Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Scott Covert: Graveyard Artist
As far as I am aware, no artist has made it big in grave rubbings except maybe Scott Covert,
who does
frottage,
rubbings with a twist—brilliantly colored collages collecting the en-
graved names from tombstones of famous people. He gathers some rubbings according to
theme—like the bright blue country music collage featuring rubbings from the graves of
Tammy Wynnette, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, and about a hundred other country stars big
and small. Other rubbings, like one juxtaposing Fred Astaire, Buster Keaton, and Lenny
Bruce, seem to lack an organizational principle other than fame.
Besides his art, Scott Covert had personality in spades.
ROBERT CAMPBELL
One night Scott Covert ended up at Herbert Huncke's place, and this is how I
met him. He was carrying a big duffel bag. We hung out for a while, drinking
and smoking, and we started talking. He said he was an artist, and then he started
pulling these beautiful paintings out of his duffel bag. He had like five hundred of
them in there. They all featured grave rubbings of famous people. He had a story
he would tell about each one.
He would just stack the paintings up in a pile. It was blowing my mind. Since
he was homeless, if he could, he would find a nice warm place to crash for a few
hours at the end of the day. But at night he didn't have anything to do.
The night I met him, I had a little bit of money, and I just couldn't believe this
guy. I though the was perfect Chelsea material. We got along, and were talking.
So I said, “Man, you gotta come along and talk to Stanley about getting a room.”
He was just flat broke. So I bought two paintings from him that night. I think they
were three-hundred and fifty dollars a piece. One of them was a rubbing of Bri-
an Jones's grave, and it had Andre Breton's rubbing on it too, and the rubbings
of some other people. My ex-girlfriend Carol's still got them. Carol also got one
of Coco Chanel. They were really cool. So after we talked to Stanley, Scott was
admitted into the hotel and moved in.
Scott got this really cool apartment. Stanley really hooked him up nicely. It
was on the corner on the fifth floor. Scott and I would hang out drinking on his
balcony and watching the world go by. His room, of course, was trashed.
There seems to be some dispute as to who really introduced Scott Covert to the Chelsea.
ELLIS DUNCAN
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