the violet sissy questionnaire
presented in conjunction with the artist's solo exhibition
violet sissy
fleur pinkie
on view at RUSCHMAN
November 9, 2024 — January 11, 2025
What is your beauty routine each morning that helps you feel ready for the day?
Ice cold fountain Diet Coke from McDonald’s for effervescence; tousle of dry shampoo to revive my curly mohawk with volume and definition; orris scented powder pounced about my thighs to prevent chafing; spritzes of perfume for protection; only occasionally heavy heavy blush brought to you by Trixie Mattel blush sticks and a mix of ultra matte powders from MAC, Pat McGrath, and Dior; only occasionally lipstick by Revlon, Serge Lutens, or Dior.
Where/when are you happiest?
Very recently, actually.
What is your favorite question to ask?
What do you feel responsible for?
How’s your head?
It hurts.
What have you learned this week?
I can concoct bespoke buttermilks using plain whole milk and vinegars of my choosing.
Who is making and/or disseminating your favorite memes?
IG:
@missladysalad
@adriennemareebrown
@didyoujustsaywig
@iamthirtyaf
@reductress
What made you laugh the most, most recently?
Vinny Thomas’ character sketches on Tiktok and IG: @vinn_ayy on both.
Is there a quote from a movie/interview/lyric/text/conversation/dream/etc that you just can’t get out of your head?
I reread Saidiya Hartman’s ‘Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval’ this year, and it wrecked me even more the second time through. She offers some of the most exquisite prose I’ve ever encountered to describe the possibilities produced from queerness, otherness, and disenfranchisement under duress. Passages like:
“yet the inchoate, what you wanted but couldn’t name, the resolute, stubborn desire for an elsewhere and an otherwise that had yet to emerge clearly, a notion of the possible whose outlines were fuzzy and amorphous, exerted a force no less powerful and tenacious…guessing at the world and seizing at chance, she eludes the law and transforms the terms of the possible.”
Who is mother?
Louise Bourgeois.
At what temperature is your thermostat usually set?
64
Describe your fantasy vanity. What does it look like? Its constructs, colors, and constituent parts?
brass, copper, leather, glass, diamante and chalk, in nine parts
Wiener Werkstätte meets Cathy de Monchaux with Chinoiserie inflections. Christened with rituals by Lise Haller Baggesen, Sands Murray Wassink, and Judith Brotman.
18th century lacquer Chinese makeup boxes, sweeping art deco frameworks, pouf for sitting cross legged, space for display and storage for the perfume archive and powder collection. Edwardian-style secret compartments for pornographies and shelves for books.
pencil and gouache on paper
A salon of artworks by Lynne Woods Turner, Mary C. Griffin, Vaginal Davis, Alan Reid, Ben Foch, Bonnie Lucas, J Kent, and Latonnya Nicole Lee.
What perfumes are currently out on your vanity or nightstand, ready to go from recent frequent use?
Vecchi Rossetti by Hilde Soliani, Moulin Rose from Odette Parfum Co., Jours Heureux by Bienaimé, and most of all lately 18 - 12 by Ormaie. Many of Laurie Stern’s creations for her Velvet & Sweet Pea’s Purrfumery; I wear lots of them regularly, but I’ve reached for Bed of Roses the most lately.
Which perfumes have been giving you power lately?
My Sin from Lanvin, Santal Majuscule by Serge Lutens, Dior’s Cuir Cannage, Bvlgari Pour Femme, Tom Ford Violet Blonde, Positively Do Not Open by Claire Baxter at Sixteen92
Who are your style icons? Which ones have been with you the longest?
In chronological order:
Miss Piggy
Baba Yaga
Rei Kawakubo
Lynn Yaeger
Bridget Everett
Edith Massey
Justin Vivian Bond
Christeene
Courtney Love
Lisa Corrin
Simone Rocha
Colette Lumiere
Queen of Melrose
What’s in your purse today?
a passport, a metal nail file, dental floss, Ativan, credit card, tester spray of Fendi’s La Baguette eau de parfum
What’s your favorite lipstick to reapply on those long days when you’re bopping from teaching, to lunch meetings, to dinners, to openings, etc.
Long days usually call for something with a bit more drama to keep my energy up. Beauty Bakerie’s long-wearing liquid matte Mon Cherie is like dark red velvet; its only downside is you need a welder’s torch and a mafia body disposal team to get it off. Tom Ford’s Night Porter is a shade of vamp that stays intriguing for hours and hours.
How much do you think your two cats, Orlando and The Waves, understand about your studio practice?
Orlando is perplexed but supportive of what I do; The Waves understands more about it than I do.
porcelain
oil, silk fiber rosettes ca. 1800s, on Belgian linen over aluminum panel with poplar cradle
This is an evil question, but I get asked it of me by a lot of visitors to the gallery: do you have a favorite piece in the show?
I don’t think I’ve ever had an exhibition with so many works I deeply care about. And I’ve noticed my ‘favorite’ has changed often. But there are two pieces that have gotten at certain formal, conceptual, and emotive qualities that I’ve been in pursuit of throughout the decades of my practice: ‘The Women (Ishiuchi Miyako. Frida by Ishiuchi #39, 2013)’ and ‘you were an old lady and a young lady and a very little girl – hilst.’ These both humble me a great deal.
There were songs and albums that you listened to while making the work for this exhibition; but, what songs and albums would you recommend to visitors as a soundtrack for viewing the exhibition (aside from Glenn Close’s distant voice in your “the horizontal mourners” video?
Cocteau Twins and Strawberry Switchblade; also each person’s go-to melancholy playlist.
Many visitors to the exhibition have told me that they were absolutely going home and watching “Dangerous Liaisons” again that night, after viewing your “the horizontal mourners” video. What movie are you going home tonight to immediately rewatch?
'Rouge,' 1987, Stanley Kwan
then probably
'The Watermelon Woman,' 1996, Cheryl Dunye
and then
'Baxter, Vera Baxter,' 1977, Marguerite Duras
and finally
'In the Realm of the Senses,' 1976, Nagisa Ōshima
Pretend for a moment that we still live in a world where VHS’s are the dominant form of viewing films at home. Which films have the tapes completely worn through from repeat frequent viewing?
'The Hours,' 2002, Stephen Daldry
'The Handmaiden,' 2016, Park Chan-wook
'Bound,' 1996, the Wachowski sisters
'Desperate Living,' 1977, John Waters
What is the perfect film to nap to?
'Spirited Away,' 2001, Hayao Miyazaki
'Stepford Wives,' 2004, Frank Oz
and the tetralogy of Hunger Games movies.
What’s your favorite “non-art” (whatever that means) object currently on display in your home?
Display connotes objet, rather than, say, books which would complicate things terribly. Still there are many things to pick from. In the living room, I have a delicate porcelain teacup from Japan that has a miniature depiction of lesbian erotica embossed in the bottom of the cup—only after all the tea would be sipped would the empty cup be raised and illuminated from behind to reveal the secret image. Prized possession. In my office is a group of antique powder puffs that have been embroidered and decorated with ribbonwork by hand—I suppose if I had a horcrux, it would be these.
watercolor on canvas
If you could acquire any artwork right now, what would it be?
Silke Otto Knapp’s ‘White lilac,’ 2009, watercolor on canvas, 140 cm x 120 cm
What artists would you like to be curated alongside, that you feel would expand and reinforce the ideas and energies present in your practice?
I feel a profound attachment to my acquaintance with Jimmy Robert and the foaming parasocial sense that our work has much in common. Along with all time art heroines like Marie Laurencin, Marcel Broodthaers, Hanne Darboven, Ima-Abasi Okon, Ann Craven, and Ms. Vaginal Davis, Robert figures prominently in my fantasies of future exhibitions.
Others: E. Jane, Irini Karayannopoulou, Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Reba Maybury, Willem de Rooij, Alan Reid, Soshiro Matsubara, My Barbarian, Lil Picard, Zoe Williams, Evelyn Taocheng Wang, Richard Hawkins, Nayland Blake, Lucy McKenzie, Kapwani Kiwanga, Joe Brainard ... Oh, I’ll exhibit with my angel sibling Kitty Rauth as often as they’ll have me. I’ve recently been super excited by work shown in London by Nina Mhach Durban + Athen Kardashian, and I think we’ve got a rapport that could be explored.
A close friend recently described being in your exhibition as what it must feel like to move through the mise en scène of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant.” How do you think about your works in physical relationship to one another within the context of an exhibition setting?
They are almost always in a state of aftermath. There is delicate disarray with fragments winking and reaching for other elements. Longing, desire, attachment, and loss define the physical conditions of the exhibition layouts.
You began working on “violet sissy fleur pinkie” over a year before it opened. Which elements surprised you in the final installation, as compared to your initial vision for the show?
I didn’t expect the two paintings that reenact monochrome works by Sherrie Levine to feel that, in spite of their uncomplicated appearance somehow hold most of the mood, psychology, and attempts at meaning that comprise the entire exhibition.
"Silk chiffon silk hotel" underwent so many changes and false starts.
"The White Witch" and "Dream Girl" paintings have definitely opened up something new.
Working in porcelain is very new! The porcelain elements in the exhibition were selected from a collection of works, experiments, and tests I’ve been making this year.
The dry hominy as one of the floor elements was a very late decision.
What’s happening currently in the studio?
I’m drawing with soft pastels, I’m starting paintings based on imagery sourced from the online kink community FetLife, and there’s a caryatid sculpture I’ve realized I need to read Stacy A. Cordery’s new book about Elizabeth Arden in order to understand next steps.
Do you have a favorite installation of one of your works in a collector’s home? It’s placement, context, mood, etc?
Gosh, I love when the works involving textile interact with interior décor and domestic life. A couple in a Mies high rise has a mostly blush pink bâton installed so it interacts with the grid of the building’s facade and the grids and strong vertical shapes of the skyline just beyond it.
What did your Spotify wrapped get right? What did it get wrong?
It could have easily been my Spotify Wrapped from 1998: Indigo Girls, Tori Amos, Shania Twain, Tracy Chapman, Sixpence None the Richer, Divinyls.
The last couple of years have been constantly accompanied by Tina Turner, Lana Del Rey, and the choral arrangements of twelfth century abbess Hildegard von Bingen —maybe fewer plays in 2024, but they are in my bones.
When did you realize that you were a Diet Coke girl?
Just before the 1992 Winter Olympics.
What’s your current favorite snack?
Toasted english muffins with salted amish butter.
What was your favorite bite of food in 2024?
Three-way tie, in no particular order:
Sugoi Sweets’ Chicago Corn bonbon;
the ube custard with torched marshmallow and shards of homemade fortune cookie at Chef’s Special;
my humble homage to Bangkok culinary genius Jay Fai’s famous crab meat omelette—even my novice attempt was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.
Who is making your favorite cocktails these days? Which drink is at the top of your current list of favorites?
This changes often, but lately I’ve been enjoying the beverage programs around Chicago at Chef’s Special, Coquette, Osito’s, and Scofflaw. We’ve just been to the very gin forward cocktail bar Bisous in the west loop, and I’m so impressed. Oh and Candy Bar in Detroit.
An Aviation is the all time fav, that and a dry rosé bubble called Limo d’Anes Pet Nat NV from Domaine Deux Anes.
Which restaurant has been treating you right lately?
Bar Parisette
Qing Xiang Yuan Dumplings
Duck Inn
and the egg foo young from Wen Cai on Cermak.
Describe your favorite way to wind down in the evening.
Sitting in the shower listening to a playlist of romantic arias, lit candle (lately the discontinued Lavender Marshmallow from Bath & Body Works), sipping a pour of kirschwasser over crushed ice out of a lidded cup—above all, centering my attention on gratitude.
What do you find so sublimely relaxing about Fund Drive season on the classical radio station (98.7 WFMT Chicago)?
The repetition, the soft collapse of collaboration on air, the lack of rehearsal, the edge of desperation—a very different structure for drama to play out than those of the novel or the reality show.
velveteen profile
What slang have you brought into your personal lexicon this year?
I think the only way I know how to answer this is to recommend the OUTSTANDING survey of queer conceptualist Millie Wilson’s work currently on view at the Krannert, ‘The Museum of Lesbian Dreams.’ It’s chock full of sly invocations of queer coded slang, a lot from earlier eras I hadn’t heard before. Just another reason everyone should see this exhibition.
And the string of colloquial terms for coke in Deadpool and Wolverine. My favorite was ‘white girl interrupted.’
Which books are you more likely to find in your studio than in your home?
Colleen Wolff’s The Art of Manipulating Fabric, and a few things by Jamieson Webster—currently her book Disorganisation & Sex. I also have Marguerite Duras’ The War in there right now.
What comics were you reading and collecting as a kid?
Cathy, by Cathy Guisewite
Generation X as it was coming out, and lots of older X titles
Legion of Superheroes
The Outsiders
Catwoman
Wonder Woman
Justice League Europe
anything that had anything to do with Zatanna, Emma Frost, Poison Ivy, or Scarlet Witch.
What comics are you reading and collecting now?
Yikes, some things stay very consistent:
anything that has anything to do with Zatanna, Emma Frost, Poison Ivy, or Scarlet Witch;
I’ve been reading Catwoman, too,
but also I’m devoted to Marjorie Liu + Sana Takeda’s *EPIC* Monstress series. I’ve also been enjoying Amy Chu + Soo Lee’s Carmilla: The First Vampire, Kamome Shirahama’s manga Witch Hat Atelier, Garth Ennis + Jacen Byrrows’ The Ribbon Queen, Skottie Young + Jorge Corona’s Ain’t No Grave, and pretty much anything from the dark, coquettish imagination of Maria Llovet (Porcelain, Violent Flowers). And I’m obsessed with Jackie Ormes’ comic strip Patty-Jo ‘n’ Ginger that ran from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s and starred a pair of Black sisters navigating gender, race, fashion, and politics with cutting wit.
Who played your favorite Catwoman?
Eartha Kitt, but I admire Michelle Pfeiffer’s a great deal too.
Who performed your favorite Miss Havisham on screen?
Joan Hickson for sure, but Helena Bonham Carter has the most fun with the role.
What television reboot are you actually ready for someone to make that isn’t being (re)made yet?
I would love if someone wanted to make more seasons of Gentleman Jack. Same for Deadloch and Harlots—although these wouldn’t be reboots per se.
I’m always down for new adaptations of Agatha Christie.
What’s your current ring tone (if any)?
It’s rarely turned on, but if it is, it plays a recording of Viola Davis from an episode of How To Get Away with Murder in which she yells ‘No! No! No!’
What will be your next tattoo?
Probably a ‘couples’ tattoo’ of Bette Davis eyes, since the Kim Carnes track is sortof one of ‘our songs’ for André Marin and me.
What draws you to a specific medium of production over another? When is it painting time? When is it porcelain time? When is it ribbon time?
They ask for different sorts of attention and taste; I navigate among modes by my appetites, my lusts. Painting disrupts language, is a psychological swamp, and for me time stops. Sewing calls on ancestors and is somehow both humble and dazzlingly opulent in the haute couture manipulations I’m using—ruffles, gathers, festoons, poufs, etc. Porcelain is a power trip, a place to be with my failures and the learning curves, but also to see how I build something I want to see into being. Most of the porcelain work is situated very close to boudoir space, vanities, historically femme-coded conditions. It’s also like playing with dolls. Writing simmers for long stretches then falls onto the screen. Perfume can be blended in very fast bursts, then have to be lived with and contemplated before necessary adjustments become clear. A sense of longing compels me, and an efficient multitasker’s temperament thrives in such a multivalent workflow.
Describe your Christmas tree, for those who haven’t been lucky enough to bask in its presence.
It’s a confectionary miracle that can magically heal all who sit before it. It’s a white artificial tree, festooned in garlands of plastic candies and marshmallows, multicolored lights and strings of pink ones. It’s topped with a star covered in arts-n-crafts pompoms. The ornaments are less coded into typical Christmastime iconography: there are many many ghosts, witches, bats, skeletons, and tombstones, along with bonbons, candies, macaron, doughnuts, and other temptations rendered in crocheted yarn, papier-mâché, or vintage plastics. Many refurbished toys from the 80s and 90s, along with ornaments from our childhoods. Sexy mermen, mid-century pulp style lesbians, fairies, angels, lipsticks, broomsticks, and frequent allusions to the grey cats with whom we cohabitate.
What was it about Nicole Kidman’s AMC Theaters movie spot? Or, to ask this a different way: does heartbreak indeed feel good in a place like this?
In it she is a sylph floating over puddles and pools of silver light, looking on with fascination and compassion at the COVID-19 pandemic, our fears, and our longings. She loosens the insistent grip of a totalitarian zeitgeist, instead leading us into a realm of projections, shadows, crucial memory work, and healing broken hearts. It’s all very camp and very gay.
What was the last movie you saw in the theater? What are you going to go see next?
Nosferatu; Babygirl
What’s missing?
Support, empathy, capacities for care, research, analysis, and discourse at the scale of society. For me, it’s been a friend of mine, also named Matt.
What are you tired of hearing? What do you want to hear more of?
Tired of hearing: lies, delusions, hollow excuses, empty promises, poorly laid plans, lip service, regurgitated status quo justifications for toxic, destructive behavior.
Want to hear more of: live opera, audiobooks in the studio, girl stuff.
There’s been a curse on language and we all have to pick one word we can never use again. Is there one that you’d be happy to do away with?
men
There’s been a different curse on language and we all have to use one word at least 5 times per day. Which word are you relishing and happy to develop a deeper relationship with?
imbricate
What’s coming up?
Repressed memories and forgotten dreams are coming up—the kind of nearly invisible emotional labor that nonetheless has smudgy fingerprints all over it. What’s coming. up? Inevitable deaths for everything living is really the only answer to this—and all the work we all do to be ready to die. Between now and whenever that it, I’m preparing for a birthday and a few exhibitions in the United States and Montreal in the first part of next year.
What are you most looking forward to?
The next times I get to spend with various folx in my queer chosen family.
