been teaching full time. Making art but too exhausted for the parties lately...
She hates the night
she hates everybody inside
she won the night
she hates the flourescent lights
Is it pain for a woman like me?
Is it pain for a woman like me to feel completely?
She’s glamorous
shes only known in the right light
untangeable
that secret is the way to life
(chorus)
she’s worked the docks
she’s had enough of the hard life
she knows its rough
she knows shes tough so its alright
shes had enough she wants a touch of the kind life
She hates the lights
she hates the flourescent lights
- The Gallery
- Lithograph on Paper
Open edition
Printed at the Graphic Arts Workshop
Written transcript:
In white ink: She stares at the abandoned house. “All I would need is some house.” She breathes in. “Something like this.” We are standing on my block. It’s noisy as usual. You can see my cat in the window. I don’t think he sees me. “I wish I were a carpenter,” she says. “Jesus was a carpenter,” I say.
In red pencil: I teach in West Oakland one day and the kids have no teacher. What do they do? They know it’s fucked. They chant “Free Palestine” and I hope someone frees them too.
Transcript :
Written : The touch of divinity is probably something calming as long as it mostly leaves you alone but that’s just it isn’t it? He stares into the fog and its contemplation seems calm to him but beyond contemplation is realization and fear and those things are held in contemplation. And you contemplate and contemplate. The end you seek is nowhere to be found
On sketch: Wait! .... I’ve seen you before, right? Maybe I’ve run into you at Batcave, or one of Christina’s events? Or Knockout, or Eli’s, or Thrillhouse, or....
So many of The Gallery’s lyrics speak to the same abstract spiritualism and anxiety as this piece...
Text reads: When I was a boy, the voice of God was constant and unrelenting, at times cruel. His presence in my life was unwanted, and one night I told him this. So now I do not see him and my life is often silent. I see Angels often, but I think they sometimes taunt me. The are a flock of birds without bodies, a dark spot in the middle of the river. I go to church for comfort but they are not there. I sometimes wonder if I am condemned.
I dug these out last year for an art show at a defunct bathhouse... they hadn’t been seen in a while.
I need some space to paint! All these weird feelings about the bay area hahaha.
I started this a while ago and thought it was finished, but it really never is... and it feels a little bare bones. Plus, my hair has grown since then
“We stayed in bed all day and when it was time to leave, we lingered”
While this piece was very well recieved, I often felt as though the definitive nature of the statement seemed to place me in situations where I felt tokenized as a queer artist. I appreciate everyone who resonates with the statement.
It really has been hot, that delusional kind of heat. The kind where you swim at a nasty beach ... but at least its empty.
Pete remains one of my icons of all time, a visionary in terms of gender expression and outlandish behavior. About 6 people understood the costume and it was more people than I expected.