Jayne County, the first openly transgender rock performer, is also an intuitive artist who has been drawing since childhood. Her art has largely served as a coping mechanism and is often spontaneously created. It also reflects her trans identity.
“I think that my art serves as a way of putting out the fuse before it ignites and becomes a ballistic bomb of some sort. Some people are at odds with the world and they become serial killers; others become artists,” she expressed.
Her current exhibit, BASTET, Goddess of Wet Dreams, reflects both her fascination with outsider, mysterious, eccentric creatures and her affinity towards cats. Bastet, the Cat Goddess of Ancient Egypt, is — states the artist — “the epitome of cat worship and concentration. She protects me and my cats from harm and hostility from ignorant humans.”
The alluringly mysterious Bastet — a representation of fertility of both sexes — seduces and intrigues. The image featured above, Untitled 51, was fashioned with acrylic and oil on canvas in 2019. Several more of Jayne County‘s recent paintings on view at Marlborough Gallery’s Viewing Room follow:
Femme Bastet #2, 2019, Acrylic and ink on canvas
Untitled, 2019, Acrylic and ink on canvas
Elam 432, 2019, Acrylic and ink on canvas
Really Gold Goddesses, 2019, Acrylic and ink on canvas
View of wall with 49 paintings — the centerpiece of the exhibition
The exhibit continues through February 29 at 545 West 25th Street and can be viewed Tuesday through Saturday, 10am-6pm.
Thank you, City-as-School interns Basil Lyons and Alyssa Torres for researching and contributing to this post; photos by Lois Stavsky and Alyssa Torres
