I began this collection of work, “Communion”, in 2017. At a kind of crossroads in my work, I asked myself what my idols would do, what direction would they take? Burn the books! Throw formalism out the window! Assail the viewer with emotion, provide a visceral experience! And so I contemplated such moves in a series of portraits of my earliest influences - poets, musicians and tragic cultural figures that made the creative life so alluring to a tragic young girl. These works are a self reflective update to the charcoal drawings I made of Morrissey and Artaud in my bedroom at night when I was 17.
And then the cherry on the sundae, John Waters asked me to paint a portrait for the cover of his newest novel! Who would I be without the Pope of Trash? How would I even do my hair if not for the dreamlanders? Fortunately, I never need know the answers to these questions, because John Waters and his wild oeuvre are here to give fanatical ardor and technicolor to the time in which I live. And here is the book!
