The Mystery of the Red Fortune Cookie

One of the up-sides of the fact that I have basically been living in a freezing cold concrete box downtown is that I have solved the Mystery of the Red Fortune Cookie. 

The Mystery of the Red Fortune Cookie began one day at the beginning of art class when my friend Zack and I were watching music videos done by a Kansas City artist/musician named Cody Critcheloe in collaboration with other Kansas City artists (the official title of his band is Ssion).  His work is absolutely wild, with costumes designed by the same artist who has designed clothes for Rihanna and Lady Gaga.  At one point in one of the videos, a woman in a red dress and outrageous Vegas showgirl wig was eating a giant fortune cookie…but actually the cookie was full of bright red liquid, and by the end of scene, the cookie was painted a glistening red. 

So obviously, this was disgusting.  This poor woman was licking whatever this red stuff was and even though the video had been edited so that she didn’t really have to paint the whole fortune cookie with her mouth, she clearly had to taste whatever this was.  This little scene raised a question that was discussed with a scholarly seriousness that would have dazzled an philosophy professor: what was the red stuff?  There was no way it could be paint, but what else have that color and consistency?

Then Anne, our art professor, floored us all by casually saying, “Oh, that’s Judith Levy, my studio mate.  I’ll just text her and ask her what it is.”  Oh, no big deal, she just happens to be able to call up successful Kansas City artists whenever. 

But for whatever reason, Anne never got around to getting a hold of Judith Levy, so we had to resign ourselves to the red substance remaining a mystery…until today.

I have been camped out for about 6 hours now at the gallery space below Anne’s studio downtown—the space where we are having a show in just 7 days.  Some of the student artists in the show are working on these giant panel installations (more about those later) that will be in the show, and I am just hanging out keeping them company.  A few of them had to go back to classes for a while, so I was left here by myself for about an hour after Zack finished up some spray painting.

When all of the sudden, a sweet woman walked in and introduced herself as Judith Levy.  She chatted with me for a few minutes about my show, her upcoming film (NV in KC), and the possibility of her showing that film at Rockhurst. 

After she left, I calmly texted Zack “I JUST MET JUDITH LEVY.” 

To which he coolly responded, “SWOON.”

We determined that at least 5 hours would have to pass before I could request her as a Facebook friend (she told me to add her!).  So now I am on cloud nine.  Actually, I’m sitting three floors below Judith Levy on a concrete floor freezing my tail off, but close enough.

And the answer to the million dollar question? 

Paint.  And it tasted awful. 

 

The space that will soon be transformed into a gallery...