In 2018, PARTICIPANT INC presented Jayne County, Paranoia Paradise, the first retrospective exhibition of County’s visual artwork, curated by Michael Fox.  Although County’s artistic output began in experimental theater in the late 1960s–early ‘70s, including work with Theater of the Ridiculous and in Andy Warhol’s Pork, she is perhaps most well-known as a rock singer and performer.  This exhibition took its title from one of County’s songs, Paranoia Paradise, which she famously performed as the character of “Lounge Lizard” in Derek Jarman’s 1978 film, Jubilee.  Selections of her earliest known paintings and works on paper made in the early ‘80s while living in Berlin were exhibited alongside works made up until 2018, with approximately eighty pieces on view from County’s studio as well as several private collections.  A presentation of related ephemeral materials from County’s archive, as well as photographs by Bob Gruen, Leee Black Childers, and Michael Fox accompanied the exhibition to further illuminate her legendary contributions to music, film, performance, as well her role as forebear and gender pioneer as the first openly transgender rock performer.

Offered here are thirty artworks from the Jayne County, Paranoia Paradise exhibition, along with thirty-four unseen works from this era.