Jason Rhoades 1965-2006

Today is the anniversary of Jason Rhoades death. In 2006 in the Mexico City art fair he had a trailer truck with a bar, a gallery and a secret VIP room. A gigantic inflatable vagina surrounded the back of the trailer. The piece was exhibited at the Laboratorio de Arte Alameda, which used to be the old convent of San Diego. There was a strange formal similarity between the humungous sexual organ and the baroque façade of the XVI century building. The crazy celebration with bizarre characters such as the Jewish Elvis and the pretty bartender that licked your head (in my case my glasses), and stranger and stronger cocktails was a relief from the snobby art fair and its uptight dinners. It brought to me a particular nostalgia for the Calarts parties of my graduate education years and the provocative absurdity of Los Angeles in general. Later I was invited to the “Black Pussy Soirée Cabaret Macramé” in his studio in Los Angeles. After trying to find all the possible synonyms for female genitalia he served us Ice Cream on Mexican donkey carts that had to be inserted in a shoe. He helped my friend Paco Marcial and I am thankful for that.