Granted, I might throw "me" away given half the chance, but then again I wake up every morning staring at the same tired mug dripping in eye boogers and toothpaste. Thankfully frequent BSD contributor Jef thinks differently. Jef sent me a beautiful copy of "Henry Darger: Throwaway Boy" by Jim Elledge for my birthday. If you don't know Darger's sexually ambiguous, somewhat controversial work, check out the trailer for "In the Realm of the Unreal", a documentary about Darger's life, or view examples of his drawings from the American Folk Art Museum HERE.
Oddly enough, the book arrived on Jef's doorstep with the dust jacket upside-down and backwards, unexpectedly signed by the author-- a surreal indication at best, especially given the other present Jef included in my birthday package: his response to "Justice". So far I've kept most responses to my latest art project close to the vest. That said, I couldn't resist sharing Jef's psycho-sexual genderfuck masterpiece. In case you can't see the drawing clearly enough, their vaginas have zippers. OUCH.
I bought this book last month. The author's narrative basically boils down to the idea that Darger was a sexually abused, closeted homosexual who found outlet for his repressed desires through his self-made art. Can a prolific artist's entire body of work, his magnum opus, In the Realms of the Unreal, be deconstructed to one theme or event?
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