John Waters Curates "Absentee Landlord" at The Walker Art Center

Listening to John Waters talk about Absentee Landlord, his curatorial debut at the Walker Art Center, is like listening to someone talk about their latest, grandest, most experimental party ever. He’s invited strictly a cast of troublemakers -- those who were troublemakers in the past, and those who are more recently falling into the title. On Friday, Waters walked through his exhibition wondering if the artists he’s assembled together would get along, and, on a more thoughtful note, if some of them would eventually gain fame or fall into obscurity, saying “Who knows what a new master is going to be.”
He refers to the artists in this show as troublemakers because, for the most part, they work in taboos, such as Yves Klein who famously had nude models cover themselves in paint and push their bodies onto blank canvasses, or Russ Meyer, who is famous for his penchant toward busty women. Waters points out that eventually troublemakers become the norm, or “blue chip.” Take, for instance, Wolfgang Tillmans’ photo of two young men kissing entitled "The Cock (kiss)." It isn’t as controversial as it would have been several years ago. In fact, as Waters puts it, “now it’s rather innocent.” But Absentee Landlord explores the question: Can the old troublemakers handle the new ones? Which is why Waters made sure to put seemingly mismatched works next to each other. “It’s like casting a movie with unlikely combinations,” Waters said. And somehow, the pieces brought together for Absentee Landlord do work quite nicely together.

People who know of John Waters’ other professions -- and he has many -- know that he doesn’t shy away from raunchy subject matter. Some may mistake him for a prankster or someone just out for the novelty of shock. And that’s not without cause -- after all, some of the products brought into the Walker’s gift shop include fake mustaches, squirting flowers, fake syringes, and other classic gags -- but when it comes to the world of art, John Waters is not joking around. He is sometimes amazed at the audacity of art, but recognizes that wit is a big part of contemporary and modern pieces. His first major experience with art was one of power, and his obsession began with a Miro art print that he bought for a dollar when he was just a boy. Or rather, the reaction he got when he showed it to his friends. ”When I brought it home and showed it to my friends, they all said, ‘eew, what is that?’ and that’s when I realized, wow, this is powerful stuff.” His tastes have expanded since then, but art is still serious business. In fact, when he plans gallery visits in New York, friends who join him know they must follow along tout suite or be left behind in his Comme des Garcons fashion dust.

Absentee Landlord is anything but a joke, and “nothing is camp. [This art] may not be easy, but none of it is bad,” Waters says. And for those who scoff at art that looks like something their kid could make, Waters is quick to point out, “yeah, but they didn’t, stupid.”
One of the more challenging pieces is a set of large window blinds which lay on the floor and look like something that the janitor has neglected to clean away. “I love this,” Waters says. “It’s like someone just dumped this here.” It’s one of many pieces in the show that Waters insists that audiences don’t have to understand to enjoy, and, in fact, don’t even have to like. It is important, however, to recognize that it can forever change the way in which art is seen and, according to Waters, “It will open your eyes to see art everywhere you go.”
Absentee Landlord, curated by John Waters, will be on display at the Walker Art Center in galleries 1, 2, and 3 through March 4, 2011.