The Gossip Project
The Gossip Project/Lip Service/Spilling T
I have this theory that if we talk with people about what we have in common we can build the trust necessary to show vulnerability and talk about the things we don’t have in common… perhaps a chance to move towards civil discourse.
For this project I invite people to sit with me and talk. We wear matching lipstick and drink staining beverages (coffee, tea or red wine) with the goal to staining the vintage napkins I have collected. And we talk about anything and everything. Then I randomly choose a few sentences or phrases from each conversation and write them down. Then I take all of the excerpts and make a writing. The phrases out of context read like gossip. Next I embellish the stains on the napkins with embroidery.
It’s performance + community participation + conversation + selective editing + embellished lipstick monoprints on vintage napkins.
Gossip Chapter 1
Chateau Orquevaux (kiss & tell)
She was a holy terror He’s very successful She told me not to tell anyone I thought I was pregnant It couldn’t have been more than three inches total He was a drinker and probably violent A girl’s gotta eat It had been bad before but nothing like this He said my uterus was a hostile environment They were fucking dimwits let’s be honest You can’t hide from that We lived parallel lives It’s trending There’s such hypocrisy until it hits home You’re making the rest of us look bad All frosting no cake So narcissistic sooo sooo narcissistic And he was a fucking mess She desperately need love The poor lady It’s all so consequential It’s too big For months I couldn’t see Stop being so precious about it just cut the fucker up And she’d lose her shit One looking at you and one looking for you And I didn’t know what would happen That is my job I’m falling constantly A lady likes to have choices Strong core and hefty thighs She was a hoarder It’s finally uphill I’m finally heading up Totally capitalizing on me They came knocking at the door Kind of an asshole This is your last chance; just fucking tell me I think I was the instigator of chaos Can you dress me? They were all men But it’s really a balance I can just ignore certain things What they do is in the blood The reaching out They hate them and don’t hate them It’s a Paradigm shift There’s blood everywhere She was desperate come back He had a list Crooked but bold Baby’s in my studio where I left him It was crazy long and on fire
Gossip Chapter 2
Plymouth MA (quartet)
She was the first one into the sex museum Yes yes Just imagine She introduced me to my first porn It’s 10 frames We were enjoying the music of our conversation The fish scales will come off just fine That was mean She definitely needs toenail polish What a good host There were nuns Now it’s gonna be a fight to the death Then make it so Her partner is dragging her down Don’t block your own escape
Gossip Chapter 3
The Bronx NY (duet)
The sources can’t be trusted Everyone comes at it on their own Why have I lost connectivity They should value us and our ideas and our conversation It’s your life You have to live it It is done This is where it all sits It is messy complicated and beautiful In every aspect of our practice All these new doors of infinite possibility
Gossip Chapter 4
Fort Worth TX (estrofest)
Oi that’s a good one Ooo yes Looks like a cat Old and Flat There’s a little fizz Now it’s familiar Big drinkers obviously Tallahassee is much more progressive I don’t like it like that I have cat ears in my lips You’re a professional Pussy lips Some people do some people don’t Is she bossy She was hard at first She’s on meds now More regulated She can’t help herself It just got interesting I don’t know what I’ve been putting in my mouth You’ve eaten worse It’s dust and old people When I catch the Black Death I didn’t eat all her shit You took it to a new level It’s sooo good Now I need a napkin Red high tops and a lot of instructions I’m terrible at reading I fall asleep You are on hold Which one is it? It’s just quirky It’s a true story I’m a messy girl Take that bitch My sex hormones are off Your eventual cremation His inevitable…And whatever Before we were leaving You can’t bury people on your property without permits As things were getting a little more dire Didn’t know who they were Keep the toe tags You are the keeper of ashes Destroyer of worlds Cemetery in the corner of my pantry It’s not creepy at all Cereal killer The pantry They only titillate They don’t tell everything You might have two Thou shalt not enter End up Fun size We need a timer A sip of Black Death It’ll fall over It’ll prop It just popped That’s great I wanna do do a boomerang I’m gonna hit it And they we’re gonna come in Just the tip Harder and faster Get positioned and then pull out That’s not gonna work for me Are you ready I just want it fast and cheap How long is it We’ve been talking sex We, rewet Just so you feel it We haven’t Thick cut Looks like stars Need to tuck them in Designate pieces of you Let’s cool the talk down It’s a pencil How do you make it work She just said it 8 ways Call me Jane 8 ways Bobby, very prolific He went and impregnated other women She was a fucking whore Checkmate All that dirty laundry The quadrangle became the sextangle And it turned dirty Shit fire Same sies Are they driving off the girls t box You big pussy When I was working I love it Damn it’s moist It wasn’t great I think I got a scar He was a terrible lover So why are you in it Cuz I love it I’m so happy to finally have something to be excited about They stormed the field I hope they don’t get complicit I can fix you up To take her face off Sometimes I’m just so tired I say screw it Completely polluted If it’s water based it will work It was the armpit of hell You are definitely more than me I can see right through you Let me gut that bitch If I can’t fly the plane I don’t want to be on the plane Just a little dirty It’s all so referential She knows how to go top to bottom I’ll be the caboose
© 2019 Winnie van der Rijn