San Francisco based Brice Frillici is a multimedia artist and performer who goes by the name of his unusual project “SEKDEK” (Spirit Extraction Kit, Demon Extraction Kit). It is an ongoing portrait series of himself, friends, and family members covered in colorful, psychedelic paint – and the result is fantastic and a little bit gory. Frillici describes his process as expressionistic painting by any means necessary; he spits, throws and spreads clay, acrylic paint, glitter, and flour onto his subjects, topping off their new personas with costume wigs, wild fabrics, and fake blood. One may not be surprised to find the elaborate and often graphic heavy metal band Gwar among his inspirations, as well as Bjork, the characters in Where the Wild Things Are, H. R. Giger illustrations, makeup design, and a variety of other visual references. It was French performance artist Olivier de Sagazan, whose work in the movie Samsara made the greatest impact on Frillici, where he violently applies clay, dots and slashes of red and black paint and dust all over his suit. “It inspired me to do something weird,” Frillici says. What originally began as an amused experiment with makeup in college has become a lasting art project that spans music, live performance and installations. Frillici’s next performance will be held tomorrow at an event at Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco.
