mayer\leyva

things made together by lucas leyva and jillian mayer. we also help run this.

“Uncle Luke is an incredibly original film, both in terms of its tone and the technique of its storytelling… Uncle Luke really taps into the popular culture of a specific generation, and it has a very healthy disrespect for convention and authority.” - Sundance Programmer

“Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke is undeniably entertaining, whether you get the cultural references or not. It is a smart and intricately self-reflexive example of what cultural theorist Jim Collins has called ‘the perpetual circulation and recirculation of signs that form the fabric of  postmodern cultural life.’ Mayer and her collaborator are quintessential bricoleurs. In Uncle Luke, street-credible slang and classic booty beats reconstruct a landmark of film history. High and low, art and entertainment, fiction and reality become multiple facets of an intellectually-integrated work that specifically depends on cultural quotation. The parallels are both narrative and structural. Whereas La Jetee is constructed from stills, referencing the psychological relationship between photography and memory, Uncle Luke draws from the nostalgia power of Mayer’s two dimensional boards.” - Art Papers review

Based on a true story.

  • Slamdance Film Festival 
  • SXSW Film Festival 
  • Athens Film Festival
  • CFC (Canadian Film Centre) Film Festival
  • Cinequest Film Festival 
  • Florida Film Festival 
  • Boston Latino Film Festival 
  • Indie Grits Film Festival 
  • Arlington Film Festival 
  • ICG Magazine

“In Reinaldo Arenas, the grotesque news story of a shark left in the middle of downtown became a beautiful metaphor for an immigrant’s displacement in the Magic City. ” - Miami New Times Review

We released this one as the “Jacuzzi G@ls,” calling it a fan video. It promptly got banned from everywhere (not before getting a half million views in 36 hours on YouTube). Even the label tried to disown it, sent us cease and desist letters, etc. For legal reasons, the official website had to be hosted on the same Swedish server that is home to NAMBLA, Wikileaks, et al. We stay in character for interviews and twitter.

“Best Music Video of the Year” - Eric Wareheim (Tim and Eric)

“Worst Music Video Ever. Ruined vaginas for me.” - Joseph Kahn (Director of Thong Song Music Video)

“As a band from the heart of hurricane-prone south Florida, ANR have put their homegrown survival instinct to use in the force majeure video for “It’s Around You”, which was fittingly conceptualized during Hurricane Irene. This cinematic work of art from the brilliant minds of Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva contextualizes the various layers of the track by juxtaposing piercing images of frantic swimmers with human cyclones and interpretative dancers. The visual accompaniment successfully makes natural disasters seem more human and bodily movements more fluid in the interlocking ebb and flow of life.” - Neon Gold

“As Mayer and her collaborator predicted, the video went viral immediately, with over 220,000 views in the first week. I Am Your Grandma was designed for mass appeal. Humor, short-attention-span pacing, and an addictive soundtrack make it as engaging as a Super Bowl commercial break… Mayer posits the video as a medium of lasting intergenerational communication, a way to accurately send the present into the future. She plays herself- the author- dressed in elaborate feature-distorting costumes inspired by the legendary performance artist Leigh Bowery. I Am Your Grandma leans towards the fictional. On the Internet, its intent and authenticity are totally undefined.

To date, Grandma has gotten over 1 million hits. It has been spoofed- mostly by kids. It has spawned micro-communities on Facebook and YouTube. Its title has entered the Urban dictionary as ‘when something is really weird and terrifying and traumatizing in a way you can’t forget.’ Online comments highlight the majority disposition of the Internet community- many honed in on buried sexual undertones and Mayer’s shocking costumes in sometimes crude and raw language. A few proposed marriage. Regardless of its unconventional exhibition history, I Am Your Grandma was originally produced for the art world, a context that does elicit more sophisticated viewer responses… teasing a slightly different interpretation: the definition of individual identities within the family structure. Here, family roles become fictional constructions shaped by stereotypical expectations.

The details of its technology-driven debut are in perfect step with its conceptual territory. It plays role games with popular media, the public, and the art world. Reception is central to the work: its fate the layers of interpretation it accrues as it crosses channels and institutions are almost as relevant as its message.” - Art Papers 

“Just as William Blake created ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’ to express his dismay at the loss of childhood innocence in turn of 18th century London, Rachel seems to have created ‘Lightbulb’ to express the same sentiment. Blake’s work, while written with a child-like simplicity and joy, explores the loss of virtue through the exploitation of the industrial revolution. Rachel’s work comes in a similar package, replacing London with 21st century Miami, but still exploring the theme of urban youth stripped of innocence in the shadow of a different sort of economic boom. By highlighting the ugly stereotypes of popular ‘hood culture’ that denigrates the youth, we are metaphysically witnessing the cause (the video itself) and effect (corrupted children); the action (lifestyle of the children) and the reaction (Rachel’s song).” - The CCCV