d’Arte Board

I didn’t have time to make anything new this week, sorry everyone, it’s just one of those things. Between the usual demands of daily life there has been packing, moving, travel arrangements, and my twice yearly charity event (yes that is me, second from the right) for which I have been promoted (?) to Art Chair. That by the way is just a fancy way of saying I get to organize a thousand Bed Bath and Beyond framed prints and stick price tags on them.

But I digress, point is this week there will be no art from me, however I am going to point you in the direction of an artist I learned about this week from my friend Thairin over at World Of Wonder named Greer Lankton. She made interestingly creepy, sometimes life sized dolls, and I love the work but I was also fascinated by how she seemed to occupy what I think of as “in between places”. She was a transsexual who regretted her choice, an artist who’s work straddled what is for some of us the familiarly blurred line of art and craft, as well as the place between being recognized for both being the creator of and the inspiration for many works of art. She had been the model/subject/muse to artists like Nan Goldin, Peter Hujar, and David Wojnarowicz, plus she made and wore a giant fat suit sometimes and that alone makes me love her. Sadly, three out of four of the people I just mentioned are no longer with us making art, Greer passed away of a drug overdose after years of battling depression, drug addiction, and eating disorders. One of her old friends writer and curator Julia Morton wrote a touching memorial ten years after her passing for ArtNet if you are interested in getting to know her a little better.

-Toni “bunnie” Tiller

This entry was posted on September 30, 2009 at 8:23 am and is filed under Art, obituary, Toni Tiller with tags Art, dolls, greer lankton. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.