The outstanding Forrest Bess was a nutter! ... at Fridericianum, Kassel. Here • Untitled, No. 6 • from 1957. Becoming a hermaphrodite the key to immortality???!!! Forrest Bess was a commercial fisherman and let a fairly secluded existence in Chinquapin, Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico. In his spare time he systematically started to make small format paintings which encapsulated ‘visions’ that appeared to him on the threshold between waking and sleep. He pursued the exploration of these visions not only in exquisite painting, but also in developing a remarkable thesis. During his life he came to the conclusion that everlasting life lay in the act of transforming the body to become a hermaphrodite. To test his thesis, he altered his own body in an attempt to become a ‘pseudo-hermaphrodite’. He made a cut in the underside of his penis that he hoped to dilate enough to approximate a vagina, thus uniting the male and female within himself. Bess believed that having intercourse in this pseudo-hermaphrodite state could ultimately bring him immortality???!!! Despite his isolated existence, between 1957 and 1967, he did had six solo shows at ‘the den mother of abstract expressionism’ Betty Parsons in NYC. But oh was he different than Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko or Clyfford Still... A unique artist, an exceptional show! #forrestbess #art #artist #painter #painting #oil #canvas #installaton #shapes #mythic #biomorphic #visionary #visions #modernart #abstractexpressionism #abstraction #abstractart #theamazingpoppingeyes #fridericianum https://www.instagram.com/p/CDKFPCygbBx/?igshid=1p76l35ywapom
