J. Morrison Homocats: Step Your Pussy Up! at Christopher Stout Gallery.
On Friday, May 6th, I went with Bubi to J. Morrison’s opening Homocats: Step Your Pussy Up! at the Christopher Stout Gallery Project Room in Bushwick.
I left work at 5:30 and met Bubi at The Well, the bar where Bjork often hangs out—we went in to take a look. For the rainy day, I was wearing an Only NY/Millerain waxed cotton bucket hat, a colorful scarf Dominic gave me (which was actually the inspiration for the whole outfit), Pendleton TPC cardigan, Levi’s/Alife hand-tinted 501 jeans, JPG/Alain Mikli frames, Gucci rubber loafers and a pink Ikea Family umbrella David gave me.
We headed on to the gallery space, making our way to James’ installation, an immersive environment for his mega colorful world of frisky kitty images and mind-warping psychedelia, reminding me of shamanic images that combine equal amounts of light and dark.
As James puts it, his Homocats “propose equal rights, combat cultural stereotypes, and challenge social norms.” They express what turns them on with absolute freedom, as playful emblems of openness and sensuality.
James himself was a vision in salmon and orange way, hair cut with architectural asymmetry. I marveled at the installation wallpaper, an art nouveau on acid extravaganza of kitties and medallion shapes. The wallpaper merged into a small bench where some of James’ vivid zines were displayed.
I thought we might have missed Joel as we had been running late, but he soon arrived and we all leisurely enjoyed the atmosphere.
I greeted curator Christopher Stout, whom I hadn’t seen since a performance James did at his house to celebrate a birthday, where he had us go through a plastic airduct tunnel to enter (evoking his “Escape from New York” one-on-one performances, which must experienced to be believed) and later don red feathered masks to form a toast circle with LED-lit shot glasses on the roof.
Jerry Kurian and Steven Maserjian arrived and told me how they had worked on a couple of the frames for James’ pieces. One was stark white for a Homocats multicolor crucifix, while the other extraordinarily extended the color swirl of a “Free Butt Sex” piece all the way from the photo into the frame. Van called a bit later and said he was on his way, he had been working in the studio.
James played disco selections on his red Jambox, giving the room a festive atmosphere.
After visiting for a while and taking pictures, Bubi, Joel, Van and said our goodnights. Bubi went back to his place and the rest of us walked to the L train, where we ran into Jerry and enjoyed some fun conversation on our way back to Manhattan.