Jerome Caja

{{Infobox person

| name = Jerome Caja

| image = File:Jerome David Caja.jpg

| birth_date = {{Birth date |1958|1|20|}}

| birth_place = Cleveland, Ohio, USA

| death_date = {{death date and age |1995|11|3 |1958|1|20 |mf=yes}}

| death_place = San Francisco, California, USA

| education = Cleveland State University (BFA),
San Francisco Art Institute (MFA)

| known_for = mixed media
performance art

| training =

| movement = Queercore

}}

Jerome Caja (1958–1995) was an American mixed-media painter and Queercore performance artist in San Francisco, California in the 1980s and early 1990s.{{cite book|last=Hendrickson|first=Daniel|editor=Davis A. Gerstner|title=Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture|year=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-56966-8|page=117}}

Early life and education

Jerome David Caja was born on January 20, 1958, in Cleveland, Ohio.{{cite news | url=https://www.sfgate.com/health/article/AIDS-AT-25-The-remembering-continues-2533281.php | title=AIDS AT 25 / The remembering continues. | newspaper=SFGate | date=June 9, 2006 | first=Steven | last=Winn}} Raised in a strict Catholic family, Caja was one of 11 sons.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1072710520/?article=b5c03ab9-3b8d-4bc8-b699-e24280410d80&terms=%22Jerome%20D.%20Caja%22 | title=Jerome D. Caja, 37, was painter in San Francisco | newspaper=The Plain Dealer | page=13B}} He referred to his family as full of jocks,{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/A-Dabbler-In-Minutiae-3040569.php|title=A Dabbler In Minutiae|last=Whiting|first=Sam|date=March 23, 1995|work=SFGate|accessdate=29 June 2015}} although he himself was a frail sickly child. Caja having been raised in a strict Catholic household was early on heavily influenced by the imagery of saints and martyrs.{{cite book|title=Art of engagement : visual politics in California and beyond|last1=Selz|first1=Peter|date=2006|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0520240537|location=Berkeley, California|page=216}} Caja graduated from St. Edward High School, an all-boys Catholic school, where he suffered poor grades due to dyslexia.

Caja began his college education at Cuyahoga Community College, and later attended Cleveland State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1984. He then moved to San Francisco to attend the San Francisco Art Institute and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1986.

Career

In the late 1980s, Caja became a well-known artistic personality within the radical gay scene in San Francisco.{{cite book|last=Bleys|first=Rudi|title=Images of Ambiente: Homotextuality and Latin American Art, 1810-today|date=October 28, 2000|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=978-0826447234|page=[https://archive.org/details/imagesofambiente0000bley/page/180 180]|url=https://archive.org/details/imagesofambiente0000bley/page/180}} Caja performed as a drag queen and go-go dancer in San Francisco's queer punk nightclubs, where his performance art has been described as "post-apocalyptic deconstructive drag." In one Easter performance at Club Uranus, Caja in drag performed an elaborate reenactment of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.{{cite journal|last=Flanagan|first=Michael|date=16 July 2015|title=Fond Memories of Uranus |journal=Bay Area Reporter|volume=45|issue=29|url=http://www.ebar.com/bartab/article.php?sec=barchive&article=66}}

Caja began by producing ceramic sculptures and then he moved on to create paintings.{{Cite web|url=https://www.visualaids.org/gallery/detail/396|title=Jerome Caja (1958 - 1995) and David Cannon Dashiell (1952 - 1993)|last=AIDS|first=Visual|website=Visual AIDS|language=en|access-date=2017-10-23|archive-date=2017-10-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023181041/https://www.visualaids.org/gallery/detail/396|url-status=dead}} Caja crafted miniature mixed-media artworks which he created from everyday materials, especially those used by drag queens such as nail polish, sequins, lace and glitter.{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Miniature-paintings-major-talent-3120720.php|title=Miniature paintings, major talent|last=Bonetti|first=David|date=November 15, 1995|work=San Francisco Examiner|accessdate=29 June 2015}} Caja was a fan of makeup even before he was diagnosed with AIDS, so he transferred his own affection for makeup straight into his artistic work.{{Cite book|title=Art AIDS America|author=Katz, Jonathan D.|others=Hushka, Rock, 1966-, Arning, Bill,, Castiglia, Christopher,, Reed, Christopher, 1961-, Helfand, Glen,, Hernandez, Robb|isbn=9780295994949|location=Seattle|oclc=917362964|year = 2015}} Many of Caja's works were influenced by Catholic iconography and satirized Christian morality. Professor of Communication Fred Turner described Caja's paintings as "fragments of a private allegory – often dizzyingly grotesque, but also glorious, gentle and sad."{{cite news|url=http://bostonphoenix.com/alt1/archive/books/reviews/12-96/JEROME.html|title=Resurrection An artist's iconography embraces AIDS, drag culture, and the Catholic Church|last=Turner|first=Fred|year=1996|work=Boston Phoenix|page=Reviews|accessdate=17 July 2015}} While in his other artwork, he tried to express his own fearlessness.

Death

According to Caja, he tested positive for HIV around 1989, and began to show symptoms of sickness around 1992.{{cite web|url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-jerome-caja-12295|title=Oral history interview with Jerome Caja|last=Karlstrom|first=Paul J.|date=September 29, 1995|publisher=Archives of American Art|accessdate=30 June 2015}} Caja as well suffered from CMV retinitis as result of the diagnosis. In August and September 1995, the Archives of American Art recorded an oral history interview with Caja. He died of AIDS in San Francisco on November 3, 1995. His memorial service was held at the Hole in the Wall gay bar in South of Market, San Francisco.

Artworks

Caja's art is located in the New York Public Library and the Los Angeles County Museum.{{Cite web|url=http://www.glbtqarchive.com/arts/caja_jerome_A.pdf|title=Caja, Jerome}} The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) twice provided exhibits of paintings by Caja. Before his death, Caja gifted his unsold artworks to the SFMOMA.{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/SFMOMA-Has-Show-On-Day-Without-Art-3019061.php|title=SFMOMA Has Show on 'Day Without Art'|date=December 1, 1995|work=SFGate|accessdate=29 June 2015}} Caja's personal papers and effects are archived in the Smithsonian Institution.{{cite news|url=http://www.ebar.com/arts/art_article.php?sec=outthere&article=120|title=Polymorphous pleasure principle|last=Friedman|first=Roberto|date=September 27, 2007|work=The Bay Area Reporter|accessdate=29 June 2015}} In addition to the locations mentioned above, The Jerome Project,{{cite web|title=about|url=http://www.thejeromeproject.com/about.html|website=THE JEROME PROJECT - preserving Jerome Caja's artistic legacy}} was created to bring greater visibility and accessibility to Caja's artwork. The Jerome Project is a non profit organization, that was created by Anthony Cianciolo in order to preserve and protect the artistic legacy of Caja. The Jerome Projects' goal is to bring recognition to Caja as an important 20th century artist and not simply as a marginalized, controversial, gay artist.

References

External links

[http://www.thejeromeproject.com/timeline.html The Jerome Project]—a non-profit organization dedicated to the artistic works of Jerome Caja
[https://www.visualaids.org/artists/detail/jerome-caja Art by Jerome Caja]—at Visual AIDS organization

Category:1958 births

Category:1995 deaths

Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people

Category:AIDS-related deaths in California

Category:American contemporary artists

Category:American drag queens

Category:American LGBTQ artists

Category:American mixed-media artists

Category:American performance artists

Category:Artists from Cleveland

Category:Artists from San Francisco

Category:Drag performers from San Francisco