Performance: Rimbaud Hattie

Celebrate the closing of David Wojnarowicz: Arthur Rimbaud in New York at Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art with a musical performancen by Rimbaud Hattie.

This five-piece band was formed in the spirit of Brian “Hattie” Butterick, whose masked presence appears in some of Wojnarowicz’s Rimbaud In New York photographs. Cynthia Carr, author of the 2012 biography Fire in the Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz, will open the evening with a reflective offering on this period in Wojnarowicz’s life. The band’s Doug Bressler and Julie Hair played alongside Butterick and Wojnarowicz in the iconic 1980s post-punk noise band, 3 Teens Kill 4.

Rimbaud Hattie is an investigational art song collective involving innovatory chanteuse and actress Heather Litteer; genre-defying performance artist John Kelly; percussionist Dany Johnson, a founding member of Samba Reggae Drum Line Fogo Azul; and Hair and Bressler. The performance will include original songs by Bressler and Kelly, and covers of songs by Butterick, Destructo, Peter Raben & David Ambach, and Jefferson Airplane.

Cynthia Carr is the author, most recently, of Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar, winner of the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award for biography. Her previous biography, Fire in the Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz, won a Lambda Literary Award and was a finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize.

Artist/tinkerer Doug Bressler asked Heather, John, and Julie to collaborate on a Never Records recording slot in 2020, which started the band. Always a fan of Dany’s work, he’s thrilled she’s joined the group.

Julie Hair is a former member of the 80s art rock band 3 Teens Kill 4 and continues to play in bands in NYC. She serves on the board of ABC No Rio, a volunteer-led nonprofit community center for arts and activism.

Dany Johnson is a founding member and assistant director of Fogo Azul NYC, the 130-member, all-women and nonbinary samba reggae drumline.

John Kelly is an award-winning performance and visual artist whose career began in the East Village clubs of the 1980s. A solo exhibition of his graphic memoir A Friend Gave Me A Book is on view at P·P·O·W Gallery January 9 -February 21.

Heather Litteer has worked from Lincoln Center Stages to The Limelight Cages. She’s vital to the NYC performance and film scene, writing and performing her solo show Lemonade at La MaMa NYC, and in Edinburgh  and London and curating her Femme Fest On The Verge. She is a member of Big Art Group, and appeared at the Venice Biennale, and Jackie Factory.

Accessibility
Located at 26 Wooster Street, the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art strives to provide a welcoming environment to all visitors. Five external steps lead to our entrance doors: a wheelchair lift is available. All galleries are wheelchair-accessible, and a single-occupancy accessible restroom is located behind the visitor services desk. All restrooms are gender-neutral. Large print didactics are available. Chairs with backs are available. For questions or access requests, please email info@leslielohman.org at least one week in advance of your visit.