THIS SPARKLING CHRISTMAS at Holy Cross Mortuary in Culver City, California in late 1999 – it was the last Christmas of the 20th century.
The cemetery is a massive site with green hills and a few trees. Throughout the park is a patchwork of flat granite or brass gravestones with the name of the decaying person below. Some time before the holidays, the vast green pastures transformed into a winter wonderland under the desert sun. You could see tinsel in red and green and reflective tinsel in virtually any color. There was a Santa’s workshop set up next to a full nativity scene with the infant Jesus resting in his manger. The community is about to check it out and see what has been done. Hispanic families were having fun with their neighbors and those downstairs, saying Feliz Navidad to their loved ones.
When I was told there was a tramp cemetery in Britt, Iowa, I was there in a week. It was November and it was cool – I knew I would finish a painting there. A hobo convention has been held in Britt since 1900. This resting place has the ashes of different wanderers from all over the United States. I’ve been obsessed with tramps and gays for a long, long time.
All images here were taken by me over a period of twenty years.
Scott coveredThe first institutional survey of “I Had a Wonderful Life” is in place at Nova Southeastern University Art Museum in Fort Lauderdale, Florida through June 25, 2023. Covert’s first solo exhibition outside the United States, “C’est la vie,” will run through May 7, 2023 at London’s Studio Voltaire. by Alex Jovanovich report on the artist appears in art forumApril issue.
