Frequently Asked Questions for Blood Works
With Artist Robert Sherer
Q. What circumstances or events led you to create the Blood Works series?
A. There was no single impetus. The series results from a combination of things such as my interest in botanical illustration and plant folklore, the AIDS crisis, and my desire to make conceptual connections between blood and romance.
Q. Where do you get the blood?
A. I extract the HIV- blood from a few friends and myself. An anonymous friend supplies me with her HIV+ blood.
Q. So, I am a bit surprised that your HIV+ donor is female. Would it be inappropriate to ask how she contracted the virus?
A. No, it is okay to ask me because she will remain anonymous. She contracted the virus from an unfaithful husband. You see, most of my gay male friends who contracted the virus died back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Presently, the majority of people I know who are HIV+ are young and heterosexual.
Q. Why is that the case? One assumes that they would know better than to put themselves at risk, especially considering that they grew up in an era of AIDS awareness and education.
A. There are several reasons but I think the primary reason has to do with the overly confident nature of youth. Young people feel so empowered - especially young heterosexuals because they are members of the dominant culture - they think they are invincible. In some ways, I think it has been easier for gay men to change their behaviors and begin practicing safe sex because they were already accustomed to making changes to fit into the heterosexual mold. Because our popular culture tells straight males that the world is here for their taking, I think they have a tendency to engage in a wide range of unsafe conduct and are resistant to behavior modification.
Q. What is the most surprising reaction to Blood Works that you have witnessed?
A. I have watched viewers standing in front of the pretty flower pictures, then read the wall tags and suddenly take several steps backwards as if the HIV could jump through the glass and get them.
Q. Well, that does seem to be a reasonable reaction. How safe is the blood?
A. The blood is completely safe. Ask anyone in the medical profession and they will tell you that the virus dies immediately upon leaving the body of the host. As if that isn’t enough, when we remove the blood from my HIV+ friend we immediately suspend it in a chemical solution that would kill any virus.
Q. That chemical solution you speak of, is that your secret recipe?
A. Yes, it is a mixture of anti-coagulants, germ-killers and an extender so that it requires only a little bit of blood to make a large picture. Don’t worry, I am super-cautious with this unconventional medium. I have managed to keep myself HIV- for all of these years and I intend to stay that way.
Q. Sounds like good survivalist skills to me.
A. Yes, but it does come with a high price tag. A survivor has to see everyone else die before them. I think I have a really bad case of survivor’s guilt and that it is the real impetus behind the Blood Works series. I totally identify with Holocaust survivors when I read their stories. Especially when they ask, “why did I survive? I too should’ve died.”
Q. Where do you see the AIDS movement heading in the next few years?
A. I hope that it becomes more radicalized, more in-your-face. It is going to take some rather extreme behavior to shake people out of their current state of complacency. We are nowhere near being out of the danger with this epidemic. AIDS in Africa and India will affect the entire world. Disease can destabilize economies and topple political regimes.
Q. Do you consider yourself as an activist artist?
A. Absolutely not! I am an artist who accidentally discovered a means to address AIDS issues. Actually, the idea of using blood to address AIDS’ issues didn’t occur to me for a long time. In the beginning, I was mostly interested in telling twisted little love stories.
Q. Do you consider yourself as a "gay artist?"
A. Absolutely not! Personally, I can’t stand most identity-driven art. I am suspicious of any artist who would place an identity in front of the title of artist. In fact, I find most gay art, Jewish art, black art,women’s art to be too predictable. I am what I am, but I am an artist first and foremost.
Q. Why do you sometimes title the exhibitions Blood Works: Portraits of Love and Loss in the Age of AIDS?
A. The interesting title was originally suggested by my art dealer Stuard Derrick when he realized that I don’t consider the images to be florals, but rather as allegorical figures. All of the flowers, insects and elements in the pictures are characters personifying abstract ideas such as hope, innocence, defense, promiscuity, threat, etc.
Q. Blood Works has proven itself to be an excellent vehicle for addressing AIDS issues. Where do you perceive the series heading in the near future?
A. I am just now beginning to discover new lines of visual inquiry for the series. I am especially interested in exploring blood as a matter of race and racism. Blood is deeply associated with family, legacy, tribe, community, war, vampirism and romance. Obviously, I’ve still got a lot of work ahead of me.
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