BAD VIDEO ART FESTIVAL

Matt Petty & Carly Maurin have been making art together since 2007. The duo began collaborating as lip sync performers at various karaoke bars in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Both artists are also active trombone players. Matt is a professor of ear training at Northwestern State University, and Carly is a reference librarian at St. John the Baptist Parish Library in LaPlace, Louisiana. Today their close friendship allows them to continue making pieces of video and sound using lo-fi gear that often surrounds ideas of the grotesque, kitsch, and absurd. 

Fleaster is a video that uses giant animated flea puppets made by Carly, juxtaposed with ultra close-up images of skin cells, hair follicles, and minor skin irritations; and obscenely cheesy music. The video is bad enough for its gross imagery, but also because it directly makes fun of the Catholic church. Here you will see fleas dressed as priests, nuns, rabbits, and the McDonald’s Grimace, all frolicking in within the hairs of the Easter Bunny himself.

GeoCities is a throwback to Internet Explorer’s golden years. Filmed at St. John the Baptist Parish Library in LaPlace, Louisiana with REAL librarians. RIP to Ray, The King of GeoCities.