In The Last Throes of Artistic Vision (1980)
This droll work explores the supposed pathos of artistic suffering intertwined with ruminations on violence and ambition, all in the form of a gothic novel. In the performance, over two nights a Rembrandt-Dracula painted “The Slaughtered Ox” in paint-by-number format; and during the intervening days she slept in a coffin filled with earth. Overhead a lamb carcass was suspended from the ceiling, an enactment of the painting. The installation/durational performance was on the top floor of an abandoned warehouse. Rembrandt, the so-called “prince of darkness,” was conflated with that other prince, Dracula, and the prescriptive painting was duly executed in a performative installation viewed by a public audience that could drop by at any time. Led by wraiths carrying candles, the audience walked up five flights of stairs to encounter a dramatically lit tableau and melodramatic soundtrack.
Public Spirit Festival, produced by Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, California.
