shelflife by visitor

 

Kim’s a compulsive omni-maker. A lot of people know her band. Some remember X-Girl. A few remember her role in Gus Van Sant’s Last Days. Fewer know of the books, columns and articles she’s written. Then there are the exhibits she’s curated, the theater actions she’s directed, the films she’s made and that dancing she did for our film in the pink wig and school girl skirt. There’s also the point of this post–the portraits she’s painted.

 

I think the first time I noticed her paintings was during a mind-numbing afternoon of troubleshooting an old Apple Performa she had in the Gordon/Moore apartment in NYC. I had this non-functional, artifact of prehistoric computing dismantled on the floor of her office and stood up to refocus my eyes thru the window to Crosby St. Looking back down at the dust-bunny ravaged components on the floor, I caught a glimpse of a basket boiling over with canvases.

 

“Oh shit. So this is where the cover for Sentimental Education came from.” I guess I hadn’t realized she’d painted that image. I flipped thru the paintings in the basket and shouted across the living room to ask Kim about them. “They’re just something I’m working on. I’m not sure what’ll happen with them. I’ve been giving ‘em to people as gifts. You want some more tea? Hey, Thurston–you want to order some Indian? Chris, you want Indian?” It was like that–just this one-more-thing she was doing.  

 

I dug back into the eviscerated machine, repaired the power supply and got it all back together and running. The three of us sat down for some Baluchi’s and pondered the direction the internet would ultimately take. It was ‘96 or ‘97, so it was anybody’s guess. Turns out we were all right in our theories of meta-expansion/collapse, content-as-king entertainment hub and advertising-dense wasteland. We finished our meal. I packed up my tools and laptop and headed out to the elevator. Kim popped open their door with a painting in her hands. “Here. You liked this one, right? Take it. Thanks, Chris.” A kiss on the cheek, a salutory wave from Thurston and the elevator dinged.  

 

Since then, my little collection of Kimstuff’s expanded substantially. Here’s that first painting, side-by- side with one of the others she painted on vinyl a couple of years later.

 

  

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Tags: kim gordon, painting, sonic youth

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