Evidence: The Art of Candy Jernigan

Evidence: The Art of Candy Jernigan by Jernigan, Candy. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780811823074.

Little known outside New Yorks avant-garde art world during her life, the late artist Candy Jernigan was a dedicated collector of unusual evidence. Committed to documenting "any and all physical proof that I had been there," Jernigan transformed the mundane stuff of the world into witty and astoundingly resonant works of art. Jernigan filled her journals with traces of food shed eaten, scraps of paper, bits of leaves, and old bottle caps - all lovingly labeled and sealed in transparent envelopes. Her more formal works are equally reflective of her compulsive desire to collect and document: Found Dope is an exquisitely detailed arrangement of all the crack vials Jernigan found near her New York apartment over one sixteen-day period; the Dead Bug Book is a compendium of beautifully rendered, very dead insects that flew in the artists window; Ten Kinds of Beans: Homage to Goya is her pencil and pastel rendition of bean cans that does less to honor the famous Spanish painter than the brand of beans that shares his name. An eye-opening art book that offers a transformative vision of the things most of us try to ignore, Evidence is also a bold testament to Jernigans one-of-a-kind talent.