A NEW YEAR’S PARTY IN PURGATORY FOR SUICIDES
In which Liberace makes a guest appearance
down from heaven just for the hell of it

2004, oil on linen, 7 x 18’

Around the year 1306 Dante Alighieri began to write the ‘Divine Comedy.” Dante consigned suicides to Hell’s second lowest level. I take a more compassioned look at suicides and invite them to this party. That’s me blowing a noisemaker to herald them out of Hell and into Purgatory. Since suicide marked the end of each guest’s time on earth, a New Year’s Party to mark the passage of time seemed somehow appropriate.

The guests bear reminders of their final acts:
Sylvia Plath wearing potholders, Arshile Gorky with a noose necktie, Judy Garland with a necklace of pills. Liberace did not commit suicide, he just loves a party. Some of the people in the painting are famous. Some are people I knew.

I show the many kinds and causes of suicide: from unbearable grief, loss of hope, a deadly depression, as a rational end to physical pain, or slowly by addiction. Suicide has touched all our lives, mostly in silence. It is so prevalent in our society that it deserves to be depicted and discussed. I hope this painting helps.

Guest List
Front row from left: Virginia Wolfe (author), Jim Morrison (musician), Sylvia Plath (poet), Ernest Hemingway (author), Liberace (not a suicide), poodle (ditto), Ann Sexton (poet), Arshile Gorky (painter), Tina Mion (still with us), George Eastman (scientist).

Second row from left: Jimi Hendrix (musician), Bobby Kielt (entrepreneur), Marilyn Monroe (actress), Kurt Cobain (musician), Patrick Ashenfelder (store manager), Charlie Parker (musician), Sid Vicious (musician), Dian Arbus (photographer), young girl with birthday cake, Billie Holiday (musician), Judy Garland with a necklace of pills. Behind Billie is the painter Mark Rothko. Wearing a cowboy hat is my friend the Winslow Arizona artist Gordon Pond, who learned he would gradually go blind and could not bear a slow fade into darkness.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis please call the suicide and crisis hotline at 988.