Phoenix Blog

Corey Busboom and one of his photo theremin creations. Click here for more photos of Busboom's and Ryan Avery's works.

In late December, local artist and musician Corey Busboom got a rather interesting phone call.

It was from Mark Mothersbaugh, the eccentric frontman for 80s hitmakers Devo, who had an offer the 29-year-old couldn't refuse.

The legendary keyboard player wanted to purchase, sight unseen, all 12 of the funky-looking rudimentary synthesizers and D.I.Y. sound generating devices Busboom had created for an upcoming month-long art exhbition at the Trunk Space in downtown Phoenix.

Needless to say, Busboom was absolutely shocked.

"I was surprised that he just called me up like that and said, 'Hi, Mark Mothersbaugh here,' and wanted to buy all of my stuff," he says. "I was speechless, I didn't know what to say."

Thankfully, he recovered from this momentary bout of speechlessness and agreed to the transaction.

A D.I.Y. synthesizer that Busboom built into an answering machine.

Mothersbaugh's interest in Busboom's gonzo D.I.Y. devices began after the Devo member purchased a microphone made from an old-scool rotary telephone handset that the funky Phoenix artist was selling on eBay. (It isn't the first time Mothersbaugh has been involved with out local scene, as he exhibited his twisted series of photo-manipulations at Perihelion Arts a few times over the past couple years). As I detailed in a 2006 music feature, Busboom has been conjuring up such unique and colorful musical devices like the microphone for more than four years.

He usually incorporates components from secondhand or vintage home electronics into his creations, whether rewiring children's toys like old Speak & Spells to emit weirdly warbling tones (called "circuit bending"), or utilizing the shell of a 1960s adding machine to house a custom-built sythesizer.

One of Busboom's photo theremins built on a tennis racket.

Said devices often resemble a misfit, Frankenstein-like jumble of junk that he's cobbled together, much like many of the instruments that will be on display at the Trunk Space over the next month. For instance, there's Busboom's "photo theremin" concoction which is strapped to an old tennis racket and is garnished by a plastic Donald Duck head.

Operating much like a regular theremin, which broadcasts a series of high-pitched squeals, Busboom's version utilizes a photographic sensor (as well as a series of knobs and switches) to regulate the sounds that are coming out.

Busboom says Mothersbaugh paid him approximately $1,400 for all 12 pieces, which is a far cry from the 12-packs of Sprite that he sometimes accepts in exchange for his work.

"There's been a few times I've sold instruments to people and gotten some Sprite in return," he says. "I went on the wagon from caffeine and it's the only kind of soda I drink right now."

Ryan Avery and his series of silkscreened prints of Wayne Michael Reich.

Busboom is sharing the exhibition (which is titled "Do You See the Rose in the Trash?") with downtown Phoenix art freakazoid Ryan Avery, who will be showing some oddly-inspired recent works. In addition to an 80-pound ball of ugly ties and some Polaroid photographic collages, he'll be displaying more than three dozen silk screened prints featuring the face of fellow downtown artist Wayne Michael Reich.

In my 2006 feature on Avery, Reich was described as being something of an outspoken nemesis to the 21-year-old musician and artist. The two were frequently at odds over Avery's penchant for outrageous (and often disruptive) performance art and music. While their feud, which was also depicted in the 2008 documentary on Avery called Hi My Name is Ryan, has cooled off somewhat, Avery says the exhbition is something of a playful joke.

As such, the prints feature "severly out-of-context" quotes taken from the outspoken Reich's MySpace site, including the following:

- "Our art scene sucks like a catholic priest @ a boy scout jamboree."
- "You're poor? Not my fucking problem."
- "I'm too pretty for prison."

Part of me is hoping the show will piss Reich off something fierce, and perhaps will lead to a second documentary: Hi My Name is Ryan: The Revenge of Wayne. I know I'd pay to see that.

"Do You See the Rose in the Trash?" will be on display at the Trunk Space (1506 Grand Avenue, 602-256-6006) through February 19.