John Waters has another art exhibit at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York. The theme of this one seems to be gay mid-to-late-life crisis, as the lovable old freak sees the gay world around him succumb to the worst horrors he ever imagined: getting married and having kids.
Here is one sculpture, Bill's Stroller, 2014, an umbrella stroller with leather, spikes, and custom-printed linen, which is an edition of five. Waters recently described it in Artforum:
Bill's Stroller is influenced by Provincetown's Gay Family Week. Bill is my fake son. I had him made. He is an angry baby with bad hair. He was also my Christmas card one year, and people believed my fatherhood was true! The piece is a child's stroller but with leather straps, and printed fabric with logos from all the sex bars that have vanished in New York or San Francisco. I'm trying to pay tribute to the passing of time for an outlaw minority that is now eager to be middle class.And here is Waters describing Bill in NY Magazine in 2008:
Bill, the fake baby, sits in the living room with a shiny patina of fake saliva on his rather hideous lips. "I told them I wanted an angry baby with bad hair," Waters says.Which means Bill is like 7yo now? And so might have outgrown the stroller? Perhaps there is now a bratty 1st grader Bill in the living room holding an iPad? They grow up so fast, even the fake ones.
Anyway, here is a photo of John and Bill, I'm guessing Christmas 2007, which may be the first baby picture I've ever seen by Nan Goldin. I will now have to look into it.
Waters' show Beverly Hills John is on view through Feb. 14 at Marianne Boesky [marianneboeskygallery]
Previously, and suddenly making more sense, timing-wise: Playdate, 2006, by John Waters
