Papesse was made for three reasons:
1.) I had a show coming up and I needed more work to fill space.
2.) The Guggenheim’s exhibition Paintings for the Future was a life changing pilgrimage.
3.) Cathartic ownership of youthful cringe.
I was too glad to share these catalyzing series of moments with Trish when he was living out in Bed-Stuy. He met me down in the guts of Manhattan when I stumbled off a Boston-New York Chinatown bus. It was sweet to visit him there when he had finished with grad school, and we made the trip all about seeing av Klint’s work. In terms of a revolutionary visionary making an impact on the greater human experience, after careful consideration, I’d venture she’s the same caliber as Joan d’Arc. Av Klint’s sibylesque grail was the construction of an insular museum-temple where her works could be given their due context. The Guggenheim did not meet her prescription. In my mind I imagine it was maybe more like a Roddenberry hopefully-not-too-future space opera: a spirito-artistic Avalon, directed by David Lynch.
I had this so-so quality Time Life hardcover book on the Vatican that was only passable in terms of potential collage content. And in my practice of recognizing the capitalistic fallacy of scarcity I was glad to engage in the active sacrileges of excising leaves for works and the attractive usefulness of the back cover as a potential working surface. The pandemic was going on and I was running short on immediate solutions. Perhaps scarcity wasn’t such a lie after all; self-check-mate, yuh libtard-cuck. There was definitely an invigoration in the purposeful destruction of an object both inherent with and shamelessly depicting spiritual-enslavement for the purpose of generating capital. My mistake: I meant Salvation.
In using what other materials I had access to I was able to cobble together the primary color fields to do decent justice regarding a favorite of af Klint’s: The Swan, No. 17.
L’original.
L’impostrice.
The red field is the back cover from the coffee table book mentioned above.
The white semi-circle is packing tyveck from where I work.
The black semi-circle are anthers from an image of a forgotten tropical flower.
The orange semi-circle is collapse of the yellow + red original, from an anemone image.
The blue semi-circle is the verso of gold-printed celestial patterned paper.
Regarding that third reason in making this piece I wanted to honor the gifted-introduction to av Klint I received years before all this by way of a past coworker and definitely a provider of inspiration + motivation: Jakob Christmas. A bonus 2 part confession here regarding the visit to his home and studio:
1.) I was in a sleazy advertising sales position then and was fishing for a lead;
2.) Jakob Christmas is nice to look at. And is also very gracious and a charming conversationalist.
Thankfully, it turned out I was not a very successful salesman for that publication, and despite the slime trail I dribbled all around his joint during my arguably less than genuine visit, I left with my perspective shifted having experienced some real art. Mr. Christmas, my earnest apologies regarding that then thirstiness + awkwardness. And thank you for sharing such a groundbreaking artist with me then. I hope you’re well.
But all this went to make a cumulative mosaic.
Pretty good, really.
Hilma, I hope you’re doing well too.
However/where ever that might be.