Nick Flessa Transformed His Mother’s Possessions into Objects of Art

When Nick Flessa’s mother died in 2010, he faced, as we all someday face, the bittersweet task of sorting through a deceased loved one’s belongings — along with the complicated emotions each object embodied. Nick had to answer the same questions we are  confronted with when sorting through the possessions our parents leave behind: What to discard? What to keep? What to do with the keepsakes?

In her lifetime, Janna Flessa used painting and running as forms of therapy
Credit: Nick Flessa

Nick, a Los Angeles musician, artist and archivist, kept more than most. Some of his literal motherlode ranged from the sublime — a court transcript of a death penalty case Janna Flessa helped successfully prosecute, which delivered a death sentence that was later overturned as unconstitutional — to the seemingly ridiculous — a make-up compact. Ridiculous, that is, until you see the cosmetic branded with the words “Age Rewind.” The Maybelline trademark on the compact took on new meaning after the untimely death of its owner at the age of 54. The same irony held true for this title from Janna Flessa’s book collection: “I’d Change My Life if I Had More Time.”

Nick’s art background inspired him to not only organize his mother’s possessions,  but carefully catalogue each item as well. Earlier this year, he displayed the collection at Death Production: The Archive of Janna Flessa, an exhibition at the Los Angeles Contemporary Archives, where he serves as co-director.

Six of Janna Flessa’s running journals
Credit: Nick Flessa

In an interview in March, Nick said his intention was “to emphasize what was unspoken in his mother’s life: mental illness, spiritual fatigue and internalized self-destruction.” Some of these “silent” pieces of meaningful memorabilia included obsessively detailed journals his mother kept, documenting her daily runs. The exhibit revealed that she used painting, as well as running, as forms of therapy.

The Los Angeles exhibit, which is now closed, manifested both a mother’s life and how a son coped with his grief over her death. One reviewer noted that all the “artworks” are attributed to Janna Flessa and given specific titles, raising the question – Who really made this artwork, Janna or Nick Flessa?

Interestingly, Nick never referred to himself as an artist in the show’s description, but instead used the words “Executed by Nick Flessa” to describe his role — language more akin to an executor of an estate plan than that of a young, contemporary artist presenting his works.

Nick recently told SevenPonds he will be taking the exhibit to Cincinnati, Ohio, where his  mom lived and where the materials were generated, for a permanent installation sometime next year.