The Art of Candy Jernigan. I bought this book Evidence many years ago. I knew nothing of the artist but the fact I loved her lists, ( lunch at the flea market, smears down the page of sausage, beer, mustard, frites, hot sauce, wine), her collections (10 things that have been run over) her sense of humour (Toilet paper at the Louvre, Toilet paper at the Pompidou), and of course her art.
The above picture is taken from a page in her note book on findings at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. She has found various flowers and leaves from various famous people laying there. A bottle top from Jim Morrisons grave which was at the time surrounded by fans, a petal from Edith Piafs grave which she noted was attended by a person of questionable gender, and a rose petal from Oscar Wildes grave which she also noted that someone had stolen the balls off the statue.
In the above photo she shows pockets of dust, leaves and cob webs from the Pantheon, and on the opposite page, are her lunch smears, sugar and wine packaging. Her existence during her travels, is documented by receipts, food wrappings, travel tickets, anything that links her to a particular place and time, physical proof. And in doing so we can start to build new pictures in our minds of her journey and perhaps our own. Creating an intimate and interesting souvenir.
Here she collects dust from the Sistine Chapel, St. Peters Basilica and the Vatican, a souvenir bag, and the lunch receipt.
Her Pot Crushed on Houston and Wall: Carnegie Hall.
Nine Yellow Leaves of Similar Size and Shape Part 2. Left hand side is a photograph, the right hand side is her interpretation of this.
Found Dope II
There are also some uncomfortable works in the book, such as Found Dope I & II. A collection of drug paraphernalia found on the streets in her neighbourhood at that time. For her this was a normal existence, a collection of pavement findings. On the first day she started collecting for this piece she found 70 pieces, there are 308 in total. She turns it into an interesting collection, and one she presented to police in a bid to rectify her community. A collection of things that bought a chemical pleasure to the user but no doubt destruction to many others, and yet when I look at it, I find a sense curiosity and order, something I am drawn back into looking at time and time again, interested to learn more and find out what she found where.
The most poignant thing for me was that while looking all around her, whether it was a regal landmark or a familiar street, she was noticing things everyone else was passing by. Teaching me to view the world differently. To stop and look. While everyone was looking up, she was looking down. She observed the every day mundane and fine tuned it into desirable art with a sense humour.