Waiting for my past to catch up
As Fran Lebowitz once opined, “We live in a world where they applaud the price, not the Picasso.” As history repeats itself again and again, the hard-working artist’s creations become a major commodity. In many cases, death and the resulting dearth of available art brings up the artist’s worth.
It seems, as Fran suggested, that price reigns supreme. Damien Hirst made headlines with For the Love of God, a platinum cast human skull covered in 8,601 flawless diamonds, which he priced at $100 million dollars. A record high at the time in 2007. One version of Jeff Koons’ Rabbit was sold for $91.1 million at Christies.
In my view, the most precious jewel is the creative process.
It was 20 years ago, June 2004, after completing a major project, I awoke after 10 days of sleep, to the view of Sacré Coeur the Immaculate Conception. I woke laughing because, in the dream, I had built a piano of black and white penises. I was born into a family with a history of 500 years in the Vatican, so who better to receive such a message?
A few days later I was leaving Paris to travel to the Sassi di Matera, in Italy’s Basilicata region, where my studio is located. In the south of Italy — actually all of Italy– Fellini is everywhere. Pain can be felt in the cheekbones of one’s face from the laughter of life.
This is where it all started. The Baby Grand Piano: 88 keys, 52 white penises, 36 black penises.
Discussions with a friend about the new project were thought to be in confidence. When I got back to my studio ten minutes later, I’d already gotten a slew of calls about the Piano project.
It became a Fellini-esque experience.
The film maker, Alexandro Jodorowsky, when told of the project said, “That is totally impossible. Everything has been done in the Arts. How could someone not have done this before?”
After three days in my studio, everyone was talking about the piano project that I did not think would be possible to make in this small city in the south. A call from my best friend warned me about the police and that my equipment could be confiscated, with a charge of pornography. I called a friend to relay the warning and he said, “Go to your studio. I will be there in 10 minutes.”
Damiano arrived with the Captain of the Polizia. He was my first penis shot. From then on, it was one big party in Basilicata where the women started bringing me their men in droves. Who would have thought that this Catholic country would take part in this adventure, especially since I was born in the USA — “the land of the free” — where I should have lines out my door because I am in the arts. WRONG.
It was harder to shoot this project in NYC than in Italy. But again the women were the driving force to bring their men and make this project happen. I also encountered another problem: I needed 36 black men to complete the project. This is where my spiritual-90-year-young mom comes to the rescue. The queen of NYC night life, Zelda Kaplan, knows every doorman, club goer, everyone from all nations. She introduced me as her daughter and said I needed a certain part of their body for a photo shoot. Every answer was the same, “Anything for you, Zelda.” The line was out the door, the piano shooting was done. That was the first year.
It went public in London, 2007. When I arrived in there, the first words I heard were, “You’re in “Pseuds Corner”!” “What is Pseuds Corner?” I learned it’s the Holy Grail of UK cultural society. Issue: Private Eye, U.K. No.1195,12th-25th October, “Baby Grand Piano”.????
Then, there was the roller coaster ride from the Baby Grand Piano, praise vs dissection. Since I worked with Andres Serrano, of the infamous Piss Christ controversy, my work was similarly judged for its cheap shock value. There was a buyout offer from a French gallery for all rights. I turned it down, which did not please the London gallery. My work was locked up for six months by the gallery.
On this side of the pond, another dealer had my prints and wanted to own the project, too. The war was on for trying to get my property back, but as a typically poor artist, I was stuck. Luckily a lawyer who supports my work stepped in and got my property back.
Through all of this I was tired of the fights, and the Piano project not being taken as a project of substance. So I closed the lid on the Piano project and started working on a new body of work, mainly photographic, that allowed for my experimentation and creativity to deepen.
Now about the product I am offering:
In the early days, the photographers would Vaseline their lens filters to create glamorous effects. I also re-fashioned the Piano penises in that Vaseline look–the modern version being Photoshop Vaseline.
So, 20 years later, Baby Grand Piano has become a simple tote bag that has gone through the alchemical transformation and morphed from an everyday element to a supreme one-of-a-kind object.
It employs The Baby Grand Piano, as described heretofore. Along with the image itself–the watch, safety pin, red thread and sewing needle. To Bling or Not to Bling. Like Hirst’s bejeweled 18th Century skull, the adornments to the Piano tote likewise bring it from the ordinary to the sublime. It’s the creative process on view as much as the bling….this one may be more suited for the wall than actual use, although Chanel has recently come out with hoops that dwarf mine.
It may be non-functional, but functional to understanding the process of creation.
A little about me: I am in the second half of my century, extremely prolific, with work in the MOMA, Cooper-Hewitt, and Yokohama museums, the NY Public Library and in some major art collections in countries I have not yet visited. I live by the words “everything is possible,” because that is what life has taught me. I am a woman who is constantly reminded in our culture that we don’t know our worth, and in the art world someone from somewhere will tell us our worth. Unfortunately, most artists are not alive at the moment of certification of worth. I have decided I will be.
The Baby Grand’s time has come. My past has caught up with me..
Soon the 72 x 9″ silk scarves will be available.