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.

Paul Karlstrom - Independent Art Writer, 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.

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, a new exhibition that will travel across the country in 2015 through 2017.

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, Department Assistant at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
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 works in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at SFMOMA.

William Farley - Film Director, Lecturer, Associate Professor
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,Teacher
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’s. 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.

Peter Selz - Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley, Art Historian
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's and  filmed Jerome for his short titled Complaints.

by Anthony Cianciolo

Thank you Sabrina & Megan at City Picture Frame in San Francisco!

We just put together the very first production run of Anna van der Meulen's 35mm color slide prints of Jerome in Cleveland. It is titled Triptych from the "3304 St. Clair Series." Anna and I collaborated together in designing the layout. We had the images printed up on aluminum and float-mounted them in a white shadowbox with UV-protection glass. It is stunning! This piece will be the first in a series of fifty, and it will be in the San Francisco Cinematheque Art Auction (Online Bidding: Jerome Caja Triptych) presented by Paddle8. Fifty percent of the proceeds from the sale of this piece will support The Jerome Project, and the purchaser of this piece will get a special thank-you credit in the documentary film on Jerome Caja. When the online auction ends at 3:00 pm on September 25th, it transfers to a silent auction held at the Center For New Music on September 26th at 7:00 pm.

I also want to give a big shout out to City Picture Frame. They were wonderful to work with, especially because I was under a tight two-week deadline to deliver this piece in time for the auction. Sabrina's design suggestions were spot on, and her co-worker, Megan also helped with all the last minute wrap-ups. This is the first time I have ever produced a professional production run of Jerome photographs and City Picture Frame is now going to be my go-to framing house.

Thank you City Picture Frame!

Website: City Picture Frame
Website: Paddle8 Auction for the SF Cinematheque
Auction Artwork: Triptych from the "3304 St. Clair Series"

Thank you Les Hanson and Jim James!

These are two great photos of Jerome prancing around in poultry drag at the 1990 Folsom Street Fair. Jerome created these handmade papier-mâché orange duck feet pumps and feathered lingerie illustrating his unique drag couture. The B&W photo by Jim James was published in Adam Klein & Thomas Avena's monograph, Jerome: After the Pageant.

I will add these marvelous gems to the digital catalogue raisonné.

An Homage to Francisco Goya & Charles Sexton

In order to fully appreciate this painting, context is needed about Jerome Caja and Charles Sexton. In the late 80's both men studied art together at the San Francisco Art Institute and became friends. Living with HIV prompted both artists to enter into a pact. Their commitment was that whoever was the "Loser in Life" had to bequeath his ashes to the survivor to be used for art. Charles was the first to go. Jerome then spent two years mixing nail polish with Charles' ashes and created a large body of artwork. Jerome gave many of these pieces to Charles' family and friends as personal reliquaries.

Jerome is often miscategorized as an outsider artist. In reality, he is a classically trained insider artist who went to several art schools. An avid museum patron, Jerome revered the masters and referenced their art in his own. "Charles Devouring Himself" is a good example of Jerome's reworking of a classic painting by Goya. The painting was exhibited in the "Remains of the Day" show at Southern Exposure Gallery in San Francisco and the "Hide/Seek" show at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC.