The devil is in the details focuses on Jerome Caja’s small-scale works, all of which have humorous or ribald details that encourage slow and intentional looking. Primarily composed on unconventional surfaces such as plastic tip trays, bottle caps, pistachio shells, and tiny metal tins, Caja’s art is characterized by its use of nail polish, glitter, found objects, and occasionally, the ashes of his late friend, Charles Sexton. In these works, the artist regularly queered elements from his midwestern Catholic upbringing, capturing saints and other religious figures in obscene or grotesque scenes.
Goldfinch is thrilled to present The devil is in the details, a solo exhibition in Gallery II featuring work by the late visual artist and drag performer Jerome Caja.
The devil is in the details offers an intimate look at the artistic legacy of Jerome Caja, who left an indelible mark on the queer underground art scene in San Francisco during the 1980s and early 1990s. Born in 1958 in Cleveland, Ohio, Caja moved to San Francisco in 1985, quickly becoming a central figure in the city’s vibrant and tumultuous art and performance landscape. Known for his audacious drag performances and his role as a beloved party host amid the AIDS crisis, Caja transformed personal trauma and social commentary into deeply compelling works of art that reflect an interplay of humor, horror, and spirituality.
Guest curated by Lauren Leving, The devil is in the details focuses on Caja’s small-scale works, all of which have humorous or ribald details that encourage slow and intentional looking. Primarily composed on unconventional surfaces such as plastic tip trays, bottle caps, pistachio shells, and tiny metal tins, Caja’s art is characterized by its use of nail polish, glitter, found objects, and occasionally, the ashes of his late friend, Charles Sexton. In this work, the artist regularly queered elements from his midwestern Catholic upbringing, capturing saints and other religious figures in obscene or grotesque scenes. Caja was also known for repeating symbols, imbuing them with meaning the more he used them. For example, he regularly included egg imagery in his work, seen multiple times throughout this show including Untitled (egg match box), which features two melancholy birds embracing and a hatched egg hovering over its shell. Inside, an egg cooks in a miniature frying pan, a sinister yet playful exploration of death.
Bringing together a selection of works from different periods in Caja’s creative output, including some pieces that were never finished, The devil is in the details "provides audiences with the opportunity to experience Caja’s meticulous process and the intricacy of his work at multiple stages,” says Leving.
Jerome Caja: The devil is in the details runs from January 25 through March 8, 2025. The exhibition’s opening reception takes place on January 25 from 2 - 5pm.
Artist’s Biography
Jerome Caja (b. 1958, Cleveland, OH; d. 1995, San Francisco, CA) was an interdisciplinary visual artist and drag performer based in San Francisco from 1985 to 1995. A fixture of the queer underground scene amidst the AIDS crisis, Caja became a renowned persona known for his irreverent style of drag and outrageous performance antics. Simultaneously, his object-based work, which included painting and sculpture, began receiving attention through exhibitions at Bay Area art spaces including Force Nordstrom, Gallery Paule Anglim, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Using found objects and everyday materials including nail polish, white-out, and glitter, Caja created often-humorous miniatures that express themes of spirituality, mortality, and sexuality. He used recurring imagery such as Catholic saints, eggs, clowns, and birds, many imbued with the spirit of his midwestern Catholic upbringing.
Caja received a BA from Cleveland State University and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. He died from HIV-related complications in 1995, during the height of the AIDS-Art-Activism era in San Francisco. His work has been featured in exhibitions including Jerome Caja: Ugly Pageant, Bortolami Gallery, New York, NY; For Dear Life: Art, Medicine, and Disability, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; The Body, the Host: HIV/AIDS and Christianity, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH; and Art After Stonewall, Grey Art Gallery, New York University, and Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York, NY; Patricia & Philip Frost Art Museum, Miami, FL; and Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH. The artist’s work is also in numerous public collections including SFMoMA, the New York Public Library, and the Los Angeles County Museum. His papers and many small works are part of the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art.
Curator Biography:
Lauren Leving (she/her) is a curator and writer based in Chicago, IL. Her work explores how creative practice can expand institutionally-rooted understandings of access. She is ACRE’s Exhibitions Director and Associate Curator for the 2025 California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art. Previously, she served as Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. Leving was co-curator of Everlasting Plastics in the U.S. Pavilion during the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, which traveled to the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, PA. While at moCa Cleveland, Leving organized numerous projects including a large scale textile commission by Aram Han Sifuentes entitled Messages to Authorities (Go Away!); Nina Chanel Abney: Big Butch Synergy; and Don’t mind if I do, a group exhibition stewarded by Finnegan Shannon. Leving holds an MA in Museum & Exhibition Studies from the University of Illinois–Chicago and a BA from Tulane University. She is an AAMC 2024 Propel Program Fellow and in 2025, will be a Critic/Curator-in-Residence at Art Omi.
