
Jerome Caja (b. 1958, Cleveland, OH; d. 1995, San Francisco, CA) was an artist and drag performer based in San Francisco from 1985 to 1995. As a fixture of the queer underground scene and host of myriad parties and pageants amidst the AIDS crisis, Jerome became a recognizable persona known for his irreverent style of drag and outrageous performance antics. Concurrently, Jerome's artwork rose to local prominence through a string of exhibitions at San Francisco art spaces like Art Lick, Force Nordstrom, Paule Anglim, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and SFMoMA.
Jerome's midwestern Catholic school upbringing was foundational to both the physical and representational aspects of his work from the late eighties until his untimely death due to complications from AIDS in 1995. Caja's paintings, intimate in scale and primarily composed in nail polish and glitter on found materials like plastic tip trays or scraps of wood, lace, and other refuse, often resemble Catholic miniatures, icons, or reliquaries, depicting saints and other figures in bawdy, grotesque scenes.
Most recently, Caja's work has been shown in institutional exhibitions including 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. His work is held in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Works


The Birth of Venus in Cleveland, 1988

St Jerome in Her Cell, 1993

Toasted White Bread Having A Nice Day, 1989

The Zodiac, 1994

The Rose Bikini, 1990

Christmas Painting, 1994

Look Ma, No Hands!, 1992

The Gossips, 1992

Betty in a Bear Trap, 1991

The Headache or The Boo Boo, 1990

Untitled (self-portrait container), 1993

Bloody Marrys from Heaven, 1994

Virgin at the Hamper, 1989

Connie Krishna, 1994

Door Guardians, 1994

Two tunas fighting for a fish, 1993

The Waitress, 1987

New Boobies, 1994

Sunny Side Up Talking About Going Over Easy, to a Hard-Boiled Crowd, 1991

The Songbird, 1992

Miss Chickie doing The Chicken Trick, 1993

Bathsheba, 1987

Looking at Pretty, 1989
