About/ CV:
Clifton Childree (b. Birmingham, AL, lives and works Miami, FL) is a filmmaker, performance artist, installation artist and painter. He performs as a range of characters – from a failed Henry Flagler, or a drunken candidate for county commissioner – low, profane and crude characters with hilarious and disturbing body language, loosely connected to his study of the Japanese dance style called Butoh, in addition to the body language of silent film performers like Lon Chaney, Sr., Harry Langdon, Stan Laurel. He sometimes projected his films behind him while he was performing, and his multi-media installations often acted as frames or cases for films he made. His filmic style references Jan Svankmajer, Ladislas Starewicz, the Brothers Quay, and Guy Maddin. Like them, Childree refused inhibitions, opting instead for voracious explorations of all manner of eccentricities, in the process making films that could be in turn sublime and then utterly crude. Melodrama, scatological slapstick, stop motion animation and other early film effects are all in his toolbox.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Nature Winds, Ernst Hilger, Vienna
2020
Storm Inn, Emerson Dorsch, Miami, FL
2018
Vote Shippy, Locust Projects, Miami, FL
2014
Niaga Rag Follies, Hallwalls, Buffalo NY
Farting Through Pretzels, Brot Kunsthalle, Vienna, Austria
2011
Fuck that Chicken from Popeyes, Kunsthalle Wien Project Space, Vienna, Austria
2010
Orchestrated Gestures, Dorsch Gallery, Miami, FL
2009
Miami Swamp Adventure, installation at Pulse Art Fair, New York, NY
2008
It Gets Worse, Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, project space, Miami, FL
Dream-Cum-Tru, Locust Projects, Miami, FL
2006
Something Awful, Bas Fisher Invitational, Miami, FL
2005
She Sank on Shallow Bank, Bas Fisher Invitational, Miami, FL
The Flew, Lausanne Underground Film Festival, Lausanne, Switzerland
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012
The Circus as a Parallel Universe, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria
Deering Estate, Miami, FL
2011
Sight Specific, Museum of Art, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
2010
Here, There and Everywhere, Brot Kunsthalle, Vienna, Austria
2009
Calix Gustav Gallery, Miami, FL
Dark Fair, Cologne, Germany
Little Sister, Spinello Gallery, Miami, FL
Miami Noir, Invisible Exports Gallery, New York, NY
Second Skin, Gallery Diet, Miami, FL
Set To Manual, Girl’s Club, Ft. Lauderdale
Talent Preview ’09, Whitebox, New York, NY
2008
Blue Ribbon, opening film for Pablo Cano puppet show, MOCA, Miami, FL
$999, Diana Lowenstein Gallery, Miami, FL
Moviate Film Festival, Harrisburg, PA
Oddball Film Festival, San Francisco, CA
Schadenfreude, sculpture, group show, Miami, FL
2007
Aesthetics & Values, Florida International University, Miami, FL
Indie Grits, Columbus, SC
Indie Memphis, Memphis, TN
International Short Film Festival, France
Lausanne Underground Film Festival, Lausanne, Switzerland
Miami Contemporary Artists: Creating a Scene, Art Center, Miami Beach, FL
Moviate Film Festival, Harrisburg, PA
Open Air Film Festival, Berlin, Germany
Optic Nerve, MOCA, North Miami, FL
Sleepless Night, Colony Theater, Miami Beach, FL
2006
Chelsea Gallery, Miami, FL
Drake Hotel, Toronto. ON
Here and Now Festival, The Light Box, Miami, FL
International Noise Conference, Miami, FL
Miami International Film Festival, Miami, FL
Microcinefest, Baltimore, MD
Milwaukee International Arts Fair, Milwaukee WI
Optic Nerve, MOCA, North Miami, FL
Other Cinema, San Francisco, CA
Sandroni Rey Gallery, Los Angeles,CA
2005
Dead Center Film Festival, Oklahoma City, OK
Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland
Fucking Fabulous Film Festival, Seattle, WA
Hi Mom Film Festival, Chapel Hill, NC
Miami Beach Cinematheque, Miami Beach, FL
Miami Short Film Festival, Miami, FL
Moviate Film Festival, Harrisburg, PA
New Grounds, Tampa, FL
Off the Wall, Florida Dance Festival, Miami, FL
Ole Muddy Film Festival, Trempealeau, WI
Outhouse Film Festival, Baton Rouge, LA
Rome International Film Festival, Rome, GA
Think Warm, Miami Draws for you, Tomio Koyama Gallery,Tokyo
Toofy Film Festival, Boulder, CO
Vision Fest, New York, NY
2004
South Florida Cultural Consortium, Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL
2003
Boston Underground Film Festival, Boston, MA
Domani Visionfest, New York, NY
Downstream Film Festival, Decatur, GA
FLUFF Fest, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Fright-Fest Film Festival, Gainesville, FL
Gulf Coast Film Festival, Houston, TX
Microcinefest, Baltimore, MD
Moviate Film Festival. Harrisburg, PA
Red Bank Film Festival, Red Bank, NJ
Winslow Film Festival, Winslow, AZ
Woodshole Film Festival, Cape Cod, MA
1996
The Anti-Film Festival, The Alliance Theater, Miami Beach, FL
1995
Coffee House Film Festival, Portland, OR
1994
The Anti-Film Festival, Colony Theater, Miami Beach, FL
GRANTS AND AWARDS
Hilger Award, Locust Projects, Miami, FL
Miami New Times, Best Local Artist, Miami, FL
Best Experimental, Indie Memphis, Memphis TN
Legal Art’s “Native Seeds” Emerging Artist Grant, Miami, FL
Southern Lens Award, Indie Grits, Columbus, SC
Way Cool Narrative Short Award, Microcinefest, Baltimore MD
Florida Individual Artist Fellowship (Media)
Best Experimental Short & Best Lighting, Outhouse Film Festival, Baton Rouge LA
Best Experimental Short, Ole Muddy Film Festival, Trempealeau, WI
Best Camera Aesthetics & Kodak Film Grant
Hi Mom Film Festival, Chapel Hill, NC
South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship for Visual and Media Artists
Grand Jury, Best Feature, Microcinefest, Baltimore, MD
Grand Jury, Best Feature, Downstream Film Festival, Decatur, GA
Best Sound Design & Domani Emerging Artist Award, Domani Visionfest, New York, NY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Art in America, Orchestrated Gestures, Paula Harper, March 2011
Art Pulse, Southern Fried Auteur, Claire Bruekel, spring 2011
Biscayne Times, Mad Gestures Worth Making, Anne Tschida, January 2011
New York Times, Topless & Taxidermy in a Bottoming Market, The Arts cover photo, March 7, 2009
Wynnwood the Art Magazine, Miami’s Southern Gothic, Claire Bruekel, April 2009
Wynnwood the Art Magazine, Dream-Cum-Tru, December 2008
Art Krush: Issue 95, Dream-Cum-Tru, October 2008
Art Voices, Dream-Cum-Tru, October 2008
944, Clifton Childree’s Fun House of Horrors, October 2008
The Miami Herald, Welcome to Childree’s Carnival, September 7, 2008
Miami New Times, Clifton Childree’s Craziness, August 21, 2008
The Diet Newsletter: Issue #11, Michelle Weinberg & Clifton Childree, July 2008
Miami Contemporary Artists, Paul Clemence and Julie Davidow, 2007
MonstersatPlay.com, The Flew, 2004
Casheirs du Cinemart: Issue #14, Modern Midnight Movies: 50 Cult Films from the last 10 Years, 2004
Horrorview, The Flew, 2004
Broward New Times, Notion Picture, Nina Corman, April 24, 2003
Broward New Times, Clif’s Carnival, Emma Trelles, October 5, 2000
