PAUL REUBENS, who died on July 30, aged seventy, was not just an American original, entertainer, actor, mischief-maker, and mensch, but a great artist. His most famous creation was, of course, Pee-wee Herman, the adorably bonkers, puppy-dog-eyed anarchist in red bowtie and gray plaid suit who took TV off into a wild and wonderful dreamscape totally beyond anywhere (or anything!) it had been before. A CalArts alumnus (student of Allan Kaprow; classmate of David Hasselhoff), Reubens said, “I always felt [Pee-wee] was conceptual art but no one knew that except me.” Yup, he got right into the Reagan-era mainstream when things were hideous to the max and created all kinds of hallucinogenic chaos. Behold his masterpiece, Pee-wee’s Playhouse (1986–91): At the height of the AIDS crisis, queer royalty came over every Saturday morning: Little Richard! Sandra Bernhard! Grace Jones! His adventures, lair, and pals were wholly innocent and extremely subversive, an outrageous celebration of imagination and otherness run amok at a time when that was severely endangered. No other show (nominally “for kids”) has ever been louder or more delighted about being Art, a simultaneously freaky and extremely heartwarming carnival high on its own psychedelic rollercoaster aesthetics, full of nonstop chaos. It was a neon gift and a gateway drug for tons of kids who grew up to be artists. Gathered below, a mourning chorus of friends, collaborators, and devotees give just a hint of the magical singularity of his talents and influence—and of how deeply he’ll be missed.
—Charlie Fox
Pee-wee Herman is right up there with Howdy Doody and Lassie on the Greatest Characters in American TV list. Paul Reubens was a loyal friend, a gentleman, and a scholar of the delightful. Even fashion will never be the same without him. Didn’t Pee-wee come before Thom Browne?
—John Waters
In the late ’90s, I visited his house and he and I were having a conversation about the disappearance of street hustlers in Hollywood. “Most are gone except the one on Santa Monica near Shakey’s Pizza Parlor, big muscled dude, wears only shreds of what must’ve once been silk gym shorts and a pink bikini top.” “Oh, you must mean Reggie. You know I’ve been wondering where my favorite bikini top had wandered off to.” I kind of “oh golly” believed him for a moment.
—Richard Hawkins
Paul Reubens is in heaven now with all those Last Wish kids he said goodbye to long ago. He cared greatly that all kids find their way.
—Gary Panter
I remember my mother would get upset if she caught me watching Pee-wee’s Playhouse on TV when I was a child because she thought it was ‘perverted.’ Perhaps she was right; however, sometimes things that are perverted are also really good.
—Sam McKinniss
the world sucks ass!!!! it’s not a place i want to be all the time. pee-wee’s playhouse is the universe i want to live in. it was the perfect paradise all us freaks wished we could visit as kids and remains the place we still wish we could go as adults. i didn’t just “watch” pee-wee’s playhouse as a kid: i went to FREAK PARADISE!!!! i was invited there!!!! i was allowed in!!! it was the coolest hangout in town!!!!! it was so fucking real to me and i had all these crazy friends who lived inside the fridge and the fishtank and i was surrounded by beautiful art made by the best freak weirdo artists and musicians and comedians.
in pee-wee’s playhouse, humans and puppets and cartoons alike spoke a shared language that inspired us and made us laugh. it’s where sweetness and camp and REAL humor and pure, unadulterated JOY reigned supreme. it transformed the way many of us create art: what if our art could be the playhouse you could teleport into when everything fucking sucks and is total crap and shit!!!!!!!! everything i ever make is in pursuit of recreating the experience of going to the playhouse, of capturing that feeling of first being sent on a magic rocket ship ride through the claymation woods, through the red front door, and into that room with talking windows and magic screens and the little weirdo in the little gray suit.
it’s hard to talk about paul reubens. how can i ever put into words the meaning of the singular artist and comedian who shaped my entire worldview and showed me what art makes possible? the man who created a whole world and deserved so much more than he got? life was boring, and then paul showed up and made it exciting. and more than that, he showed us that the excitement was right there all along, waiting to be coaxed out. to me? that’s godlike behavior.
ARTISTS REMEMBER ARTISTS. For Artforum, writer Charlie Fox asked a number of people to share tributes to the late Paul Reubens, the “entertainer, actor, mischief-maker, and mensch” who played Pee-wee Herman, and the responses glow. Reubens, who died last week at 70, “was a loyal friend, a gentleman, and a scholar of the delightful,” filmmaker John Waters said. “He cared greatly that all kids find their way,” in the words of cartoonist Gary Panter. Artist Richard Hawkins shared a gem of an anecdote—and there is more! Meanwhile, in ArtReview, Jeremy Deller discussed the life and work of the outré wrestler and artist Adrian Street, who died late last month. His Florida home, Deller said, “was an entire world of his creation, filled with mementos, images and videos of him wrestling—a museum to himself and his achievements.”
—Sarah Sherman (aka Sarah Squirm)
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