that I can be.

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I especially like the grosser or weirder the character is

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or the further it can be from me;

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but using my own characteristics and changing them,

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not just, like, covering myself up with a costume.

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Being able to see that it's me,

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but that I look completely different,

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I think that's a really fun challenge.

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--And a wink.

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[LAUGHER]

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--Yes!

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--Oh my god!

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--We'll do one more.

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--Just try and look really scared, if you can.

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--Just be like...

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I was asked by a gallery space in Bed Stuy,

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called American Medium,

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to take over their office space

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as a studio space for the summer.

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I knew that I wanted it to be a music video,

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and I knew that I really wanted to do Freddie Mercury.

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--We have to make it happen quicker.

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--Okay, one more, one more.

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--We can do this.

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I don't think there's really any work that
I've done by myself ever.

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I've always had help.

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And it's always been people from my community

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that I've already been collaborating with in some way.

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I'm, like, asking them to be a part of this.

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That's also what makes it fun for me, too.

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--This is a recreation of a painting from
about 1370

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--called "Saint Cosmas and Saint Damien"

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--by Matteo di Pacino.

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There's an ill man in a bed

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who has a leg that has the plague.

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A plague leg!

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And there are two saints who are trying to heal him.

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Remaking something that is pre-existing--

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like, you already have so much to work with,

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and then it's all about every little decision
you're making from that.

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♪ Can... ♪

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[QUEEN'S "SOMEBODY TO LOVE" BEGINS PLAYING]

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[QUEEN] ♪ Anybody ♪

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♪ find me ♪

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♪ somebody to ♪

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♪ love. ♪

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[MUSIC FROM AN ALTERNATE VERSION OF THE SONG BEGINS]

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[WARREN] ♪ Each morning I get up, I die a little ♪

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♪ Can barely stand on my feet... ♪

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All these newer large-scale pieces are kind of

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my own weird versions of the "We Are the World"
music video.

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You know that one, right?

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By Michael?

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[USA FOR AFRICA'S "WE ARE THE WORLD" BEGINS
PLAYING]

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♪ We are the world ♪

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♪ We are the children... ♪

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That crazy mashup of all these different people.

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Like you have Kenny Rogers singing next to
Cyndi Lauper

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and Ray Charles with the singer from Journey.

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Not only because so many of those artists
have these

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incredibly epic ballads that just stick with
you

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for the rest of your life,

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but they all helped along my artistic spirit

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and I feel like with almost all the images

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I want them to be like an homage to these characters.

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♪ ...keep shining ♪

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♪ knowing you can always count on me... ♪

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I do want these characters to be best friends,

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or to create something wonderful together.

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I really like artwork that makes you laugh.

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And then, if the audience can recognize the
characters

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or also kind of understand me as an artist--

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why I made the decisions to be Miss Piggy
or Missy Elliott.

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So, why should they not be totally connected

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in this weird alternate universe that I'm creating here?

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And why should they not be friends?

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And why should I not thank them for that!?

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So I am.

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Thank you.

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That's what friends are for. [LAUGHS]

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♪ Wishing you'd come back to me... ♪

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[LAUGHS] I'm sorry!

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♪ I start... ♪

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♪ ...you like a moment... ♪

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Shit!

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♪ And all my dreams were shattered ♪

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♪ all at once. ♪

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Okay! [LAUGHS]

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[MAN, OFF SCREEN] That was great!