John Waters | "Tragedy", 2015 | (for Parkett 96)
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Parkett Vol. 96
Quote from Parkett
"John Waters, appropriately known as the “Pope of Trash,” adores bad taste and things despicable, negative, and disgusting. He loves difference and paradox."
Christine Macel, Parkett No. 96, 2015
Additional Quote
“This highly unusual piece from filmmaker and artist John Waters is characteristic of his penchant for flamboyance, violence and kitsch. Made from acrylic, synthetic blonde hair, and painted silicone, Tragedy is reminiscent of a character from one of Waters’ wild cult films, such as Hairspray. An homage to the death of blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield, the piece evokes a serial killers’ trophy or a beauty-queen catfight gone-wrong. Dubbed the “Pope of Trash,” Waters has made his career on rebelling against the “tyranny of good taste” with delightful glee.” -Artspace
"Tragedy", 2015 (for Parkett 96)
Acrylic, synthetic hair, painted silicon, urethane,
approx. 18 x 18 x 5” (46 x 46 x 12,5cm),
produced by Alterian Inc.
Ed. 25 / XX, signed and numbered certificate
Artist Document
“TRAGEDY” BY JOHN WATERS
“I love Jayne Mansfield way more than Marilyn Monroe. Not because she was somehow amusingly second-rate, but because her lifestyle was so beyond the limits of what could be called “bad” that she ended up defining for me what was “good" about show business. I'm not alone. From Frank Tashlin (The Girl Can't Help It) to Diane Arbus (Jayne Mansfield Cimber-Ottaviano, Actress, With Her Daughter, Jayne Marie, 1965) to David Cronenberg (Crash), Jayne Mansfield has inspired artists to throw down the gauntlet and have the courage to battle the tyranny known as “good taste.”
Jayne' s death still overshadows her career today. Despite appearing in major Hollywood hit movies and Broadway musicals, she is most remembered for being killed instantly in that awful car accident in 1967 while being driven from a successful engagement at Gus Stevens's supper club in Biloxi, Mississippi, to New Orleans, where she was to appear on a local morning talk show. Legend has it that she was decapitated. It wasn't until twenty years later that the New York Times attempted to set the record straight by interviewing her undertaker who explained it wasn't her head that came off but her wig. Then another report came in confusing the issue by stating that part of her scalp was separated from her skull. Which was it, goddammit? Wig, scalp, or head?
Is it wrong to ask this question by creating a Parkett edition depicting her grisly demise, or fair game remembering Jayne's unquenchable lust for any form of publicity while she was alive? After all, one of her biographers wrote that Jayne's funeral plans might have included “Chubby Checker doing the Twist on top of her pink coffin.” Wouldn't Jayne appreciate the irony of my appalling taste inside a tony Swiss art magazine with highbrow credentials? Jayne remains the high priestess of lunatic glamour so it' s hard to imagine her ever wanting to rest in peace. I hope she can join me from beyond the grave in guiltily celebrating her everlasting, beautiful notoriety.“
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