(click to enlarge)
"Art World Truth #1", 2007, thrift store overalls worn to paint "Blessed Art Thou", paint, embroidery, 60 x 19" unframed (click to enlarge)

This is a rough unofficial image, they will ultimately be nicely shaped and framed behind plexi in ornate gold frames when exhibited.

I am embroidering art world truths on the overalls I have worn when I paint. I wore one primarily while painting "Blessed Art Thou", another during "Fate of a Technicolor Romantic", etc. They each have the paint colors from that painting wiped on them, as this is my habit.

I grew up with the Catholic notion of relics. These are the residue of the cathetic ritual of creation, marking time spent on the painting, then further invested with time through the embroidery process. I sometimes fell like a bit of a relic myself for investing so much time into each piece, and creating my own work from start to finish, no longer the norm in the art world... all of this is crossed with the Emperor's New Clothes, and the "worker's " observations on the current state of the Art World.

When I was in LA, I asked a curator friend if she could recommend a gallery in LA, and she responded: "I know this sounds silly, and is frustrating to hear, but your work is too good (i.e., you paint too slowly, you are too obsessive): they would look at your paintings, and say "make us ten more like that", and that would be impossible". The peculiarities of the way I work have been a source of frustration to me, and I am looking for a way to reconcile my reality with the reality of the art world. This series will be a way of emphasizing and honoring the process, what goes into the work. This is the beginning of a peripheral project, done at night when I am worn out from painting, but my hands still want to work. I can also take the pieces with me when I travel, and still be productive. I will be looking to propose a show someplace where the overalls will be framed next to the paintings.