I can appreciate all types of drag, even the girls who go for the beaded gowns and Dynasty-era styling. This type tends to be a little too serious, but I will bow down to their effort, dedication and attention to detail. The opposite end of the drag spectrum is what I really love, Skag Drag. I think the first time I ever heard the term was from the late artist Jerome Caja.

Jerome was an incredible artist who would paint with nail polish. I was more of an acquaintance of his, but I remember being either at his studio or apartment and seeing boxes and rows and rows of different shades of nail polish–a manicurists wet dream. It struck me as brilliant and totally innovative that his paints had the built-in brush and that he could use them on himself as well. Probably because his paints came in such small amounts, his work was really, really small.

One of my favorite pieces was a portrait of Bozo the Clown in the middle of a used Band-Aid, blood and all. A few years before he died (1995), he was in a big show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and it was a thrill to see all these wild drag queens and gay punks mixing it up with a bunch of overdressed socialites and museum members.

Jerome’s visual presentation of himself was his other art. He was tall, very thin and had long blond hair. His make-up style sometimes looked as if he applied it in total darkness and he would wear clothes that even the Goodwill would throw away. Wearing a feather boa and dirty mens briefs and high heels with tube socks was an actual look I saw him sporting once and I thought, “That’s fashion!”

Sadly, I don’t have a single photograph that I took of Jerome and will have to cherish the countless times I’d see him and hear the shrill laugh that was such a part of his undeniable presence.

Photos of Jerome were taken from his myspace page.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 1:10 pm and is filed under Artists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.