The photographs in this portfolio mostly consist of works from the Hip Pocket Theatre, located in Fort Worth, Texas, which was Kantor’s first documentary body of work, created between 1999 and 2004. The theater was founded in 1976 by Johnny Simons, a mime and playwright, and his wife, Diane Simons, a costume designer and the theater’s producer; they combine elements of puppetry, mime, homegrown music and Commedia dell’Arte into a truly unique experience. Initially self-taught, Kantor learned on the job as Resident Photographer with Hip Pocket before undertaking more formal training.
The Hip Pocket Theatre series has been exhibited in several shows, including Heaven on a Biscuit, which was partially funded by the Texas Commission on the Arts and installed in 2004 at the Arlington Museum of Art in Texas. In 2005, the exhibition traveled to the Fort Worth Central Library along with the theater’s costumes, puppets and props. A catalog was published in conjunction with the exhibition.
Loli’s theater work is extensive, and includes community work, both commissioned and personal at theaters in Fort Worth, Dallas, Austin and at puppet theaters in Texas, New York, Krakow and Prague.
EXHIBITIONS
2004 Heaven on a Biscuit, Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington TX
PUBLICATIONS
2004 Heaven on a Biscuit: An Extended Portrait of Hip Pocket Theatre (Arlington Museum of Art)