I Love You to Death, Platform

The title of the exhibition is I Love You to Death, Platform.This name comes from one of the works included here--

I Love You To Death or, A Georges Marciano for Guess? denim jacket, probably autographed by River Phoenix in Tacoma, Washington, circa 1988, during the filming of the movie I Love You to Death, signed JENNA. E. on inside front panel and J.E. on label, hung on a metal hanger, possibly belonging to Robert Smithson, recovered from Spiral Jetty, Rozel Point, Great Salt Lake, Utah, in March, 2007.

About two months ago I found (and later purchased) a denim jacket in an antiques store in Tacoma. According to the tag on the jacket (and subsequent phone calls from the store owner to the jacket's seller), the jacket had belonged to a woman who had it autographed by River Phoenix while he was in Tacoma filming I Love You to Death, in 1988. The film tells the story of Joey Boca (played by Kevin Kline), who owns a pizza parlor in Tacoma, and has been married to his wife Rosalie (played by Tracey Ullman) for years; they have two children together. After a series of events, Rosalie discovers that Joey has been cheating on her and, with the help of her mother (Joan Plowright) and co-worker (River Phoenix), plots to kill him. Through numerous attempts (including an attack with a baseball bat, poisoning, and multiple shootings), Joey survives.

About fifteen months ago, I found (and retrieved) a rusted metal hanger from the bank of the Great Salt Lake, at the base of Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty. A group of us had traveled there to see the Jetty and spend time exploring the site. My interest in the hanger extends from documentation of Smithson's frequent visits to the Jetty during it's construction where he (accompanied by his entourage) stood out from the locals by a key fact that he wore black leather pants in the summer. I like to hope that this is the hanger that held those pants.

Although I have never found or received any written or photographic documentation that definitively ties River to the jacket or Robert to the hanger, my hope is that the jacket was signed by River and the hanger was used by Robert. It's possible, right? Possible, probable, or just coincidental? Do these attributions potentially subvert or reinforce the provenance? And how (if at all) can the disparate histories of these two things unite when placed together, one literally supporting the other? The embroidery overwriting River's autograph, the retrieval of the hanger, and the subsequent union of these two objects is tribute, doubt, profiling, and nostalgia, all at once, overlapped, networked, fragmentary, and questioning. Non-site? For me, these works expose feelings of loss and the potential for recovery.

River's dead.
Robert's dead.
I never owned a Guess? jacket.
Someone is missing a hanger.
Spiral Jetty was underwater then reappeared when the water level dropped.

The collection of objects assembled for this installation also begin to ask questions (for me) about our relationship with celebrity and our proximity to it. In considering the jacket and my (now) home-- one of the shots in the film shows my apartment-- I want to know what draws people through them, or near them. River Phoenix in Tacoma? Why would Tacoma be chosen as the backdrop for a film based on true events that took place in Allentown, Pennsylvania? How does this jacket resonate with the signature of a deceased actor? An opened envelope addressed to Molly Ringwald? Opened by Molly? A handwritten sign on cardboard asking for a ride to L.A.? The sign was found in Seattle; did the writer make it? A headdress protecting the wearer from Britney Spears and Chanel sunglasses? Embroidering the writing and assembling these things slowly brings me closer to the writers, the makers, the wearers, their attempts, and their failures.

This installation is also part of a larger visual conversation, a portion of which will concurrently be on view at Portland Art Museum. The exhibition there is organized around a group of works that deal with how we find home, or shelter, or comfort. Where and when are we at home?