In Elvis, Jesus and Santa, one of three photographic works by Jonathan Gillette at Bodybuilder & Sportsman, the three icons are played by two of the artist’s uncles and a cousin. They hold hands, linked in friendly cooperation–or in some surreal low-rent pageant. Though he was sometimes discouraged from doing so in school, Gillette often uses his family as inspiration for his artwork, which here includes photographs and a video. Elvis is Gillette’s Uncle Roger, who was brain damaged in childhood by Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Roger takes pleasure in the smallest things, Gillette says–“Getting a canned Coke was like winning the lottery”–and made him see that “every moment could be heightened to a new awareness.” Roger once decorated his room with masking tape, not only resealing toy packages in an apparent attempt to make them look new but also placing the tape in layers over his furniture.
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No family connection is evident in the diptych Flower Garden, two photographs of colorful silk flowers arranged on walls at a right angle, creating a little environment. But they were inspired, Gillette says, by a beloved aunt with Parkinson’s who can’t tend her flowers anymore and arranges fake ones. A video on display, Christmas 2004, shows Roger being dressed to play Santa, as he was throughout Gillette’s childhood. “Some of your highest moments,” Gillette says, “are in stepping outside of yourself. I’m also attracted to my uncle’s vulnerability. If you can make yourself truly vulnerable in life, maybe you’re truly living.”
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