CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 8/1/2021

Like sun hitting glitter. 'Tabboo! 1982–88' is a New Release this week!

"Spanish Lucy Drag" (1984) is reproduced from Tabboo! 1982–88, the vivd new clothbound hardcover from Karma Books and Gordon Robichaux. Collecting paintings and ephemera from the legendary performer, painter, designer and puppeteer's early days in NYC, this book also contains an essay by Jarrett Earnest and reminiscences by the artist as told to Alex Jovanovich. "Back in the day, downtown was mostly factories, and many were going out of business," Tabboo! (aka Stephen Tashjian) is quoted. "I’d say this was around 1984: I was walking down 14th Street and this huge glitter factory had closed, and they’d dumped their deadstock onto the street. Boxes and boxes of old school glitter. The kind that’s illegal now. It cuts your eyes. You can’t get this shit at Michaels. Every single color just like the paint chips at Sherman-Williams: magenta, light blue, steel grays, light greens… As soon as I opened one of the boxes and the sun hit the glitter, my head exploded, and other people started grabbing the boxes like pigeons to crumbs. I grabbed as many as I could—maybe forty-five boxes—and ran home and back to get more. I knew right away I wanted to use the glitter in the paintings just like when we threw glitter into Jackie Curtis’ coffin."