Re/View is a growing web installation by Lance Levesque exploring the ideas of memory, collection, and the objects he’s carried with him from his time in New York. Over the coming months, Lance will be collaborating with artists (Jeremy Kingwill and others) to continue developing more images and stories.

So, I found that Polyester scratch and sniff card at Howdy Do, a store that sold memorabilia in the East Village run by two drag queens named Brandywine and Brenda. If you’re from New York, you’re going to remember Brandywine and Brenda. I mean, Brandywine was — if you watch any of that old footage of Leigh Bowery — she’s everywhere. She was in club kid land and had a television access show, The Brandywine and Brenda Show. And there were a couple of options of that card that day: one was white, one was pink. So, I chose the pink one. It looked older. It looked more vintage.

Later, I was lucky enough to be able to meet one of my favorite filmmakers of all time, John Waters, and I had him sign that card for me. And, he was happy to sign it — hysterically laughing because he had literally not seen that specific pink card since he release the film! Very shortly after the release of Polyester, they stopped the pink and it became the white one, and I was fortunate enough to get him to autograph mine.

He had a few pieces he was selling at trailer park that night, but Soigne Deluxe gave me one because I would never charge him to get in. Then, you know, off he went to sell his art.

Oh my god, he’s like a cartoon character! He would just sashay throughout the club hawking his wares — which was art — and I thought it was just so bizarre. The ultimate in self promotion.

‘Wanna buy my art? It’s only five dollars.’

And he sold them! He sold them.

Oh my God, it’s a Daniel tape!

So, Daniel was signed by Elton John’s Rocket Records and I felt so proud seeing one of my friends achieve that. And that cassette sampler was given out at the launch party somewhere in Manhattan. I’m pretty sure it was a converted church, but was now an art space. For the life of me, I can’t remember the space.

But everyone was there. Everyone that supported Daniel and loved Daniel was there.

He bypassed the industry by recording Avenue A in the subway and got himself heard. It made it location specific. It was a celebration of doing something local, and I can’t remember anyone else who did that at that time. There’s a certain chaos that’s hard to duplicate.

New additions to Re/View will be announced on GHP’s Facebook page