A phenomenon is coming to Jack the Pelican. —We are pleased to present the artist Jillian McDonald in her first New York solo show, "Me and Billy Bob."

On her wildly popular fan site MeandBillyBob.com, McDonald claims her obsession with the screen star began on a flight to San Francisco. She awoke, she writes, in the middle of a slow-motion kiss between Cate Blanchett and Billy Bob Thornton. In her words, "I knew immediately and irreversibly that I should be kissing him instead of her. I was in love."

Her website houses an abbreviated web edit of its namesake video, Me and Billy Bob (1). In it, she steps into a sequence of scenes from Billy Bob's different films, replacing his female co-stars with her own love-struck self. She emotes with tender (and surprisingly well acted) passion, as she moves in closer to the kiss. Jack the Pelican is pleased to present the New York debut of the original full-length uncut version.

"Unfortunately," writes McDonald, "Billy Bob has not responded, and I am ready to make him jealous." Hers is an unusual fan site. While others are not discouraged from visiting, the intended audience is Billy Bob himself. And when he goes there, if indeed he does, he will no doubt be tempted to visit the "Other Fish in the Sea link" to McDonald's Screen Kiss (2), in which she kisses other actors to make him jealous. The honor belongs to heartthrobs Daniel Day Lewis, Vincent Gallo and Johnny Depp. She even kisses Billy Bob’s former wife Angelina Jolie. Anything to make him squirm.

This video is also included in Jillian McDonald's exhibition at Jack the Pelican. As are nine of her thirteen After Billy Bob's Tattoos photos (3). In this series, she presents herself 'posing' Billy Bob Thorton's tattoos, which she has lovingly hand-drawn onto her own body (some of them in difficult places). —Incidentally, the artist, would have you know, Billy Bob foiled her once again, this time by rushing out without fair warning to get a fourteenth. Opening night, McDonald will perform Billy Bob Star Tattoo. If you are lucky, she will give you a [genuine copy of a] real Billy Bob Tattoo.

It will quickly dawn on the astute viewer that MeandBillyBob.com is less about Billy Bob and more about McDonald's own fanatical devotion. Following the link to her 'artist' site (4), they will learn that this is a conceptual art project that came out of her increasing interest in "film genre and language, the cult of celebrity, and the fantasy that propels extreme fandom" and that in much or her performance work, she engages "with passersby as a means of orchestrating everyday activities away from their usual context, where audiences are made up of willing participants who are not necessarily expecting art."

The question remains, is Jillian McDonald really and truly crushed on Billy Bob Thornton? And that is for you to decide. The more pressing question on everyone's mind is, will he come?

Jillian McDonald has shown and performed extensively throughout the US and internationally. Sylvie Fortin's article "Jillian McDonald’s Celebrity Relations” was featured in the October 2005 issue of Art Papers. Others of her many reviews have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Christian Science Monitor, The Village Voice and the Toronto Star. She has also been widely discussed on the world wide web.