The Vision

The Jerome Project preserves, protects, and furthers the artistic legacy of the late Jerome Caja (1958 – 1995). It is about visibility and accessibility to Jerome's life story, paintings and performances.

The Jerome Project is an LLC and will be a non-profit organization in the future. The goals are to: (1) bring recognition to Jerome as an important 20th century American artist, not just a controversial, marginalized, queer artist of the 1990s "AIDS, Art, and Activism" era in San Francisco; (2) keep Jerome's rebellious and feisty creative spirit alive in a time when the world needs to revel in radical diversity; and (3) establish a permanent home for Jerome that will house and manage access to certain materials, as well as the rights to his art, for future Jerome projects.

The Jerome Project is eager to support related efforts beyond those mentioned on this site.

The Founder

My name is Anthony Cianciolo, and I am the director and founder of the Jerome Project. Like Jerome, I’m from Cleveland, Ohio, have a degree in art, and migrated to the West Coast as a young gay man at a time when AIDS was having a visceral impact.

I spent 20 years in video and film production, working primarily on major motion pictures as an art director, technical director, compositor, and animator (e.g. Natural Born Killers, Tank Girl, The Iron Giant, Space Jam, Osmosis Jones). I also helped establish Warner Bros Feature Animation division.
I first had the idea to make a short film about Jerome in 2010, inspired by his ability to never let fear get in the way of dedicating his life to art, and by the fact that he died before becoming broadly recognized in the art world. I quickly realized that the film would have to be a feature-length documentary that explored both his life and his ground-breaking body of work.

The film now explores the universal themes in Jerome's art so that the widest possible audience can appreciate and be touched by his bravery and insight. It has also become the driving force behind a much larger plan to catalog and preserve Jerome’s art for generations to come. This is the genesis of The Jerome Project.

The Future

The spirit of the the Jerome Project is in direct alignment with Jerome's values and wishes. Once the film is finished and ready for distribution, the proceeds will go back into the Jerome Project, which will become a non-profit foundation, to fund its work in continuing Jerome's artistic legacy. Archiving, preservation, and education will be the main focus. We are currently collaborating with youth enrichment arts education programs and HIV & AIDS organizations. The goal is to have the Jerome Project be self-sustaining and able to support related endeavors.

Lastly, I want to personally thank the Estate of Jerome Caja, for entrusting me with the authority to bring this project to fruition. Without its support and encouragement, none of this would have ever materialized. It is an honor to shepherd a creative project like this.
Sincerely yours,
Online Portfolio & Credentials
www.anthonycianciolo.com

Principal Advisors

Allison Abbate - Film Producer, Director, Writer
BAFTA-Award winning producer of Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Iron Giant, and The Lego Movie, Allison brings a wealth of filmmaking experience to our table. As someone who did not know Jerome personally, her participation allows us to ensure the least biased view of Jerome, and thereby reach the widest possible audience.
Ed Gilbert - Director of Anglim Gilbert Gallery
Anglim Gilbert Gallery (formerly known as Gallery Paule Anglim) in San Francisco has been a critical supporter of Jerome’s work, representing him since the early 1990s. Ed served on the board of the Headlands Center for the Arts, and as Board President of Southern Exposure Gallery, in addition to regularly advising emerging artists.
Dr. Paul Karlstrom - Independent Art Writer, Art and Oral Historian, Biographer
As West Coast Regional Director at the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art from 1973 – 2003, Paul interviewed Jerome in 1995 as part of the West Coast oral history compilation. He was solely responsible for the Smithsonian being the first major institution to make a lasting commitment to Jerome.
Dr. Jonathan Katz - Curator, Writer, Associate Professor, Art Historian
Director of the visual studies doctoral program, State University of New York-Buffalo. Jonathan founded and directed the Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay studies at Yale University. He is president of the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in New York. In addition, he has curated two large group shows that include Jerome's work: Hide/Seek at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C, and Art AIDS America, an exhibition that traveled across the country from 2015 through 2017.

Advisors

Julie Blankenship - Nonprofit Leader & Director, Curator, Educator, Artist
Executive Director of Visual Aid and its gallery, a social justice organization that supports artists with life-threatening illnesses. Like Jerome, Julie went to the San Francisco Art Institute. She also founded the Jerome Caja Terrible Beauty Award, which was given to outstanding Visual Aid artists.
Daniell Cornell - Curator, Art Critic
Daniell is the Donna and Cargill MacMillan Jr., Director of Art at the Palm Springs Art Museum. He was introduced to Jerome’s work through Visual Aid and while helping to open the San Francisco Queer Cultural Center gallery in 2004/5.
Craig Corpora - Art Historian, Pubic Art Program Associate at SF Arts Commission
Wrote his thesis on Jerome at San Francisco State University and has published articles about Jerome for GLBTQ.com and the Smithsonian Archives of American Art website. He previously worked in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at SFMOMA.
William Farley - Film Director, Lecturer
Award-winning veteran filmmaker and director of Plastic Man: The Artful Life of Jerry Ross Barrish; Shadow and Light: The Life and Art of Elaine Badgley Arnoux; and many others. He has been making films since the 1970s.
Glen Helfand - Writer, Critic, Curator, Instructor
Glen has curated exhibitions for the M.H. de Young Museum in San Francisco, the San Jose Museum of  Art, and many alternative and commercial gallery spaces. He taught contemporary art at California College of the Arts, San Francisco State University, Mills College, and the San Francisco Art Institute. Glen has also written the essay, "Art AIDS SF: Tales of the City," which features Jerome and is published in the catalog for the "Art AIDS America" show.
Jim Hubbard - Activist, Documentary Filmmaker
Director of the documentary film United in Anger: A History of ACT UP, A MacDowell Diary, Memento Mori, and many other films since 1974. He also co-created the ACT UP Oral History Project, which is a benchmark for the Jerome Project.
Adam Klein - Writer, Lecturer, Singer-songwriter for the band The Size Queens
Award-winning author and educator. Adam was a close friend of Jerome. He co-wrote the monograph “Jerome: After the Pageant,” and wrote the essay on Jerome, “The New Eyes,” which was published in Life Sentences: Writers, Artists, and AIDS. Adam also co-curated  the largest exhibition on Jerome, Odyssey and Underworld.
Dr. Peter Selz - Professor Emeritus of Art History at UC Berkeley
Curator of Modern Painting and Sculpture at MOMA, New York (1958 – 1965) and founding director of the University Art Museum, UC Berkeley. He is also the author of Art of Engagement: Visual Politics in California and Beyond, which discusses Jerome's art. Peter is a pioneering historian of modern art who had close relationships with such major art figures as Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Christo, and many others.
David Weissman - Film Director, Producer, Lecturer, Activist
Emmy Award-nominated filmmaker, teacher, film programmer, public speaker, and longtime activist. He is best known as producer of the acclaimed documentaries, We Were Here (2011) and The Cockettes (2002). He was also a close friend of Jerome and  filmed Jerome for his short titled Complaints.
Top Banner: Detail from the painting "New Eyes for Saint Lucy" by Jerome Caja, Excerpted from: Jerome After the Pageant, 1995