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Chris Carraher [Jackadandy]
Painter, Activist and Randy Dandy
Working-class painter Chris
Carraher isn't your
mother's artist. Er, or your father's. [...], better known as
Jack Dandy, came of age in the 1960s in the working-class suburbs of east Los
Angeles and is largely self-educated in art. But that hasn't stopped
this fascinating genderqueer lesbian from working with numerous renowned
artists (like Lisa Bernstein and Kim
Addonizio) and creating a body of work
that says as much about politics as most protest art without overtly saying
anything. Her recent exhibition love full of life - shown at
Art Queen Gallery in Joshua Tree, Calif., near her Mojave Desert home -
is a series of paintings about non-het romantic love.
 Her abstract, lyrical and petite pastels painted
on sanded paper are, says Carraher, little "altars to queer love"
that couldn't exist without us. "Without queer girls, there would be no love
full of life." The most amusing must be the hilarious
"blue-ball'd butch" (top left). Carraher laughs when
she recounts its origination. "There was this, uh, moment where
let's just say I was frustrated sexually, and my cruel mistress took no pity
on me but instead improvised some lyrics about a blue-ball'd butch, sung to
the tune of that old folk chestnut, "Sweet Betsy from Pike."
The image I ended up with proved to be pretty provocative... I've
witnessed quite the variety of blushes, guffaws, and consternation in
response. I was initially apprehensive to put something so blatant as
the blue-ball'd butch on the poster for the show, but then I quit worrying
about it. Some viewers get the subversive content and may be grateful,
or perhaps fearful for me. Others 'feel the 'love' but are, at the same
time, mildly perplexed. Some just like the colors and never know what
hit 'em. I feel that, as art, it succeeds."
Check out this randy dandy or her must-read blog
at jackadandy.net. - Diane Anderson-Minshall
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