Good Time With Jimmy
(aka Room 31)
(tag 707)
Rolling Conundrum
2021

Assemblage (49” x 25” x 14”)

Artist description:

This artwork is about prostitution…specifically male prostitution. Here we see a wood cash register drawer tilted up on end with a light fixture with red light bulb atop. We see a photo of Jimmy in the large denomination cash compartment at right. At left we see a skeleton key to his hotel room: number 31. In front of the cash drawer sits a blower, used to make a fire burn hotter (and a reference to Jimmy’s special skill). Lying flat on the cold medicinal white surface of the tabletop we see a padlock and chain (manufactured by the Climax Lock Company), arranged in the shape of a sperm.

One of the most pervasive fears faced by LGBTQ youth is being disowned and abandoned by their family and being thrown out of their home. Every year thousands of LGBTQ youths are disowned and rejected by their families, forcing them into homelessness because of their sexual orientation. Of the young homeless seen on the streets it is estimated that up to 40% identify as LGBTQ. Further, once thrown out of the home, LGBTQ youth face an even more hostile environment because they are discriminated against in shelters, in foster care and on the streets. Sadly, many LGBTQ homeless youths turn to drugs and alcohol, and/or selling their bodies, trying to find some escape from the crush of emotional pain from the harsh reality of rejection and abandonment.

This is another artwork from D’Elia’s “Rolling Conundrum” series. The Rolling Conundrums are artworks created to represent problems found everywhere in the world.