I never knew Virginia Kleker (Ginny to her friends), but a piece of hers I saw in a group exhibition at Southern Exposure years ago has always stayed with me. Called Luggage, in it Kleker stole a suitcase off the carousel of the Oakland airport, took it home, went through it, and then cataloged what she found inside before surreptitiously returning the suitcase to the airport mere hours later. She left an official-looking note inside for its owner: “You can be angry, upset or confused without feeling guilt. Maybe you will tell this story to another and be closer to them for the confusion.”
That interest in human connection (and that wicked sense of humor) characterizes much of Kleker's video and performance art, making it all the more tragic that she took her own life in October 2008 at the beginning of what was certain to be a fantastic career. Her friend Lori Gordon has organized a show just ending its run at Kevin P. Clarke's cool MacArthur b arthur space in Oakland that includes art and photographs by many who loved Ginny as well as Kleker's own work. Clarke turned a disc of her videos on for me when I dropped by the gallery on Sunday, and I literally didn't move for an hour as I watched this beautiful, vibrant woman bare her soul in myriad ways on camera. I saw her duct tape a heart to her chest, smash a dozen eggs on her face, grapple with a stripper pole, stand in an hour-long hug with Gordon in the middle of a busy BART passageway, mimic the musicians she observed at a laughably bad concert at Yoshi's. The very last piece on the disc is called Suicide Note, and Clarke explained that a couple years before Kleker succeeded in ending her life she'd had an initial attempt. In the video Kleker says she was cleaning up her room and found the note, and she wanted to read it to camera to help her remember what was in it. After she finishes reading she continues talking for a bit, speaking about how she isn't even sure she believes in depression but that she does believe in being deeply, truly sad. It is genuinely heart-rending that the sadness finally won.