John Waters: Is It Porn Or Is It ART?

A mood of nostalgia permeates the exhibition. I ask him to explain an image of a crab. “There’s no such thing as crabs any more because young people don’t have pubic hair any more. So where did they all go? They’re extinct! So I had to bring them back.” He stands back from the image to get a better view. “It’d take a brave collector to hang that above their couch. I’d rather have crabs than bedbugs. You can get rid of crabs in a day.”

Waters is not just nostalgic for being hated then, but nostalgic for old school STDs. Another piece called Poultry consists of covers of old gay porn novels with the word “chicken” in the title and depicting young, nubile gay men in various states of rudery. Each book is from Waters’ extensive collection. “I guess nobody says chicken any more in that context,” says Waters wistfully. “Now the gay slang is twink.”

And then there’s the stroller I stumbled across when I entered the show. The restraining straps look like they’re from a bondage fetishist’s closet, and the seat is decorated with the names of gay clubs including The Toilet and Blow Buddies, the latter with its striking logo of a penis in mid-ejaculation. If only, I think, the gallery had a gift shop, this baby buggy would be a top seller.

This stroller, too, is nostalgic. “Those are all real places that existed in the 60s and 70s. But today in those neighbourhoods, like the Castro district in San Francisco, you see gay couples with strollers with kids. Who’d ever have thought it would happen?” Blow Buddies, I’m happy to relate, still thrives in San Francisco. “So I’m just putting them both together to celebrate the gay world and show things change and become even more confusing.” ...

The Guardian

The interview is titled John Waters: I want to be despised.

Must be frustrating then that these days he seems universally adored.

The exhibition Beverly Hills John is at Sprüth Magers, London.