About this project
Last June, I visited California for the first time in my life. Before flying there, I thought that I was just going for the sake of seeing it, to be able to say "California, yeah, I've been there." A week after my arrival, Michael Jackson died. To say this event rocked the world is almost an understatement. In the very least, I can confidently say that it changed my life. Before you label me as an MJ fanatic, you must take into account that I've been making Michael Jackson related artwork for the past 7 years now. And I don't mean the familiar, amateurish fan art (which I do value and adore), but artwork that examines the complicated issues which his life touches upon: love, money, pain, race, fear, sex, abuse, and healing. Take a gander at it here: http://freelaurenmarsella.com or here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/freelaurenmarsella/ or finally here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Lauren-Marsella/107342494337...
To be a bus ride away from the MJ chaos snowballing in LA following the announcment of his hospital admittance was too much of a coincidence. The forces of the universe conspired to bring me California. So, I saw the opportunity laid out before me and took it: I boarded a greyhound bus and the following morning I arrived at Michael Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I stayed in LA for one week, visiting places I thought significant to his life and death, taking in the mania of what truly was a world event: thousands of people gathering from all over the world to witness the death site of a giant. I recording absolutely everything I experienced with photographs and a journal. From my encounters with the gobs of nose-picking tourists, the impromptu MJ shrines being erected willy nilly, the serenity of the perfectly manicured Beverly Hills lawns, to a craigslist stalker who wanted to drive me to Neverland, it's all in that journal, un-edited and illustrated. See a preview of it here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/freelaurenmarsella/sets/72157623804641148/
Two years prior to my self-proclaimed "Hollywood Hajj", I traveled to his childhood home in Gary, Indiana, to see MJ's roots, the poverty he and his family worked so tirelessly to rise from. I think it's imperative for myself as an artist to experience what I'm talking about in my art. Not doing so would be dishonest, a person talking about something she knows nothing about.
My mission is to make a second pilgrimage to Hollywood on the anniversary of MJ's death, June 25, 2010, stay for one week, keeping another journal of what promises to be a massive world event on the scale of the original in 2009. Once I return home, I will self-publish both the 2009 and 2010 pilgrimage journals. Recording and studying these kinds of happenings is extremely important, especially this day in age, living a world that is growing larger and faster than ever before in history. We can all learn so much about our society, our values, and ourselves as human beings by looking at what motivates us to celebrate and mourn an individual like Michael Jackson on such a dramatic global scale. I personally hope to take what I learn from these experiences and use that knowledge to push my artwork into new realms of examining and understanding Michael Jackson's life and the issues it touches upon which affect us all. Thank you for your support and God Bless All of You.
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This project reached the deadline without achieving its funding goal on June 29, 2010.
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Postcard with personal message sent to you from Hollywood during my 2010 pilgrimage.
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A vial of earth from the Forrest Lawn cemetary with certificate of authenticity signed by me.
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A signed copy of published journal from the 2009 pilgrimage.
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A signed copy of each published journal, from both the 2009 and 2010 pilgrimages.
Project By
Connected as Marcella Marsella
Lauren Marsella was born in the back seat of a car on a Price is Right Showcase. She was raised on hot dogs, Kraft Dinner, green eggs, green milk, & Kid Cuisine. One time, she was good, so she got a Skip-It & a jump rope that played music. Like Jesus, the role she was predestined to play in this world was very specifically ordained by the Almighty. Though her role is to be America's Greatest Living Artist rather than to die on the cross for all of humanity's sins. She writes:
"I became seriously involved with art when I first laid eyes on my brother's friend at the age of 7. He very closely resembled Pee Wee Herman, with whom I was obsessed at that point in my youth. I drew a picture of the two of us holding hands underneath a large rainbow spouting into a pot of gold, and at the top it read "I LOVE YOU PEE WEE." I instructed my brother to deliver this artwork to his friend which he did reluctantly. The boy returned my drawing stating he was not happy about it and never to contact him again. That's when I knew I was an artist."
Lauren Marsella celebrated Michael Jackson's 50th birthday in 2008 by throwing a pool party for Michael in her parents' backyard with a skinnydipping Michael Jackson Barbie doll floating around in the pool with friends of Lauren Marsella. Lauren Marsella has been known to design ouija boards in the style of Michael Jackson and use them to contact Michael Jackson on Michael Jackson's birthday less than 2 months after Michael Jackson died, on August 29th, 2009. Lauren Marsella's hands have piano playing fingers, fingers which do not in actuality play the piano, unless you call running your fingers over the keys of a player piano while it plays the Hokey Pokey as playing the piano. Lauren Marsella has been known to have her hands, her Hokey Pokey playing hands, moved by God, on her mission from God. Lauren Marsella is on her way to Hollywood again.
Lauren Marsella cried when Pokemon died.
Lauren Marsella made an Octomon piñata and no mother could crack that mother.
Lauren Marsella, America's Greatest Living Artist, has been known to communicate with Michael Jackson in her dreams and night mares. Lauren Marsella cares about you. Lauren Marsella feels profound nostalgia for a time took time before she was even born. It was the time of the eGGeater dinosaur. Because Lauren Marsella is an eggeater, and she'll eat the hard-boiled egg right out of your nest when you're not looking, especially if your name starts with F and ends with resh Grocer in University City, Philadelphia. Lauren Marsella is and isn’t a big spender. She believes in most of the 10 commandments but not the ones against watching more than 2 hours of television on a weeknight.
Lauren Marsella states with confidence that everyone's favorite color is gold. Lauren Marsella typed up an artist statement in "Notepad" and all she got was this lousy T-Shirt.
