Christopher Stout | Vertiginous, 2002-2005

(This page is dedicated with undying love to Sheilah Boothby, my former editor and the founder of San Francisco Arts Magazine.)

Artist Notes:  From the gold rush to the outlaws, hippies, beatniks, sexual revolutionaries, political theorists, and even Silicon Valley’s technological entrepreneurs, people with “non traditional approaches to reality” have migrated to San Francisco and the Bay Area to liberate themselves through creative reinvention and through breaking out from conventional societal constructs.

It was this spirit of freethinking that called to me to find a home by the Golden Gate in San Francisco’s emerging arts community.

During 2002-2005, a period I affectionately refer to as my “vertiginous period,” I began a relentless quest of constant experimentation of the boundaries of my artistic range, producing many disparate bodies of work encompassing photomontage, sound art, spoken/written word, and performance art exploring subjects as flagrant sexuality, loss of innocence, aging, and the continued devastation of the HIV/aids epidemic.

I considered my approach during this time to be akin to fashion houses, meaning that if my spring solo was comprised of performance, then my fall exhibition would be comprised of digital collage – the mandate of visceral, stylistic, and subject matter change was the constant.

It was this necessary period of unbridled experimentation that ultimately led me to find my own unique voice, a passion that dictated a return to abstract painting and working with cement and shredded corporate documents.

Image Gallery:

1. Christopher Stout. Coma State (The Long Unpleasant Dream), 2004. Various dimensions. Shown here: “coma state blue,” “coma state white,” “coma state red (with chuck close)”, and “ year (3) beginning”, Photomontage of self-portrait photography and transparency film. “Cardinal 8,” 2004: Brick House Gallery, San Francisco.

Themes Explored: a “come full circle” photo-documentary about failing and falling into a decapacitating depression, and the process of coming out of that paralysis and back into self-acceptance.

2. Christopher Stout. Vigil, A Day with (OUT) Art: A Memorial Love Letter to David Wojnarowicz on World Aids Day, 2004.

From the press release: “All are welcome to view this non-traditional multi-media art exhibition which includes paintings, collage, recorded voices and printed images of artwork of historical significance.  Stout will also perform a live reenactment of the Jacques –Louis David painting, “The Death of Marat.”

Viewers of the exhibit will be greeted by a curtain shrouding the space, the symbol that is generally associated with "A Day Without Art." This is where all similarities between the traditional commemoration will end. At this point, the viewer will have the opportunity to walk behind the veil and into a large shrine built by the artist. The perimeter of the shrine will encompass "memorial hangings" and a live reenactment of the painting, "The Death of Marat.”
“Vigil, A Day with (OUT) Art: A Love Letter to David Wojnarowicz, World Aids Day,” 2004: Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Gallery, San Francisco.

Themes Explored: The continued affect of aids upon the arts community in permanently eclipsing a generation of artists and the understanding/societal-held value of the principles expressed in their work. My premise for this performance was that aids not only killed the most revolutionary voices of a generation, but also by their deaths, prohibited them from teaching the power of their art to the next generation of artists. At the risk of over-generalizing, I believe that the current contemporary art aesthetic with it’s yang-imbalanced preoccupation with prodigious scale, luxury, and the absurd is on some level the direct result of the aids epidemic of the late 80’s, which extinguished the voices providing the counter arguments of embracing the radical, non conformity, and social/political accountability.

3. Christopher Stout. Unbridled! A Photographic Essay On Hippopotamus Sex, 2004.

From the press release: Unbridled! is a digitally produced series of miniature stuffed animal hippopotami caught in flagrante. All of the sets are hand constructed utilizing household objects with backdrops built in Microsoft PowerPoint. All orientations and sexual penchants are explored and celebrated.

Shown here: “Nursery - Baby & Daddy Share a Warm Breakfast,” “Artist's Studio - Seduction of the Model,” “After the Game - Locker Room Shower,” and “Crack Whore and the Circle Jerk.”

Themes Explored: Slick comical photo essay on sexual exploration and taboos utilizing stuffed animals to make the subject matter appealing and accessible to a much wider audience than by using human subjects. (Muppets + Mapplethorpe)

4. Christopher Stout. I am too ____ to be the Demographic…, 2005. Various dimensions. Photomontage of self-portrait photography in the pose of Michelangelo’s David and transparency film. “Alone Together,” 2005: Gallery on Brannan, San Francisco.

Themes Explored:  Aging and its relation for physicality and sexual attractiveness

Addendum: In the spirit of solidarity with my Chelsea art dealer brothers and sisters during this time of economic crisis, I am choosing to reprint selected text pieces from my 2004 photomontage, Coma State (The Long Unpleasant Dream):

Panel A: …in December of 2002, on the brink of corporate and personal bankruptcy, i was forced to resign my post in the visual arts department of a large not for profit art space........it’s frustrating to me that this written statement serves as no proper illustration of my emotional devastation during this occasion……i had invested a decade of my life in the arts, and as such, failure and poverty, were no stranger. but this pain was different….an adult pain…….child pain was easy, necessary. child pain - spend paycheck on coke and call mommy (or a ross daddy) to bail me out. child pain - fall desperately in love with the wrong guy and get my heart broken and a nasty rash. child pain - 100 rejections letters of my painting from commercial spaces. child pain wasn’t pain at all, but a badge of courage in celebration of doing fucked up shit to keep me interested in myself. child pain was all about being wrong on purpose and then laughing at it - and then painting about it so people could gawk at it and laugh about it too………but this re-brand of pain was new - me wanting something more than anything or anyone in my life and directing all of my energy, talent, drive, and engagement to score my place in a heaven on earth and having the bottom fall out and falling so much farther down than hell and waking up feeling sickly used, eaten-up and empty. hide in shame. hide in shame. nothing in reserve….coma state…

Panel B: disclosure of a selected list of tasks i adopted in my road to recovery… 1.) got fucked up on australian pinot noir often and alone. 2.) relived every moment of consequence when i should have observed the handwriting on the wall - fantasized about revenge, especially involving the iRS. 3.) got fucked up on comfort food often and alone - gained twenty pounds, which i masked in bulky sweaters and loose fitting clothing till i got sick of it and started purging after binging. 4.) tried to sketch - invariably woke up hung over and covered in vomit in a pile of tear-stained paper. 5.) got fucked up on Stoli often and alone. 6.) flew to New York to repair a badly pealing painting for a collector - freaked out and cut my wrists with Walker’s kitchen knife to drip the life of my blood into St. Sebastian’s face. 7.) got fucked up on Maker’s Mark often and alone. 8.) created and performed the character of the world’s most efficient and devoted corporate whore including, but not limited to standard business hours. 9.) came home and got fucked up on Fetzer chardonnay often and alone. 10.) redacted. 11.) got fucked up on Guinness often and alone. 12.) decided that it was time to start faking health until it resonated - learned the discipline of american boxing - disjointed my shoulder through repeated rage sessions with the bag visualizing my disappointment - resumed free weight program - drank protein and vodka shakes for breakfast - ran 20 miles a week around Lake Merritt. 13.) got fucked up on sex with strangers met on the internet,  often but not alone. 14.) conceptualized and produced a series of commercial photography on the subject of stuffed hippopotamus engaged in all manner of human fantasy sex - made a 3000 percent return on my investment on the sale of prints, and portfolios. 15.) got fucked up on Verve Cliquot often and alone. 16.) discarded 70% of wardrobe - including 100 bulky sweaters - adopted spin and a variant of the macrobiotic food diet. 17.) got fucked up on Dunhill red cigarettes often and alone. 18.) resumed sufficient confidence in myself to engage in going out to social and networking events and running into old friends and former colleagues - commenced making new friends 19) got fucked up on convergence from failure to success - and Petron tequila often and alone 20.) stared at myself to remember what the initial attraction was - forgave myself without question or hearing for all my failures and all my false starts - resolved to celebrate and let go of every pain point and frustration and simply move on forcefully. 21.) ---

Panel C: i have ma8878de peace with the failures of my pasT34, and my shortcom7*ings (in regard to my original intent, i failed, and so what?) i  have learned so much more from the experience.--S-8hg---qe--FiLCH -hj9 h. in regard to my original intent, i failed, and so what? i have learned so much more from the experience.  Wf --r7---http FUCK- in regard to my original intent, i failed, and so what? i have learned so much more from the experience. ais cunt PG-19 nit ]-2ut09-j--  and what are the proper next steps- who gives a fuck? i know only this - i feared i was dead - but discovered i was only out of fuel- neu load of [pure] carbon-terrorist explode - things to do   [sic]  [sic] [sic] ...stay tuned

Panel D: year three (3) the beginning