Ted Purves, Rain Work, 1996.

In 2004, I lived in Oakland on Miles Avenue down the block from Ted Purves, Susanne Cockrell, and their son Oliver.  I lived at the corner of Miles and Hudson, one house in on the west side of Miles.  Ted is an artist and educator.  Mary lived in the house and I lived in the garage.  The main garage door didn't open, I came in and out through the side door.  I would pee in the yard instead of going into the house.  If it was raining I would pee into the yard from my doorway.   I lived in garages from November 2001 until June 2004.  They had oil stains and beds in them.  I got in bed fully dressed, I watched my breath fog up, I tried to stop shivering.  Miles Avenue had a high work table and I put everything on that, my glasses, my hat, my keys.  My door shut by hook and latch.  I kept the laptop under the mattress.  When I left, I locked the padlock.  I flew to New York to go to the opening of the Whitney Biennial.  Somebody put my name on a list, I went to a party.  The Times printed a picture with the caption "Dancing at the Whitney".  In it, I danced with a pretty girl, I wore loud tie-dyed gloves.  Somebody called from NYC to let me know I was in the paper.  My boss saw it and fired me right off.  I had scabs on my palms from cracking crabs.  The shells could be sharp.  I cracked a thousand a day.  My clothes stank, I left them in the yard.  I would take a hot bath first thing when I got home.  I emerged pink and steaming.  I got a copy of the paper and put it under the high table until I broke my arm again and had to move out.

My life is different: I am married, live in Brooklyn, inside the house, and I am happy to be here.  Sometimes on the weekend we go to see art shows.  One Saturday afternoon, we went to Printed Matter.  I remembered Ted mentioning that he sold stuff there years ago.  I asked if they had anything, and they looked through a binder of small books and came up with his 'Rain Work' from 1996.  It is a small artwork that was created by being left in the rain.  It is is reproduced here in its entirety.

Ted Purves, Rain Work, 1996.