“It was the wildest ride,” Bushwick-based artist Michael Alan blogged shortly after watching the new Todd Phillips movie, Joker. He followed the experience by painting a portrait of the movie’s star in the accompanying makeup. Following this, he announced the staging of a piece by his partner, a visual and performance artist who goes by Jadda Cat. The piece, called “Female Joker” will be held on November 23rd and she has committed to render some 100 versions of the character over the course of the four hour show.

“This is the Joker in 4D staring at you and changing your perspective on theater, performance, and live art,” Alan writes in a press release. 

In his studio on one of the season’s first chilly days, Alan tells Bushwick Daily that he related in a deep way to Phillips’ movie and Joaquin Phoenix’s version of the comic book mischief-maker. He opines on its intensity, the issues that it brought to the fore of Hollywood pop entertainment (mental illness, social welfare austerity etc.) and while doing so speaks with a kind of preternatural innocence. The way he pronounces Phoenix’s first name comes out like jacques-queen and it brings to mind a French cafe pastry. His studio is a single room on the third floor of a former feather factory and his eyes are clear, blue and rove around the room while he talks.