Mike and Claire - Mike - AdolescentTV
Channel: AdolescentTV
Date: 2014-09-25

Mike and Claire are artists who live in NY and have been collaborating for two and a half years. The duo (full names Michael Bailey-Gates and Claire Christerson) met freshman year at SVA studying photography, and after working on a few projects, realized they had the same influences and vision. The directing team raised on The Mighty Boosh, early Flickr communities, and Myspace-meets-Blingy visual aestheticism, have an almost obsessive-compulsive work ethic. They have released an epic amount of of art projects online over the past year that has captured a robust social media following.

They balance their focus on Internet aesthetics with theatrical cues, hand-made costumes, and in camera techniques from past decades–be it silent film era acting, Scooby Doo horror soundtracks, and hand created green screen visual effects. They nod to the past, while giving their work a future-focused twist that could only spark from the minds of two, Hattori Hanzo-sharp brains who’ve spent a lot of time on Tumblr.

Paper Magazine says of the duo “If Cindy Sherman and Ryan Trecartin had babies, they might resemble Mike and Claire”. Mike and Claire are unique among their reference points in that they actively strive to push still imagery to its next frontier–often with the aid of GIFs: “With GIFs you don’t have to press play. The idea is that it never stops or starts. It’s more inclusive.”

This year Mike and Claire have created costumes for the Mix Film festival and were finalists for the New York Photo Festival. They are frequently cast in their friends work and last year were placed in front of the camera by Ryan McGinley and Petra Collins amongst others. They’ve recently directed internet spots for “Free People and “Beloved Tshirts”, as well as a music video for “Heart’s Revolution”.

C: I like working with my best friend because I don’t have to feel like I’m being judged and I can trust Mike to tell me what he thinks (vice versa.) Its cool being able to bounce ideas off each other and let something escalate and then we both have to do the idea and nothing else feels quite as important.  Mike feels like my twin… 
M: Working with Claire keeps both of our minds fresh. It’s exciting to figure out the technicalities of an idea, to pick something apart, figure out how it works, then make it happen.  When we work together on something it feels like we are doing something very important because we support one another. We are lucky to know each other.

In a universe inhabited by those who are trying to force-fabricate video material that “speaks” to youth culture, ADOLESCENT blasts through the galaxy in a spaceship full of young directors (13 – 25 years old), on the fuel of their exuberance, energized by the great-bang stardust of their determination. Free of encumbrances such as cynicism or rules. Our pack of savant directors, (filmmakers, photographers, illustrators and visual effects wunderkinds) collectively create magic. Pursuing excellence, innovation and the occasional intake of astronaut freeze dried ice cream.

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