Work samples

  • MANGER (2024)

    An excerpt from the short film "Manger", written and directed by Jimmy Joe Roche.

  • HIGH SPEED INTERNET (2019)

    A short film written, co-directed and starring Jimmy Joe Roche.

  • TO YOU DEAR FRIEND (2012)

    An excerpt from the short film "To You Dear Friend", directed and photographed by Jimmy Joe Roche.

  • BAD HEAD

    A feature film in development. Please click on image to view presentation.

About Jimmy Joe

Baltimore City

Jimmy Joe Roche is an interdisciplinary artist whose work encompasses video, sculpture, and performance. He runs the record label Ultraviolet Light and co-curates New Works, a screening series dedicated to showcasing film and video artists based in Baltimore. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Film and Media Studies Department at Johns Hopkins University, and holds a BFA from S.U.N.Y. Purchase in Film and an MFA from MICA in Studio Art. Roche has two human children,… more

Manger (2024)

Manger follows a street prophet as he interprets the Book of Genesis and contemplates salvation in front of an abandoned strip mall. It is a short film, but also a proof-of-concept for a more ambitious feature, Bad Head, currently in development (see below), a meditation on the fractured zeitgeist of 21st century America and an attempt to channel the trauma of living in a "post-truth" age. 

"I grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, but I have lived in Baltimore most of my adult life. I have always been surrounded by wild, contradictory, confusing people, full of eccentricity, free-spirited with a fervent anti-authoritarian vein. I’ve had no shortage of larger-than-life personalities among my immediate family and close friends. Often labeled by mainstream, capitalist culture as outsiders or freaks, or disregarded completely, these folks contain precarious truths about America, which vibrate through their words. Listening can be a radical act. So can seeing. Through an immersive approach to camera, sound, and production design, I hope to create intimate contact between the audience and my characters, inspiring empathy, as well as a deep questioning of dominant narratives, Western exceptionalism, and the normalcy of a hegemonic, individualistic, or nihilistic, worldview."

-- Jimmy Joe Roche 

  

  • Manger

    An excerpt from the short film, Manger (2024).

  • Manger
    Manger

    Michael J Rogers in a still from Manger.

  • Manger
    Manger

    The principle cast in a still from Manger, a recreation of Adam and Eve.

  • Manger
    Manger

    On location in Essex.

  • Manger
    Manger

    Michael J Rogers in a still from Manger.

  • Manger
    Manger

    Alix Fenhagen, Michael J Rogers, and Jarod Hanson in a still from Manger.

  • Manger
    Manger

    Alix Fenhagen and Jarod Hanson in a still from Manger.

  • Manger
    Manger

    Michael J Rogers in a still from Manger.

  • Manger
    Manger

    Michael J Rogers and Jimmy Joe Roche on location.

  • Manger
    Manger

    Behind-the-scenes on the JHU/MICA soundstage.

Skin of Man (2020)

Skin of Man is an experimental horror film written and directed by Jimmy Joe Roche, produced by Matt Porterfield (Putty Hill, Sollers Point) and featuring an original score by Dan Deacon (Rat Film). The film was shot on 16mm and bucket-processed in a dank, pitch-black hole. Roche then used insecticide, drano, and gasoline to disfigure the emulsion. As the psychodrama of the film escalates, the 16mm image begins to sweat, melt and erode. Skin of Man draws inspiration from structural filmmakers and chemists like Phil Solomon, Bridget & Wilhelm Hein and Peter Tscherkassky, as well as the visionary cult films Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Begotten.

 

 

  • Skin of Man
    Skin of Man

    A still from Skin of Man: an actor in prosthetics on location in Double Rock Park.

  • Skin of Man
    Skin of Man

    A still from Skin of Man showing the bleaching technique used on the 16mm image.

  • Skin of Man
    Skin of Man

    A still from Skin of Man.

  • Skin of Man
    Skin of Man

    A still from Skin of Man.

  • Skin of Man
    Skin of Man

    Kiera Mulhern in Skin of Man.

  • Skin of Man
    Skin of Man

    A still from Skin of Man showing the bleaching technique used on the 16mm image.

  • Skin of Man
    Skin of Man

    Behind-the-scenes on Skin of Man.

  • Skin of Man
    Skin of Man

    Behind-the-scenes on Skin of Man.

  • Skin of Man
    Skin of Man

    A 35mm production still from Skin of Man.

  • Skin of Man

    Skin of Man (2020, 10 mins)

High Speed Internet (2019)

Jimmy Joe Roche and Allen Cordell’s High Speed Internet follows a street prophet on the verge of a complete psychological breakdown as he proselytizes the dangers of the internet. Shot in a single day, Roche screamed, crawled and preached through the streets of Los Angeles as cinematographer Richard Kim captured the chaos via Cordell’s collage-like direction. The whiplash editorial style not only brings cohesion to the ensuing pandemonium, it perfectly complements Roche’s raw, no-holds-barred performance.The score by Huxley Anne embodies the protagonist’s internal turmoil, making auditory the battle between paranoia and divine inspiration. High Speed Internet weaves together thematic threads from They Live, HyperNormalisation. Jaron Lanier, AM talk radio and the Bible. This video posits the question: Is the internet actually dangerous? Or is this man just a raving lunatic?

  • High Speed Internet
    High Speed Internet

    A still from High Speed Internet.

  • High Speed Internet
    High Speed Internet

    A still from High Speed Internet.

  • High Speed Internet
    High Speed Internet

    A still from High Speed Internet.

  • High Speed Internet
    High Speed Internet

    A still from High Speed Internet.

  • High Speed Internet
    High Speed Internet

    A still from High Speed Internet.

  • High Speed Internet
    High Speed Internet

    An animated image from High Speed Internet. 

  • High Speed Internet

    High Speed Internet (2019, 4 mins).

To You Dear Friend (2012)

"I made this film during an intense bout of insomnia. In those months I felt myself trickling out as if I was slowly being embalmed. While the prolonged inability to sleep caused immense psychological strain something else also began to occur. The more out of sync I became with the world around me, the more a hidden world of light began to reveal itself. I watched light crawl in the silence. Shadows and reflections passed through empty space and into my waking fever dreams, closed-eye visions and memories. Somewhere deep inside was a fire none could see. Like all the characteristics of fire it warmed, it burned, and it both illuminated and cast illusions. This film is an attempt to communicate my inner life during that most difficult time. Much of the film is shot through homemade lenses. I choose to keep the soundtrack silent to accentuate the rhythmic structure of the images and communicate the trance like space between waking and sleeping."

-- Jimmy Joe Roche

 

  • To You Dear Friend
    To You Dear Friend

    Choreography from To You Dear Friend.

  • To You Dear Friend
    To You Dear Friend

    A still from To You Dear Friend.

  • To You Dear Friend
    To You Dear Friend

    An animated image from To You Dear Friend.

  • To You Dear Friend
    To You Dear Friend
  • To You Dear Friend
    To You Dear Friend

    Choreography from To You Dear Friend.

  • To You Dear Friend
    To You Dear Friend

    An animated image from To You Dear Friend.

  • To You Dear Friend
    To You Dear Friend

    Still from To You Dear Friend.

  • To You Dear Friend

    To You Dear Friend ( 2012, 10 mins)

    (silent) 

  • To You Dear Friend
    To You Dear Friend
  • To You Dear Friend
    To You Dear Friend

    An animated image fromTo You Dear Friend.

Bad Head (in Development)

Bad Head is Roche's feature film debut, currently in development. It follows a group of irreverent outcasts as they share their views on history, theology, and society. We travel alongside them, from sunrise to sunrise, as they prepare for the apocalypse: collecting garbage and consumer waste for a toxic stew they will drink at the culmination of the night while awaiting the arrival of an alien deity. As the film progresses, tensions build as to what exactly will transpire. Is it all a mass delusion? A cult suicide? Or have they really found a portal to pass through space and time and reach a higher realm? We, the camera eye, bear witness to it all, as an anonymous first-person cipher without agency or voice.

We meet each of these mesmerizing and iconoclastic characters via a non-stop, rapid-fire series of monologues. The Preacher opens the film with his warped retelling of The Book of Genesis’ creation story, The Professor compares the present moment to the eruption of the Bubonic Plague in Europe, and Bob boasts of his ability to locate valuables hidden in the trash using only his sense of smell, while also struggling with fears that he’s wasted his unique talent. Annie-Jane envisions a new matriarchal society, while Undercover Jim confides to us that he is a CIA operative scheming to obliterate the mission and throw the others in prison. Each believes themselves to be the ruler of their own domain and master of their personal reality; each stands tall, confident in what they know to be true, as they vehemently offer their own history and personal philosophy directly to the camera. 

This film is an allegory about the fractured zeitgeist of 21st century America and an attempt to channel the trauma of living in a post-truth age. As our culture becomes more volatile and “truth” becomes more elusive and weaponized, people across the ideological spectrum oscillate between fascism and nihilism, convinced that the government and media lie, that those with differing views are evil or insane, and that history is malleable. Bad Head will offer a tableau of marvelously unhinged characters, each assured of their moral and intellectual superiority, woven together into a surrealist tapestry teeming with dark comedy, formal audacity, and lots of love.

  • Logline
    Logline

    A short description of the film Bad Head with six image references and accompanying illustrations by Jimmy Joe Roche.

  • Annie-Jane
    Annie-Jane

    A biography for the character "Annie-Jane".

  • Taco
    Taco

    A biography for the character "Taco".

  • Jim
    Jim

    A biography for the character "Jim".

  • The Professor
    The Professor

    A biography for "The Professor".

  • The Preacher
    The Preacher

    A character biography for "The Preacher".

  • Galactic Emissary
    Galactic Emissary

    A biography for "The Galactic Emissary".

  • Bob
    Bob

    A biography for the character "Bob".

  • Film References
    Film References

    Three films with a similar style and tone as the prospective feature Bad Head.

  • Visual References
    Visual References

    Visual references for the project Bad Head.

Sculptural Practice

"The mirrored forms of Jimmy Joe Roche’s sculptures resemble the symmetrical inkblots used in Rorschach psychological tests  - images also explored by Andy Warhol in the 1980s. The Rorschach test asks subjects to free associate with a sequence of non-representational shapes as part of a carefully structured process for analyzing the human psyche. 

The great complexity of Roche’s composition suggests a highly labyrinthine and fluid evocation of individual psychology. With its intricate layers of color and interwoven passengers, this obsessively handcut piece is in keeping with the diverse, colorful, and interrelated network of personalities that the artist creates and embodies in his photographs and videos. The distortions of self image that Roche cultivates when performing his alter egos have an almost psychedelic quality, possibly reflected in the in the intense, doubled patterns and pulsating hues of his sculpture."

-- Kristen Hilman, writing as curator of Contempary Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 2013


 


 

  • Great Alaskan Meta Dripper, 2013
    Great Alaskan Meta Dripper, 2013

    Paper, acrylic paint, spray paint. 144 x 180 x 8 inches

  • Great Alaskan Meta Dripper, 2013
    Great Alaskan Meta Dripper, 2013

    Paper, acrylic paint, spray paint. 144 x 180 x 8 inches

  • Midnight Ethereal Royal Texas Dripper, 2014
    Midnight Ethereal Royal Texas Dripper, 2014

    Wood, painted/handcut paper, 84 x 36 x 36 inches

  • Midnight Ethereal Royal Texas Dripper, 2014
    Midnight Ethereal Royal Texas Dripper, 2014

    Wood, painted/handcut paper, 84 x 36 x 36 inches

  • Parasitic Levetating Jelly Dripper, 2014
    Parasitic Levetating Jelly Dripper, 2014

    Wood, painted/handcut paper. 80 x 34 x 34 inches

  • High Planes Meta-Dripper, 2013
    High Planes Meta-Dripper, 2013

    Aluminum, acrylic paint, digital printing. 120 x 111 x 9.5 inches

  • Reflective Monochrome (black), 2014
    Reflective Monochrome (black), 2014

    Laser cut, powder coated aluminum. 48 inch diameter

  • Greater Black Astral Dripper, 2013
    Greater Black Astral Dripper, 2013

    This sculpture is 10 feet tall. The interior and exterior edges as well as the back of the work are painted with day-glo paint giving the work a halo on the wall. Metal extrusions blossom and twist out from the work into the museum space. It reflects light. The color printing leaves metal exposed.

    Aluminum, acrylic paint, digital printing. 122.5 x 99.5 x 9.25 inches

  • Delerium, 2008
    Delerium, 2008

    Acrylic on cotton rag. 43 x3 x40 inches

  • Great Alaskan Meta Dripper, 2013
    Great Alaskan Meta Dripper, 2013

    Paper, acrylic paint, spray paint. 144 x 180 x 8 inches

Sound Art

Jimmy Joe Roche began performing noise and sound pieces at house shows and DIY warehouse spaces in Baltimore in 2010. He built his first synthesizer on the west side at the legendary home and performance space Tarantula Hill. His early electronic performances used homemade electronics, microphones, cymbals and repurposed bio-feedback devices from the 1970’s. Later, Roche learned the visual programing software Max/MSP and developed performances that manipulated sound and video with the muscles in his face. After a decade focusing on live performance, Roche now primarily focuses on recording and releasing material on Ultraviolet Light, the record label he has run since 2015.   

I love making noise. It’s a great pleasure, a sense of play and discovery. Sound is freeing and beautiful in the sense that it can tell complex stories without images. For an image-maker this is a great release. While this may seem paradoxical at first blush, I find a narrative quality in non-idiomatic, ambient sounds and noise that traditional song forms lack.  

-- Jimmy Joe Roche  

 

 

 

  • Sound Art
    Sound Art

    Jimmy preparing for a High Zero Festival performance in 2016 while holding his newborn son Marlowe. 

  • High Zero
    High Zero

    2016 High Zero Music Festival Poster, featuring Jimmy Joe Roche. 

  • Harvest Works Residency

    In 2012 Jimmy Joe Roche received a New Works Residency at Harvestworks in NYC. The result is the Mad Max Noise Vest. This video documents JJR's first time using the device.

  • Synth file

    “In the first year of the pandemic, I started creating with and occasionally recording my modular synth at the end of the day between nine and ten at night. It was my way of decompressing and tuning out the stress of that period. Most of these tracks came out of that ritual of exploring my instrument. I usually only record something if the sound produces the same level of joy and excitement that I received from the process of discovering it, and I usually only release something if I feel that months later the recording is still interesting once the memory of and tactile imprint of the creative act is gone.” - Jimmy Joe Roche

     

  • Sound file

    Jimmy Joe Roche's side from a very limited edition split cassette with Dan Deacon. 

  • Swamp Waves

    "Swamp Waves was recorded live in my home during the summer of 2011. The sounds were inspired by the paintings of Charles Burchfield, memories of Florida and the sounds of cicadas outside my window. Parts of this tape are very much in stereo." - Jimmy Joe Roche

  • Sentient Fungus

    This release contains dripping swamp mirages, psychic messages trapped in atmospheric cloud formations and bad elevator music. Improvisations on Cocoquantus, Double Knot and Modular Synthesizer. From the album  SENTIENT FUNGUS

  • Live Performance at the Walters Art Museum
    Live Performance at the Walters Art Museum

    Live performance at the Walters Art Museum August. I am facing the painting Flowers by a Pond with Frogs by Giuseppe Recco which inspired the performance. 6 channels of audio, 100ft of wire, and homemade speakers. I made metallic resonator speakers out of broken cymbals and sound exciters and installed them throughout the space creating a 360˚ soundscape. 

  • Performance Documentation
    Performance Documentation

    Documentation of an early performance using Max/MSP, video and biofeedback circuits.

Ultraviolet Light

Ultraviolet Light is a music label established in 2015 in Baltimore, MD. The label is founded, operated, and curated by Jimmy Joe Roche. UVL is dedicated to releasing work by artists who push sonic boundaries, emphasize experimentation, conceptualize sound as invisible sculpture, and radiate mysterious energies. Roche creates almost all of the design and visual art for the releases. He uses the medium of risograph and silkscreen printing for the editions. UVL is about to release its 31st album. Here are a collection of releases with art and design created by Roche. 

  • UVL
    UVL

    A selection of 12 of UVL's 31 releases, featuring art and design by Jimmy Joe Roche.

  • UVL
    UVL

    Cover art for Jimmy Joe Roche's "Happy Casio".

  • UVL
    UVL

    Album art for Jimmy Joe Roche's vinyl release of "Flicker From in the Summer Breeze".

  • UVL
    UVL

    Cover art for Todd Barton's "Spectral" and Matthias Urban's "Intermission".

  • UVL
    UVL

    Cover art for Todd Boram's "Hidden is Nasal Plosion".

  • UVL
    UVL

    Cover art for "Suren Seneveratne".

New Works

New Works is a screening series dedicated entirely to showcasing the work of film and video artists based in Baltimore, MD. Typically, there are two central stipulations for artists invited to participate: they must be based in Baltimore and they must attend the screening. The mission of New Works is to foster community among local image makers and promote, support, and grow the local scene. The series was founded by Jimmy Joe Roche in 2016.

  • New Works
    New Works

    A selection of flyers for "New Works" screenings, designed by Jimmy Joe Roche, featuring the names of Baltimore-based artists contributing work.

  • New works
    New works

    A "New Works" screening at 2640 Space.

  • New Works
    New Works

    Promotional material for "New Works", designed and screen-printed by Jimmy Joe Roche.

  • New Works
    New Works

    The crowd attending a "New Works" screening at 2640 Space.

  • New Works
    New Works

    A t-shirt for "New Works" designed by Jimmy Joe Roche.