Charles Fred Sexton papers
name: label: Creator
content: Sexton, Charles F.
label: Names
content: Caja, Jerome, 1958-1995
topic: label: Occupation
content: Artists -- California -- San Francisco
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated 2000 by Carmel Sexton.
creator: label: Creator
content: Sexton, Charles F.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Painter, printmaker: San Francisco, Calif. Born 1956. Died1991. Sexton was born in San Francisco and grew up in nearby Milpitas. He attended classes at San Jose City College while still in high school graduating in 1974. In 1978 he moved to San Francisco with Scott England, a fellow student at Ayer High School in Milpitas. Sexton worked for several years before enrolling at the San Francisco Art Institute where he met Jerome Caja. The two entered into an artistic friendship that lasted until Charles's death. Sexton and Caja made a pact that the ashes of the first to die would be used by the survivor as a paint ingredient. As a result, there are several portraits of Charles, one on a tray as if it were the head of John the Baptist. Interest in the unconventional and macabre was shared by the two. A symbolist artist, Sexton rarely explained his works except in his poems and other writings. Many of his works were based on dreams, those of his friends as well as his own dreams. He considered his best work to be "A conversation with God" it features a brown body with different colored heads facing a deity wearing a mask. His works also depicted the devastation of AIDS and its effects on society, not only the gay community. Sexton died of complications associated with AIDS.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2.4 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1956-1992
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.sextchar
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Drawings, prints, works on paper, personal writings, photographs, memorabilia, juvenilia (early drawings, school pictures, etc.), and a Sexton portrait of Jerome Caja.