Bubble Bath

When Frank Moore died of AIDS in 2002, in his New York Times obituary, art critic Roberta Smith characterized him as “a painter and AIDS activist whose jewel-like allegories brought beauty and bite to themes of scientific progress, environmental pollution and the medical establishment.” "Bubble Bath" is one of Moore’s most ambitious allegorical tableaus. The title invokes a relaxing soak in the tub, but the painting is littered with allusions to AIDS and conjures the fear over the exchange of body fluids prevalent in the early days of the AIDS epidemic. In an interview, Moore described the work as “a toilet turning into a brain with Kaposi’s sarcoma lesions in it, AZT vials and specific references to sexual acts, safe and unsafe.” An artist and an activist, Moore was a founding member of the Visual AIDS group in New York, the collective of artists who first created the red AIDS awareness ribbon that became a symbol of compassion for those suffering from the disease.