In Conversation: John Waters and Jack Pierson

Cultural renegade John Waters and artist Jack Pierson on the new exhibition of art from Waters's private collection, his decision to give it all away, and why he'll always be drawn to work that makes people angry

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For almost six decades, John Waters-the filmmaker behind subversive touchstones like Pink Flamingos (1972), Polyester (1981), and Hairspray (1988); the author of nonfiction tomes like Shock Value and Role Models and the novel Liarmouth; a stand-up comic, spoken-word performer, and prolific photographer, sculptor, and mixed-media polymath-has been not just making art but also collecting it. Waters's collection, which he has been amassing since he was in his teens and has installed throughout his residences in New York, San Francisco, and Baltimore, includes some of the most important visual artists of the postwar period-people like Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, and Diane Arbus-alongside boundary pushers like Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, Mike Kelley, Richard Tuttle, and the Swiss duo of Peter Fischli and Eric Weiss.

The works in Waters's collection reflect many of his own interests as an artist-in shock, humor, provocation, and pop culture. But like his movies, they have a beating heart beneath them all: an understanding of what it means to be an outsider or feel different, a yearning for an approval that will never come, and a glimpse of the strength that can be gathered from finding community by being gleefully out of step with the world.

Two years ago, Waters, now 76, bequeathed the entire collection to his hometown Baltimore Museum of Art, a place he frequented as a kid. More than 90 of the 372 pieces in the John Waters Collection are currently on view as part of a new exhibition, "Coming Attractions," curated by the artists Catherine Opie and Jack Pierson, his longtime friends. In early October, Waters and Pierson reconnected to discuss the show.