Elhaz = Life!
Tiwaz = Justice!
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Solstice
Enjoying the Summer Solstice sun with Mt. Hood looming in the background. It was a beautiful day and an inspired night under the stars. My family & friends on the Eastcoast occasionally ask why I choose to live in the Northwest. This is why.
Newt eggs!
Trillium.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Freyja
I am pleased to herald the coming Solstice with the release of a new poster-size print of my ballpoint invocation of the Germanic goddess Freyja! These 16" X 20" prints turned out beautiful and look very much like the original art. All of the delicate line work of the original is reproduced on durable semi-gloss paper designed to fit perfectly into any standard 16" X 20" frame. Click on the image above to view the detail. Prints are available now for $45 plus shipping. They will be shipped in a hard poster tube to assure they arrive undamaged. I will also sign prints if requested, just ask. Hail Freyja! Hagalaz!
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
GHOUL
Here's a nice shot of Ghoul preparing to slaughter posers in Portland this past weekend with the assistance of the always charming Mr. Fang! Is it just me or did Mr. Fang look particularly handsome that night? Cheers to all the stagedivers, thrashers, & Ghoulunatics that made the show so memorable! Also cheers to Zombie Ritual for coming all the way from Japan! The new Ghoul cd 'Splatterthrash' RULES and is available now through the mighty Razorback Records! Incidentally, the cover art was provided by cartoon artist Greg Oakes.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Gemini
Speaking of retarded photos, here are a few shots of me on my birthday last week. Apparently I REALLY like that vodka & cranberry drink. Hey Angie, thanks for immortalizing my drunken stupidity. Happy Birthday to me!
Greg Irons
Patrick Rosenkranz's new book 'You Call That Art?!!' has been sent to the printer and is scheduled for a July release through Fantagraphics Books!!! This is the long awaited retrospective of underground art legend Greg Irons and it has been lovingly assembled with the full cooperation of Irons' surviving family and friends. Did you know Greg Irons was addicted to prostitutes??? Neither did I. Can't wait to read the book! 'You Call That Art?!!' features an amazing collection of Greg Irons artwork, spanning his colorful "careers" which included psychedelic posters, underground comix, children's educational and coloring books, as well as tattoo art! Mr. Rosenkranz is the author of 'Rebel Visions', the definitive history of underground comix and an all around cool mofo. If you don't already own a copy of 'Rebel Visions', do yourself a favor and order it now from Fantagraphics. Greg Irons is back from the dead! All hail Greg Irons!
Friday, June 09, 2006
Anti-Christ Reception
My art opening at Optic Nerve Arts this week was a huge success (whatever that means)! Thanks to everyone who came out. I still haven't discovered any wealthy patrons looking to cover their penthouse walls with "zombie porn", but lots of people turned out and we managed to plow through six 12 packs of Pabst Blue Ribbon in the first 2 hours. Hey, wait a minute! Maybe all those people didn't come out to see the art after all...
Thursday, May 25, 2006
SPILL THE BEER OF CHRIST!!!!
My art will be on display at Optic Nerve Arts in Portland, Oregon through June! This solo show collects 24 of my favorite drawings from the past few years and all original art will be available for purchase. I will also have affordable 16" X 20" digital prints of a few select works. Please come out and join us as we spill the beer...er...blood of Christ on 6/6/06. And tell your wimp friends to support REAL underground art!
opening reception:
Tuesday June 6th
7pm-Midnight
Optic Nerve Arts
1829 NE Alberta St.
Portland, Oregon
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Geometry of the Blood
The following is an abridged version of the interview with Robert Taylor that will soon appear in its entirety in issue #9 of Destroying Angels. Robert Taylor is one of the founders of contemporary Odinism in America. He is also the vocalist and founding member of late 60's folk band Changes, who are perhaps best remembered for their early association with the Process Church of the Final Judgement. A veritable Renaissance Man, Mr. Taylor is also an accomplished visual artist, poet, craftsman, and lyricist. The following interview was conducted in May 2006 and will appear in the upcoming issue of Destroying Angels, slated for release on Summer Solstice.
Dennis Dread: What does the word “heathen” mean to you?
Robert Taylor: In its literal meaning, it means simply a person of the heath (land or fields), a rural person subscribing to native folk religion and beliefs. It has the same meaning and connotation as the word “pagan” (countryman). I am sure in both cases it was a term of condemnation, sort of like the word “hillbilly” in America today. They all have illusions that are brought to mind when the word is said or made use of. In the current vernacular of today it implies more. It not only means a person who ascribes to and believes in the archaic natural deities of his folk or kind, but often is used to imply someone who has rejected the Christian faith and is in some way Anti-Christ or a heretic or devil worshipper. “Heathen” is often used to denote savagery and such. These other things are not accurate of course, but they are images created in the popular mind. Those of us who proudly assume the title of heathen see it as a sign of one’s healthy mind, spirit and soul, and a return to primal sources of a primordial tradition. In essence, a return to one’s true self as opposed to alien Salvationist faiths which promulgate a false sense of self.
Could you elaborate on your personal relationship with the Nordic/Germanic pantheon?
It has been a long (nearly 40-year) relationship on many levels, encompassing mystical experiences, scholarly study, much thought and deliberation and active participation in the rites and rituals of the path of Asatru. I was among the three people who more or less founded the Odinist/Asatru troth. The two other principle individuals were Elsa Christenson and Steven McNallen. We all more or less found the pathway to the Gods in the same several-year period. The differences in approach were that Elsa took a philosophic and less spiritual approach. Steve formed what was, in the beginning, a national organization of largely dispersed members with the original AFA (Asatru Free Assembly). My former wife (Karen) and I founded a locally based group of Asatru adherents and practitioners called the Northernway. Unlike Elsa’s or Steve’s approach we maintained the Northernway as a local group. That was because we did not want a mail order organization so much as a group of actual people who knew one another and conducted services and rites in person together. Eventually the AFA began to hold annual Althings and the group became more of a flesh and blood organization as opposed to simply subscribers to a publication and correspondents. Eventually, the Northernway broke into two groups: one essentially became a Norse or Germanic Wicca group (and after a couple of years went defunct) and those that came with us reformed into what became first the Wulfing Kindred and later, when we began to spread in numbers and geographic locations, the Tribe Of the Wulfings. At some point early on, we affiliated with the Asatru Free Assembly and became an active kindred of that organization, and remained so until it’s demise. I view the Aesir and Desir from many points of view. As Jungian archetypes, as numinous forces of nature and the universe, as composite symbols of the Germanic and related people themselves. I also see them as pure spiritual entities and forces which guide their people from the inner planes. They are symbolic. They are metaphoric and they are actual in my personal experience, estimation and insights.
Stephen Flowers has shared his life-altering experience of hearing the word “Runa” whispered in his ear. Did you have an initiatory experience of this nature? Can you recall your first exposure to the Gods and Goddesses of Northern Europe?
My own introduction to Germanic spirituality was perhaps less prosaic and succinct then that of Dr. Flowers. I have had numerous mystical experiences over the years that partook both of the Germanic as well as the larger corpus of Indo-European symbology. One of those I covered in an article that was published in Robert Wards Fifth Path magazine titled ‘Animal Spirit’. I’ll not repeat that here due to its length and context. There is now a Robert Ward memorial website and perhaps one day articles from his Fifth Path magazine will be posted on the site for others to read. We all have dreams and many people have mystical experiences. The ones that matter most are those that give guidance which, when acted upon, have effects in the material world and in some way facilitate and further our spiritual quest. My introduction to the Germanic pantheon was by way of my own father, George Ellis Taylor, who considered himself a heathen all of his life and passed those thoughts and feelings on to me. Initially both Karen and I were among the very early people in the larger pan-pagan movement in the Midwest. We affiliated our Northernway group with the Midwest Pagan Conference, which held gatherings in and about the Midwest. We withdrew from the larger pagan community due to differing perspectives on just what paganism/heathenism really was and should be. We felt that the general pagan movement was too eclectic and contrived and lacked any real ethical code or basis. Much of it was based on the contrivances of people like Gerald Gardner, Alex Sanders and the largely British occultism of the early part of the 20th century Asatru, as it has evolved and as it actually was in its tribal period, was first and foremost a heroic/ethical religion. Theological concepts I think played an auxiliary part and were more the prerogative of the priest class (Gothis), Vitki (rune masters) and the exoteric side of Asatru. It largely remains as such in the present resurrection of Asatru overall. The primary ethics of Asatru can be found in the Havamal (Words of the High One).
You were among the very first to establish Asatru in America. Could you set the stage culturally for that period in the 70’s? What was happening in your own life that helped guide you to Asatru?
I have answered the above question in part already. As for the cultural stage of things at the inception period of Asatru, life was in a general flux culturally and more importantly in a spiritual sense. Early on, perhaps as early as 14 years old, I began to be aware of this spiritual crisis. In the larger European context, this crisis begins with the German philosopher, Fredrich Nietzsche. Even before Nietzsche, one can find the seeds of it in Schopanhauer and Hegel, but it comes into full focus and expression in the writings of Nietzsche. In a sense all roads lead back to Nietzsche and begin with him as far as this spiritual crisis is concerned. I can hardly imagine anyone having a grasp of this crisis, both spiritual and intellectual, without studying his writings. I derived immense insight from studying his thoughts in relation to all of this. If I recall correctly, it was in my fourteenth summer that I began studying his works at the suggestion of my father. I spent nearly an entire summer reading his collected writings in English translation at the main downtown library in Chicago. This was followed by reading and studying the works of Oswald Spengler (particularly his Decline of the West) and Houston Stewart Chamberlain’s Foundations of the 20th Century, and Egon Friedel’s A Cultural History of the Modern World -all of which drew similar conclusions in their own manner, and all of which owed a huge debt to the philosophy of Nietzsche. Having studied, analyzed and pondered on these works, the question that remained was, how can we reverse the downward spiral of Western civilization? A spiritual rebirth seemed necessary to affect this decline. Christianity had become so played out and corrupted of spirituality that it did not seem the answer in any way whatsoever. It was already dying or dead. It was in a large part the religion that was at the forefront of the decay and decline. Nietzsche had already dissected it to its marrow, but what could take its place? A return to an honest spirituality was the general answer I came to. The Eastern religions are in many ways as corrupted as Christianity is. Plus, like Christianity, they are alien to the true nature of Western man and the Western soul. They are all constructs or expressions of other people, not us. I could find no real resonance in any of them myself. Buddhism is an ethical philosophy of passive nihilism. Nietsche’s nihilism is its anti-thesis. It extols heroic active nihilism, but the Arlen Specter of nihilism or the teetering edge of the abyss is not an answer in and of itself. It is largely a diagnosis of things. Cultural Pathology 101. As Tony Wakeford’s song ‘Looking for Europe’ says, “If you’re looking for Europe just look in your heart.” Or as the Changes song says in a slightly different variant, “For the soul to know the soul, to the soul you first must go, for the answers lie there hidden in the legends that we know.”
I felt it was necessary to return to our own spiritual roots and build up from there, and I spent the next two decades finding the soul of Western man. I found it in what later emerged as Asatru. It was and is the answer. We as Western people must draw from within ourselves, from within the true Western legacy of our legends and myths and archaic beginnings, and it does not simply end there. We must take what we have found and re-seed it with a new vision, a new creativity, a new and vibrant spirit.
What was your role in the Minutemen movement? Were you arming yourself for the impending collapse of American society?
I began association with the Minutemen in my early teens. As I grew older, so did my involvement develop from member to local leader, to executive council as head of the organization’s intelligence, and finally as National spokesman for the group and publisher of the organization’s publication, On Target. We were arming and training for the Second American Revolution. I know it is a given that when you mention the Minutemen, the first thing that comes to most people’s minds is guns. In actuality, guns played a much lesser role than intelligence, counter-intelligence psych-war, and such things as those. Though ostensibly an armed citizenry preparing against the threat of international communism on the surface, the true aims of the organization were revolutionary. The revolution had as its goal the reestablishment of America as a constitutional republic replete with the checks and balances it had been founded upon. We felt our liberties were being legislated out from under us all, and they were. Most of the warnings on these things have come to pass as it were. Most of the freedoms and liberties we have on the books are more apparent than they are actual. Try using them and you will quickly realize that you are under surveillance by the secret police. That is what occurs as soon as you elect to exercise such guaranteed liberties. Our leaders offer license in place of these actual liberties. They will persecute anyone using the first amendment rights in an adversarial manner toward them, but they will allow you the license of watching women get it on with barnyard animals on the internet. Our world today is full of license and deficient on true liberty. It is a very bad trade-off.
Have you received much attention from the FBI since those days?
Yes, to be sure--undo attention by them or the other intelligence agencies that have no mandate to operate domestically. They investigated and interviewed family, friends, neighbors, etc. I had my phone taped, mail covers, agent provocateurs and such which they utilized in one manner or another. I’m sure I’ve kept a lot of agents busy and working and earning their salaries for decades. Even now, I am listed on the immigration security list as some sort of dangerous character and put through the usual indignities every time I travel by air. And in the nearly forty years they have been giving me attention, nothing practical has evolved from their standpoint. You would think, after that much time, they would wise up and allocate their efforts elsewhere, where it might do them some good or serve some actual advantage. Maybe they missed 9-11 so completely because they were all preoccupied with shadowing people like myself who have done nothing they can construe as illegal. After forty years, you would think they would find something more profitable to allocate their resources toward. One thing I have come to think after all the years of their attention is that they are very myopic of mind and there isn’t a great deal of real imagination among these types of people. suppose one can justifiably expect too much of accounting and pre-law students. They are hardly the epicenter of imagination or very profound thoughts. Interestingly, as I write this, there is a big flap over telephone taping or surveillance by the Bush oligarchy in Washington. It seems like most all of what I have predicted over the years is coming to fruition. And I don’t think Specter is going to save the nation from further tyranny. Only the American people as a whole can possibly do that. I can’t imagine what they’re all waiting for. A leader?
Would you agree that your visual works, similar to mandalas, reflect a yearning for wholeness?
That is the general thesis, that such round art is an attempt to reach or acquire wholeness of being. I started doing mandalic-type art in the late sixties. There was nothing in particular that inspired me to do so. I had no real knowledge at the time about oriental art or religion or Jung’s writings. I was quite amazed when I first encountered other artists who were in effect doing similar mandalic art like that which I was doing in the late sixties. I instinctively thought that there must be a deeper reason for this synchronistic occurrence in art. I am sure it was as you mentioned a desire toward wholeness, as Jung would imply. The modern world is a very fragmented wasteland. That fragmentation is within us as people (a spiritual crisis) as well as on the temporal material level around us (environment). I saw zietgeist in the art of that period being projected in such work. There also was the prolific use of psychoactive plants and drugs which created a shared experience among a large number of people who did not necessarily even know of one another. This in itself was, I am certain, another factor in the rise of such in approach as mandalic art. I did drawings and paintings as well as shaped verse (concrete poetry; calligrams; pattern poems) also in a mandalic mode. In fact, I had a one-man exhibit in Chicago of my mandalic art and calligraphic devices. I titled the show Full Circle: Art and Poems in the Mandalic Modeâ. Today when I do anything in what could be termed the mandalic modeâ it is simply one of the ways I create and express something. I am no longer seeking totality of being or wholeness. I think I largely achieved that long ago. I have pretty much gone through the individuation process of life.
What effect would you like your visual work to have on the viewer?
A visual effect. I consider myself an op-artist and love to employ the optical in the visual art I do. I have explored, and continue to explore, ways of using optics in my art: hidden pictures, anamorphic distortions, optical illusion, geometric impossibilities alluding to a fourth dimension, chroma-depth techniques, 3-D, subliminal and other similar approaches and meldings of such. I love to play with the human optical apparatus and mind. To surprise; to transfix; to perplex. I am a bit dismayed that there are practically no real books concerning op-art that I am aware of. Plenty on pop art and every other type of art, but little relating to op. There are some books on optical illusion art, or books on actual optical illusion techniques, but nothing in print that I know of which covers the movement of op-art. I think there is a corollary between op-art and what is termed fantastic or fabuklist literature in the vein of Jorge Louis Borges, Danilo Kis, Italo Calvino, Milorad Pavic and others. I am not in any way the first artist to do optically oriented art. You will find many such optical gambits in the work of DaVinci, Durer and artists of every period and time. Dali in our own time used such devices and ploys in many of his works, as did Dutch graphic artist Escher. Especially Escher and his disciples such as Sandro. A prime similitude that artists who have done so seem to share is a knowledge and practical ability in the realm of geometry. It is a given of sorts toward crafting such art. About fifteen years ago, I came upon the subject of geometry. It all began with a project I was getting together at the time. I had a 14-foot reinforced concrete slab laid in the middle of a field on the farm I had at the time. My intention was to build an astronomical dome that would sit upon the slab. One of the ideas I had was to paint a mural time-line of the history of astronomy. To do so, I would need to know how many linear feet of painting I would require to complete the painting on the wall from one side of the door to the other. That, of course, required the pi equation. I never finished the dome and hence never did the painting except a few preliminary sketches. The same day I was figuring out the pi ratio for that project, I happened upon two people whom I knew at a local restaurant discussing pi ratios and there were other synchronicities that occurred that day on such sacred geometry. I had a volume containing both the books and propositions of Archimedes and Euclid. I spent the rest of that winter studying the propositions and working them out on paper. So I acquired something of a crash course in geometry. Since that time, geometry has become an integral part of my daily life, perhaps as much as poetry is. I am sure I am not through with it yet. Several times I thought I had gone about as far as I could with it, and then some new insight occurred and I was off and running on it again. Geometry is a very old practice, an archaic subject. There is not a lot that one can add to it today (at so distant a time from its inception). Many great minds have wrestled with the subject and added some small contribution. DaVinci was a very able geometer. His melding of the icosahedron and the dodecahedron into what is called the icosidodecahedron, which has 20 triangular faces and twelve pentagonal faces, was certainly a stroke of genius. Durer was an even more knowledgeable geometer than was DaVinci. Geometry for the artist is a challenge as to how one might employ geometric knowledge and skill in representational art. Escher was a master at this. He was able to take geometry and turn it into graphic art of a high level. His concepts and skills have always left me awed. I am still grappling with the matter of employing geometric knowledge in a representational manner. Most of my artistic efforts of the past several years have been devoted to doing that. Two of the three contributions I had in the recent Heathen Art show were eggs done with design and geometry. I think the initial inspiration for doing egg-shaped art was as a result of having investigated the visica pisces. The visica pisces is the center shape created by overlapping two circles. The curved lines of the inner arc of the circles cross at the center of one another forming what is termed a mandala at the center. It is very much similar to an egg shape; in fact, an egg shape can be created from the visica pisces, as can all the archimedian and platonic solids be created within the shape. It is termed by the classical Greeks as the womb of geometry or the womb of numbers.
Several years ago you described your construction of the Wulfing hof as “the pinnacle of my personal creative endeavors.” Do you still feel this way? What has become of the hof now that you’ve moved?
I did think so at that time. I think the Opus Dei project will transcend that project in a quantum way, though the hof project was a worthwhile one in so many ways. Most unfortunate was the fact that it was never totally completed. There was much carving and decor to be added both within the hof as well as without. It was completed in the sense of a structure and was closed in, had a roof, windows, doors, etc. I did some of the decor on the inside--mostly the wide baseboards that undulated like a serpent. I also completed a world tree and other runic devices within. The Dragon’s Head montage I had in the Heathen art show was a design for a dragon’s head to be fashioned of wood and installed in the hof. I also have designs for the dragon’s wings and tail which I may one day do as a similar paper montage. All three of these things were to grow out of or emerge from the undulating baseboard on either side of the Irmunsil Tree. It is no longer being used as a hof as far as I know. Initially, there was an agreement with my ex-wife that the hof would be set aside for Asatruars and maintained from a joint trust fund set up to pay the taxes on it, but that agreement never materialized. It was just one of many promises and agreements that were broken. Such is divorce and the parting of ways with human beings.
Do you have a less elaborate hof or similar “sacred space” for spiritual activities at your current home?
I do have plans of building another hof at sometime in the future. I have other projects I am concerned with at the moment. I think it will be very different from the previous one in the way I design and build it next time. I had an area set aside for that in my home until recently. I remarried this summer and am presently in the process of renovations and reorganization of my house. Once I have squared the main of that away, I will find an area to once again set up a sacred space or shrine.
If you could change any aspect of modern society right now, what would you change?
The people within it. Make them self-reliant and not dependent on powers outside themselves. Expand individual liberties while at the same time generating through all medias and education the responsibilities necessary in maintaining said liberties. Only responsible people can maintain any measure of liberty and selfhood as individuals.
How might your art (visual, writing, music, etc.) assist toward this aim?
In continuing to respond to interviews like this one and helping to clarify issues and reinstating sound principles that safeguard our individual lives and fortunes as a people.
The Changes song ‘Twilight of the West’ is perhaps your most challenging political statement in that you articulately address much of your frustration with modern society. Could you explain what a more ideal contemporary society might look like?
A traditional society would be best, if it were imperative, due to population numbers and the complexities of a technological society. If those considerations were absent, then I would personally prefer to live in a Free State system, much like our American West was before civilization and its expanded population caught up with it. A similar free state system existed in Iceland in its early years. Of all American statesmen, Thomas Jefferson is my favorite social philosopher and governmental architect. It was Jefferson who said, “The government is best which governs least of all.” Thoreau of course one-upped Jefferson with his paraphrase, “The government is best which governs not at all.” I think, however, that Thoreau took it a bit too far. I believe in law and justice. Without some form of fair and equitable law and justice, we end up with the sort of criminal outbursts recently exhibited by some of the residents of New Orleans in the wake of disaster and a cessation of law enforcement. Anarchy always ends up as thugism and an open invitation to criminal elements in a society to have a field day of rape, robbery and destruction as was witnessed in New Orleans. As for ‘Twilight Of The West’ I think it continues to be fulfilled in its import and meaning. Perhaps that’s why my adversaries seem to hate it most of all. It sort of rips the mask off things, on both the inner and outer plane, that are currently unfolding. As much as I hate to quote my own poetry, I feel impelled with the thought: See? I told you so! “And opponents you thought vanquished have come to take their fill as they hover on the sidelines preparing for the kill.” I think I summed up something of the current controversy of the 11 million ingratiating illegal aliens that have poured mostly unchecked across our southern border and are now demonstrating in our midst. Some of them, like the head of the Azatlan movement in the southwest, are saying that it may be necessary to start killing old white people before they get what they want. And what do they want? To take back Texas and the southwest and other areas once a part of Mexico. I foresee many little Alamos occurring in those areas in the future. And like the demonstrated reluctance of the federal government to do anything about the illegal flow into the U.S., they will, I am certain, leave all the Americans in those areas in the lurch to be slaughtered if that begins to occur. That was exactly what I was thinking of in 1973 when I wrote that while residing in New Mexico. We surely do live in interesting times and I’m sure it will get more interesting in time.
Dennis Dread: What does the word “heathen” mean to you?
Robert Taylor: In its literal meaning, it means simply a person of the heath (land or fields), a rural person subscribing to native folk religion and beliefs. It has the same meaning and connotation as the word “pagan” (countryman). I am sure in both cases it was a term of condemnation, sort of like the word “hillbilly” in America today. They all have illusions that are brought to mind when the word is said or made use of. In the current vernacular of today it implies more. It not only means a person who ascribes to and believes in the archaic natural deities of his folk or kind, but often is used to imply someone who has rejected the Christian faith and is in some way Anti-Christ or a heretic or devil worshipper. “Heathen” is often used to denote savagery and such. These other things are not accurate of course, but they are images created in the popular mind. Those of us who proudly assume the title of heathen see it as a sign of one’s healthy mind, spirit and soul, and a return to primal sources of a primordial tradition. In essence, a return to one’s true self as opposed to alien Salvationist faiths which promulgate a false sense of self.
Could you elaborate on your personal relationship with the Nordic/Germanic pantheon?
It has been a long (nearly 40-year) relationship on many levels, encompassing mystical experiences, scholarly study, much thought and deliberation and active participation in the rites and rituals of the path of Asatru. I was among the three people who more or less founded the Odinist/Asatru troth. The two other principle individuals were Elsa Christenson and Steven McNallen. We all more or less found the pathway to the Gods in the same several-year period. The differences in approach were that Elsa took a philosophic and less spiritual approach. Steve formed what was, in the beginning, a national organization of largely dispersed members with the original AFA (Asatru Free Assembly). My former wife (Karen) and I founded a locally based group of Asatru adherents and practitioners called the Northernway. Unlike Elsa’s or Steve’s approach we maintained the Northernway as a local group. That was because we did not want a mail order organization so much as a group of actual people who knew one another and conducted services and rites in person together. Eventually the AFA began to hold annual Althings and the group became more of a flesh and blood organization as opposed to simply subscribers to a publication and correspondents. Eventually, the Northernway broke into two groups: one essentially became a Norse or Germanic Wicca group (and after a couple of years went defunct) and those that came with us reformed into what became first the Wulfing Kindred and later, when we began to spread in numbers and geographic locations, the Tribe Of the Wulfings. At some point early on, we affiliated with the Asatru Free Assembly and became an active kindred of that organization, and remained so until it’s demise. I view the Aesir and Desir from many points of view. As Jungian archetypes, as numinous forces of nature and the universe, as composite symbols of the Germanic and related people themselves. I also see them as pure spiritual entities and forces which guide their people from the inner planes. They are symbolic. They are metaphoric and they are actual in my personal experience, estimation and insights.
Stephen Flowers has shared his life-altering experience of hearing the word “Runa” whispered in his ear. Did you have an initiatory experience of this nature? Can you recall your first exposure to the Gods and Goddesses of Northern Europe?
My own introduction to Germanic spirituality was perhaps less prosaic and succinct then that of Dr. Flowers. I have had numerous mystical experiences over the years that partook both of the Germanic as well as the larger corpus of Indo-European symbology. One of those I covered in an article that was published in Robert Wards Fifth Path magazine titled ‘Animal Spirit’. I’ll not repeat that here due to its length and context. There is now a Robert Ward memorial website and perhaps one day articles from his Fifth Path magazine will be posted on the site for others to read. We all have dreams and many people have mystical experiences. The ones that matter most are those that give guidance which, when acted upon, have effects in the material world and in some way facilitate and further our spiritual quest. My introduction to the Germanic pantheon was by way of my own father, George Ellis Taylor, who considered himself a heathen all of his life and passed those thoughts and feelings on to me. Initially both Karen and I were among the very early people in the larger pan-pagan movement in the Midwest. We affiliated our Northernway group with the Midwest Pagan Conference, which held gatherings in and about the Midwest. We withdrew from the larger pagan community due to differing perspectives on just what paganism/heathenism really was and should be. We felt that the general pagan movement was too eclectic and contrived and lacked any real ethical code or basis. Much of it was based on the contrivances of people like Gerald Gardner, Alex Sanders and the largely British occultism of the early part of the 20th century Asatru, as it has evolved and as it actually was in its tribal period, was first and foremost a heroic/ethical religion. Theological concepts I think played an auxiliary part and were more the prerogative of the priest class (Gothis), Vitki (rune masters) and the exoteric side of Asatru. It largely remains as such in the present resurrection of Asatru overall. The primary ethics of Asatru can be found in the Havamal (Words of the High One).
You were among the very first to establish Asatru in America. Could you set the stage culturally for that period in the 70’s? What was happening in your own life that helped guide you to Asatru?
I have answered the above question in part already. As for the cultural stage of things at the inception period of Asatru, life was in a general flux culturally and more importantly in a spiritual sense. Early on, perhaps as early as 14 years old, I began to be aware of this spiritual crisis. In the larger European context, this crisis begins with the German philosopher, Fredrich Nietzsche. Even before Nietzsche, one can find the seeds of it in Schopanhauer and Hegel, but it comes into full focus and expression in the writings of Nietzsche. In a sense all roads lead back to Nietzsche and begin with him as far as this spiritual crisis is concerned. I can hardly imagine anyone having a grasp of this crisis, both spiritual and intellectual, without studying his writings. I derived immense insight from studying his thoughts in relation to all of this. If I recall correctly, it was in my fourteenth summer that I began studying his works at the suggestion of my father. I spent nearly an entire summer reading his collected writings in English translation at the main downtown library in Chicago. This was followed by reading and studying the works of Oswald Spengler (particularly his Decline of the West) and Houston Stewart Chamberlain’s Foundations of the 20th Century, and Egon Friedel’s A Cultural History of the Modern World -all of which drew similar conclusions in their own manner, and all of which owed a huge debt to the philosophy of Nietzsche. Having studied, analyzed and pondered on these works, the question that remained was, how can we reverse the downward spiral of Western civilization? A spiritual rebirth seemed necessary to affect this decline. Christianity had become so played out and corrupted of spirituality that it did not seem the answer in any way whatsoever. It was already dying or dead. It was in a large part the religion that was at the forefront of the decay and decline. Nietzsche had already dissected it to its marrow, but what could take its place? A return to an honest spirituality was the general answer I came to. The Eastern religions are in many ways as corrupted as Christianity is. Plus, like Christianity, they are alien to the true nature of Western man and the Western soul. They are all constructs or expressions of other people, not us. I could find no real resonance in any of them myself. Buddhism is an ethical philosophy of passive nihilism. Nietsche’s nihilism is its anti-thesis. It extols heroic active nihilism, but the Arlen Specter of nihilism or the teetering edge of the abyss is not an answer in and of itself. It is largely a diagnosis of things. Cultural Pathology 101. As Tony Wakeford’s song ‘Looking for Europe’ says, “If you’re looking for Europe just look in your heart.” Or as the Changes song says in a slightly different variant, “For the soul to know the soul, to the soul you first must go, for the answers lie there hidden in the legends that we know.”
I felt it was necessary to return to our own spiritual roots and build up from there, and I spent the next two decades finding the soul of Western man. I found it in what later emerged as Asatru. It was and is the answer. We as Western people must draw from within ourselves, from within the true Western legacy of our legends and myths and archaic beginnings, and it does not simply end there. We must take what we have found and re-seed it with a new vision, a new creativity, a new and vibrant spirit.
What was your role in the Minutemen movement? Were you arming yourself for the impending collapse of American society?
I began association with the Minutemen in my early teens. As I grew older, so did my involvement develop from member to local leader, to executive council as head of the organization’s intelligence, and finally as National spokesman for the group and publisher of the organization’s publication, On Target. We were arming and training for the Second American Revolution. I know it is a given that when you mention the Minutemen, the first thing that comes to most people’s minds is guns. In actuality, guns played a much lesser role than intelligence, counter-intelligence psych-war, and such things as those. Though ostensibly an armed citizenry preparing against the threat of international communism on the surface, the true aims of the organization were revolutionary. The revolution had as its goal the reestablishment of America as a constitutional republic replete with the checks and balances it had been founded upon. We felt our liberties were being legislated out from under us all, and they were. Most of the warnings on these things have come to pass as it were. Most of the freedoms and liberties we have on the books are more apparent than they are actual. Try using them and you will quickly realize that you are under surveillance by the secret police. That is what occurs as soon as you elect to exercise such guaranteed liberties. Our leaders offer license in place of these actual liberties. They will persecute anyone using the first amendment rights in an adversarial manner toward them, but they will allow you the license of watching women get it on with barnyard animals on the internet. Our world today is full of license and deficient on true liberty. It is a very bad trade-off.
Have you received much attention from the FBI since those days?
Yes, to be sure--undo attention by them or the other intelligence agencies that have no mandate to operate domestically. They investigated and interviewed family, friends, neighbors, etc. I had my phone taped, mail covers, agent provocateurs and such which they utilized in one manner or another. I’m sure I’ve kept a lot of agents busy and working and earning their salaries for decades. Even now, I am listed on the immigration security list as some sort of dangerous character and put through the usual indignities every time I travel by air. And in the nearly forty years they have been giving me attention, nothing practical has evolved from their standpoint. You would think, after that much time, they would wise up and allocate their efforts elsewhere, where it might do them some good or serve some actual advantage. Maybe they missed 9-11 so completely because they were all preoccupied with shadowing people like myself who have done nothing they can construe as illegal. After forty years, you would think they would find something more profitable to allocate their resources toward. One thing I have come to think after all the years of their attention is that they are very myopic of mind and there isn’t a great deal of real imagination among these types of people. suppose one can justifiably expect too much of accounting and pre-law students. They are hardly the epicenter of imagination or very profound thoughts. Interestingly, as I write this, there is a big flap over telephone taping or surveillance by the Bush oligarchy in Washington. It seems like most all of what I have predicted over the years is coming to fruition. And I don’t think Specter is going to save the nation from further tyranny. Only the American people as a whole can possibly do that. I can’t imagine what they’re all waiting for. A leader?
Would you agree that your visual works, similar to mandalas, reflect a yearning for wholeness?
That is the general thesis, that such round art is an attempt to reach or acquire wholeness of being. I started doing mandalic-type art in the late sixties. There was nothing in particular that inspired me to do so. I had no real knowledge at the time about oriental art or religion or Jung’s writings. I was quite amazed when I first encountered other artists who were in effect doing similar mandalic art like that which I was doing in the late sixties. I instinctively thought that there must be a deeper reason for this synchronistic occurrence in art. I am sure it was as you mentioned a desire toward wholeness, as Jung would imply. The modern world is a very fragmented wasteland. That fragmentation is within us as people (a spiritual crisis) as well as on the temporal material level around us (environment). I saw zietgeist in the art of that period being projected in such work. There also was the prolific use of psychoactive plants and drugs which created a shared experience among a large number of people who did not necessarily even know of one another. This in itself was, I am certain, another factor in the rise of such in approach as mandalic art. I did drawings and paintings as well as shaped verse (concrete poetry; calligrams; pattern poems) also in a mandalic mode. In fact, I had a one-man exhibit in Chicago of my mandalic art and calligraphic devices. I titled the show Full Circle: Art and Poems in the Mandalic Modeâ. Today when I do anything in what could be termed the mandalic modeâ it is simply one of the ways I create and express something. I am no longer seeking totality of being or wholeness. I think I largely achieved that long ago. I have pretty much gone through the individuation process of life.
What effect would you like your visual work to have on the viewer?
A visual effect. I consider myself an op-artist and love to employ the optical in the visual art I do. I have explored, and continue to explore, ways of using optics in my art: hidden pictures, anamorphic distortions, optical illusion, geometric impossibilities alluding to a fourth dimension, chroma-depth techniques, 3-D, subliminal and other similar approaches and meldings of such. I love to play with the human optical apparatus and mind. To surprise; to transfix; to perplex. I am a bit dismayed that there are practically no real books concerning op-art that I am aware of. Plenty on pop art and every other type of art, but little relating to op. There are some books on optical illusion art, or books on actual optical illusion techniques, but nothing in print that I know of which covers the movement of op-art. I think there is a corollary between op-art and what is termed fantastic or fabuklist literature in the vein of Jorge Louis Borges, Danilo Kis, Italo Calvino, Milorad Pavic and others. I am not in any way the first artist to do optically oriented art. You will find many such optical gambits in the work of DaVinci, Durer and artists of every period and time. Dali in our own time used such devices and ploys in many of his works, as did Dutch graphic artist Escher. Especially Escher and his disciples such as Sandro. A prime similitude that artists who have done so seem to share is a knowledge and practical ability in the realm of geometry. It is a given of sorts toward crafting such art. About fifteen years ago, I came upon the subject of geometry. It all began with a project I was getting together at the time. I had a 14-foot reinforced concrete slab laid in the middle of a field on the farm I had at the time. My intention was to build an astronomical dome that would sit upon the slab. One of the ideas I had was to paint a mural time-line of the history of astronomy. To do so, I would need to know how many linear feet of painting I would require to complete the painting on the wall from one side of the door to the other. That, of course, required the pi equation. I never finished the dome and hence never did the painting except a few preliminary sketches. The same day I was figuring out the pi ratio for that project, I happened upon two people whom I knew at a local restaurant discussing pi ratios and there were other synchronicities that occurred that day on such sacred geometry. I had a volume containing both the books and propositions of Archimedes and Euclid. I spent the rest of that winter studying the propositions and working them out on paper. So I acquired something of a crash course in geometry. Since that time, geometry has become an integral part of my daily life, perhaps as much as poetry is. I am sure I am not through with it yet. Several times I thought I had gone about as far as I could with it, and then some new insight occurred and I was off and running on it again. Geometry is a very old practice, an archaic subject. There is not a lot that one can add to it today (at so distant a time from its inception). Many great minds have wrestled with the subject and added some small contribution. DaVinci was a very able geometer. His melding of the icosahedron and the dodecahedron into what is called the icosidodecahedron, which has 20 triangular faces and twelve pentagonal faces, was certainly a stroke of genius. Durer was an even more knowledgeable geometer than was DaVinci. Geometry for the artist is a challenge as to how one might employ geometric knowledge and skill in representational art. Escher was a master at this. He was able to take geometry and turn it into graphic art of a high level. His concepts and skills have always left me awed. I am still grappling with the matter of employing geometric knowledge in a representational manner. Most of my artistic efforts of the past several years have been devoted to doing that. Two of the three contributions I had in the recent Heathen Art show were eggs done with design and geometry. I think the initial inspiration for doing egg-shaped art was as a result of having investigated the visica pisces. The visica pisces is the center shape created by overlapping two circles. The curved lines of the inner arc of the circles cross at the center of one another forming what is termed a mandala at the center. It is very much similar to an egg shape; in fact, an egg shape can be created from the visica pisces, as can all the archimedian and platonic solids be created within the shape. It is termed by the classical Greeks as the womb of geometry or the womb of numbers. 
Several years ago you described your construction of the Wulfing hof as “the pinnacle of my personal creative endeavors.” Do you still feel this way? What has become of the hof now that you’ve moved?
I did think so at that time. I think the Opus Dei project will transcend that project in a quantum way, though the hof project was a worthwhile one in so many ways. Most unfortunate was the fact that it was never totally completed. There was much carving and decor to be added both within the hof as well as without. It was completed in the sense of a structure and was closed in, had a roof, windows, doors, etc. I did some of the decor on the inside--mostly the wide baseboards that undulated like a serpent. I also completed a world tree and other runic devices within. The Dragon’s Head montage I had in the Heathen art show was a design for a dragon’s head to be fashioned of wood and installed in the hof. I also have designs for the dragon’s wings and tail which I may one day do as a similar paper montage. All three of these things were to grow out of or emerge from the undulating baseboard on either side of the Irmunsil Tree. It is no longer being used as a hof as far as I know. Initially, there was an agreement with my ex-wife that the hof would be set aside for Asatruars and maintained from a joint trust fund set up to pay the taxes on it, but that agreement never materialized. It was just one of many promises and agreements that were broken. Such is divorce and the parting of ways with human beings.
Do you have a less elaborate hof or similar “sacred space” for spiritual activities at your current home?
I do have plans of building another hof at sometime in the future. I have other projects I am concerned with at the moment. I think it will be very different from the previous one in the way I design and build it next time. I had an area set aside for that in my home until recently. I remarried this summer and am presently in the process of renovations and reorganization of my house. Once I have squared the main of that away, I will find an area to once again set up a sacred space or shrine.
If you could change any aspect of modern society right now, what would you change?
The people within it. Make them self-reliant and not dependent on powers outside themselves. Expand individual liberties while at the same time generating through all medias and education the responsibilities necessary in maintaining said liberties. Only responsible people can maintain any measure of liberty and selfhood as individuals.
How might your art (visual, writing, music, etc.) assist toward this aim?
In continuing to respond to interviews like this one and helping to clarify issues and reinstating sound principles that safeguard our individual lives and fortunes as a people.
The Changes song ‘Twilight of the West’ is perhaps your most challenging political statement in that you articulately address much of your frustration with modern society. Could you explain what a more ideal contemporary society might look like?
A traditional society would be best, if it were imperative, due to population numbers and the complexities of a technological society. If those considerations were absent, then I would personally prefer to live in a Free State system, much like our American West was before civilization and its expanded population caught up with it. A similar free state system existed in Iceland in its early years. Of all American statesmen, Thomas Jefferson is my favorite social philosopher and governmental architect. It was Jefferson who said, “The government is best which governs least of all.” Thoreau of course one-upped Jefferson with his paraphrase, “The government is best which governs not at all.” I think, however, that Thoreau took it a bit too far. I believe in law and justice. Without some form of fair and equitable law and justice, we end up with the sort of criminal outbursts recently exhibited by some of the residents of New Orleans in the wake of disaster and a cessation of law enforcement. Anarchy always ends up as thugism and an open invitation to criminal elements in a society to have a field day of rape, robbery and destruction as was witnessed in New Orleans. As for ‘Twilight Of The West’ I think it continues to be fulfilled in its import and meaning. Perhaps that’s why my adversaries seem to hate it most of all. It sort of rips the mask off things, on both the inner and outer plane, that are currently unfolding. As much as I hate to quote my own poetry, I feel impelled with the thought: See? I told you so! “And opponents you thought vanquished have come to take their fill as they hover on the sidelines preparing for the kill.” I think I summed up something of the current controversy of the 11 million ingratiating illegal aliens that have poured mostly unchecked across our southern border and are now demonstrating in our midst. Some of them, like the head of the Azatlan movement in the southwest, are saying that it may be necessary to start killing old white people before they get what they want. And what do they want? To take back Texas and the southwest and other areas once a part of Mexico. I foresee many little Alamos occurring in those areas in the future. And like the demonstrated reluctance of the federal government to do anything about the illegal flow into the U.S., they will, I am certain, leave all the Americans in those areas in the lurch to be slaughtered if that begins to occur. That was exactly what I was thinking of in 1973 when I wrote that while residing in New Mexico. We surely do live in interesting times and I’m sure it will get more interesting in time.
The Red Salon
Changes
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Autopsy
My copies of the new Autopsy DVD arrived today from England. They look pretty nice, although the folks at Peaceville conveniently cropped my name out of the cover artwork and plastered the band logo across one of my favorite parts of the drawing. This is especially frustrating because I drew the art to accomodate the text and Peaceville was initially very professional about requesting my layout approval. But I won't complain too much because I have to admit that I'm still extremely pleased to have my art on an Autopsy DVD! Well, that and I've grown accustomed to this sort of thing over the years. I'm also not too worried because I'll soon have really nice looking 16" X 20" prints of the cover art available without any text!
As for the DVD itself, it's pretty much a no-frills homemade documentary capturing some awesome shows by this great legend of death metal. Kind of like 'Cliff 'Em All' but with more bongs and much more shaving cream. If you're a hapless poser who missed out when they toured the states in the early 90's (like me) then this is about as close as you'll ever get to the live Autopsy experience. The band sounds great and they bash out a killer collection of favorites. The one thing missing that I really hoped to see is the gory homemade video that the band recorded early on. Instead we get a 'Gummo' moment with the band rehearsing and smoking a joint in some house with little kids running around behind the amps.
I spoke to Chris Reifert last week and he told me that, in the end, about half the material didn't make it onto these discs. Which means there are still several unreleased Autopsy shows! I'm crossing my fingers that there might be a Part 2 or "deluxe edition" at some point. Anyway, I'll have a few copies of the DVD for sale at my upcoming show at Optic Nerve Arts on 6/6/06. I'll also be displaying the original art. Maybe I'll set up a TV and just have a mini screening.
Hope to see you there!
As for the DVD itself, it's pretty much a no-frills homemade documentary capturing some awesome shows by this great legend of death metal. Kind of like 'Cliff 'Em All' but with more bongs and much more shaving cream. If you're a hapless poser who missed out when they toured the states in the early 90's (like me) then this is about as close as you'll ever get to the live Autopsy experience. The band sounds great and they bash out a killer collection of favorites. The one thing missing that I really hoped to see is the gory homemade video that the band recorded early on. Instead we get a 'Gummo' moment with the band rehearsing and smoking a joint in some house with little kids running around behind the amps.
I spoke to Chris Reifert last week and he told me that, in the end, about half the material didn't make it onto these discs. Which means there are still several unreleased Autopsy shows! I'm crossing my fingers that there might be a Part 2 or "deluxe edition" at some point. Anyway, I'll have a few copies of the DVD for sale at my upcoming show at Optic Nerve Arts on 6/6/06. I'll also be displaying the original art. Maybe I'll set up a TV and just have a mini screening.
Hope to see you there!
Friday, April 28, 2006
Dark Crusades
I just received word from Hammy at Peaceville Records that the long-awaited Autopsy DVD Dark Crusades is FINALLY AVAILABLE! Dark Crusades features over three hours of live footage documenting this seminal legend of death metal and even a homemade video by the band! It also features my very own maggot ridden artwork on the cover. It was a real honor to have been involved in this project and although I haven't received any copies yet and can't attest to the packaging or overall quality, diehard Autopsy fans should be foaming at the mouth! Contact Peaceville Records for more information.
Monday, April 17, 2006
Markus Wolff's 'Heathen Art' Manifesto
Heathen Art - A Reluctant Manifesto
I chose 'reluctant' because this exhibit is not a presentation of a movement or new ism or genre, nor are these notes meant to be a 'program' for their work. The common denominator of the artists represented here is that most of them are spiritually aligned with what can be called the heathen path, which was bound to manifest in their work.
Thus, the choice behind the exhibition title is simple: this collection of artists has decided, in art as in life, to turn away from the dominant monotheisms of our day and to reconsider the worth of the old religions and folkways of Europe. This means discovering societal forms that knew no separation between the religious and secular, where, at the highest level, spirit and action were one. These societies were also characterised by a religious variety that is unknown today, manifesting in local cults and variances. Yet at the center of these cultures lies the same cyclical view of the world in which the tides of the seasons are celebrated in festival, and in which, at the end of an age, a new world will inevitably arise from the old.
Just as there was no separation between art and life, there was not yet a distinction between fine art and crafts - all creative activity was an expression of the skill and soul of the creator. Ornamentation and iconography was filled with symbolic significance. And much of the artistic practice was specifically informed by religious and/or magical concerns. These same motivations are obviously embraced by at least some of the artists in this exhibit.
This preoccupation with pre-Christian motifs and art has its precedents. Artists as far back as the Classicists and certainly the Romantics found inspiration in newly rediscovered texts such as the Eddas and the Nibelungenlied. In the second half of the 19th century, National Romantic movements swept most of Europe, and inspired a new examination of native myths and the value of folk art. This paved the way for Art Noveau's adaptation of ancient ornament, and the Symbolist penchant for the bizarre and mystical led to some of the most memorable images of gods and goddesses, myths and fairy tales.
Just as the best Symbolist and Surrealist artists, the 'new heathen' artists champion content and intent rather than style and mannerism. To them, the past is a guide that animates the present and each work completes a cycle of learning and discovery. This includes a healthy respect for traditional skill and craftsmanship.
Henry Corbin, in his work Recovering a Visionary Geography, wrote "that we must abandon homogeneous chronological time in order to enter that qualitative time which is the history of the soul." In my mind, this is precisely the state that would be most condusive to tapping into the works presented here.
Thus, the choice behind the exhibition title is simple: this collection of artists has decided, in art as in life, to turn away from the dominant monotheisms of our day and to reconsider the worth of the old religions and folkways of Europe. This means discovering societal forms that knew no separation between the religious and secular, where, at the highest level, spirit and action were one. These societies were also characterised by a religious variety that is unknown today, manifesting in local cults and variances. Yet at the center of these cultures lies the same cyclical view of the world in which the tides of the seasons are celebrated in festival, and in which, at the end of an age, a new world will inevitably arise from the old.
Just as there was no separation between art and life, there was not yet a distinction between fine art and crafts - all creative activity was an expression of the skill and soul of the creator. Ornamentation and iconography was filled with symbolic significance. And much of the artistic practice was specifically informed by religious and/or magical concerns. These same motivations are obviously embraced by at least some of the artists in this exhibit.
This preoccupation with pre-Christian motifs and art has its precedents. Artists as far back as the Classicists and certainly the Romantics found inspiration in newly rediscovered texts such as the Eddas and the Nibelungenlied. In the second half of the 19th century, National Romantic movements swept most of Europe, and inspired a new examination of native myths and the value of folk art. This paved the way for Art Noveau's adaptation of ancient ornament, and the Symbolist penchant for the bizarre and mystical led to some of the most memorable images of gods and goddesses, myths and fairy tales.
Just as the best Symbolist and Surrealist artists, the 'new heathen' artists champion content and intent rather than style and mannerism. To them, the past is a guide that animates the present and each work completes a cycle of learning and discovery. This includes a healthy respect for traditional skill and craftsmanship.
Henry Corbin, in his work Recovering a Visionary Geography, wrote "that we must abandon homogeneous chronological time in order to enter that qualitative time which is the history of the soul." In my mind, this is precisely the state that would be most condusive to tapping into the works presented here.
– Markus Wolff
August 2005
August 2005
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Night Of The Undead Leg!
I received some photos a while back from a rabid Engorged fan who has devoted one of his legs to some of my album cover imagery. I was told this is a work in progress! Special thanks to Bryan for sharing his leg and for the guy in E.T.T.S. for finding Bryan at last year's Maryland Death Fest and sending me his cellphone photo of the tattoo! I think the tattoo work was done by a New Jersey artist named Shlak, but I may be wrong about that.
Hail the Hordes of Violence!
Hail the Hordes of Violence!
Friday, April 07, 2006
Dealing with the Devil
OVO #16, the 'AntiChrist' issue, has recently received mention on the Church Of Satan website. Just go to 'news' and scroll down. OVO #16 features cover art by your faithful harbinger of doom, Dennis Dread. And despite my inflammatory drawing, this zine actually presents a relatively scholarly and rational critique of the Christian mythos so don't expect a silly black metal tirade full of upside down crosses (damn!). You can download this issue for free at OVO!
Man Ray, 1934
"Each one of us, in his timidity, has a limit beyond which he is outraged. It is inevitable that he who by concentrated application has extended this limit for himself, should arouse the resentment of those who have accepted conventions which, since accepted by all, require no initiative of application, And this resentment generally takes the form of meaningless laughter or of criticism, if not persecution. But this apparent violation is preferable to the monstrous habits condoned by etiquette and estheticism."
Man Ray, Paris, 1934
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Happy Birthday Roger Corman!
Born April 5th, 1926...the King of B-Movie Trash turns 80 years old today!
Roger Corman is credited with producing over 800 movies and directed more than 50 films himself, including Bucket of Blood (1959), about a creepy artist who sculpts with human victims! He is most widely known for his film adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe stories, nearly all of which starred eccentric horror legend Vincent Price (The Premature Burial being the only exception). Mr. Corman's first film was Monster From The Ocean Floor (1954), about a giant squid (or octopus, or one-eyed ameba, or atomic mutant depending on who you ask). Incidentally, the giant squid is incredible. Ahem.
A few years after the financial success of The Monster From The Ocean Floor, a business associate bet Mr. Corman that he couldn't direct a film in less than three days. He directed The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960), starring a young Jack Nicholson, in just two days.
He won the bet.
A few years after the financial success of The Monster From The Ocean Floor, a business associate bet Mr. Corman that he couldn't direct a film in less than three days. He directed The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960), starring a young Jack Nicholson, in just two days.
He won the bet.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
'GORE SHRIEK' MEMORIES!
Greetings, Boils & Ghouls. Strap on your boots, sharpen your hatchets, and take a stroll down memory lane as we remember the blood-chilling day...
DENNIS DREAD MEETS GORE SHRIEK!!!!
DENNIS DREAD MEETS GORE SHRIEK!!!!
As some of you will remember, Gore Shriek was a cult horror comic published in the late 80's by FantaCo, a small "mom & pop" type business that was based in Albany, New York. FantaCo also hosted Fantacon, a horror convention in Albany that blew away the over-crowded Fangoria events. It must've been '87 or '88 and I had talked my oldest brother Erik into driving up to Albany for my very first horror convention! He even rented us a room at the Econolodge so we could stay for the whole weekend (my brothers still rule!). Anyway, it was at Fantacon that I met most of the early Gore Shriek artists, and they were all some of the nicest and most unpretentious comic artists I've ever met. Bruce Spaulding Fuller was in top form. He was weird and introverted with a receding purple ponytail. Dressed in black he resembled Uncle Creepy's polite, educated offspring. And damn could he draw! He also signed the inside cover of my copy of Gore Shriek #1 (NERD!!!). That's the one with his now classic cover-drawing of the zombie tearing apart it's own face, which was later swiped by U.K. grind-gods Carcass for their demo. I also met Greg Cappullo that day, who had a table right beside Bruce. He had only recently broken into comics with Gore Shriek but he had some original Daredevil pages on display that were just awesome! Like Bruce, Greg was also very humble and soft spoken, which is a rare treat at those sweaty conventions where inflated egos run amok like ravenous Crites. This was Tom Savini's heyday and he was swaggering around like his character in Knightriders with a seemingly endless crowd of followers! His FX trading card series had just been released (also by FantaCo, if I remember correctly) and, yes, I got my set signed (NERD!!!). Anyway, back to Gore Shriek...
You must realize that in '88 our pimply protagonist, Dennis Dread, already had visions of drawing depraved gore long after most boys would discover girls and outgrow that stuff. And it was with such visions of grandeur that I brought with me to Fantacon several horrible cartoon drawings I had done recently of the likes of the Lost Boys, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger! I know, I know. Laugh, cruel reader! For these were truly HORRIBLE cartoons. Poorly planned and poorly executed. And not "cute" or "funny". Just dumb. Did I think I would be "discovered" by Gore Shriek and swept away to draw monsters by the full moon with Berni Wrightson and Bruce Spaulding Fuller? I don't remember. Whatever my intentions, I recall my trembling fanboy hands shoving them in the faces of the Gore Shriek artists and my mouth involuntarily soliciting their professional opinions...
And this is why the Gore Shriek artists and the Gore Shriek legacy will always be close to my heart! They didn't laugh. They didn't even smirk. They studied my embarrassing scribbles with what appeared to be thoughtful scrutiny for several minutes. And they immediately responded with their authoritative advice. I'll never forget Greg Cappullo suggesting that if I learned to recreate the folds and wrinkles of clothing, my drawings would really spring to life. He proceeded to grab the Daredevil panel he had been working on and quickly gave me a lesson in how joints tend to pull fabric and how clothing folds create the illusion of gravity. He also wrote down the title of a book that he highly recommended to all aspiring artists, Drawing On The Right Side Of the Brain. I bought it later and read parts of it but never actually followed the course of lessons it describes. You should check it out some time.
Later that day I watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on a big screen and almost had a religious experience. Appropriately, I also met Chas Balun who signed my copy of the recently released Gore Score (NERD!!!) and presented his hilarious slide show of gore. Heading back to our hotel room that evening with throngs of exhausted fans, including obnoxious horror rockers the Serial Killers, I also met the editor of Deathrasher 'zine from New Haven, CT and learned the true meaning of "fast music". But that's another story...
You must realize that in '88 our pimply protagonist, Dennis Dread, already had visions of drawing depraved gore long after most boys would discover girls and outgrow that stuff. And it was with such visions of grandeur that I brought with me to Fantacon several horrible cartoon drawings I had done recently of the likes of the Lost Boys, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger! I know, I know. Laugh, cruel reader! For these were truly HORRIBLE cartoons. Poorly planned and poorly executed. And not "cute" or "funny". Just dumb. Did I think I would be "discovered" by Gore Shriek and swept away to draw monsters by the full moon with Berni Wrightson and Bruce Spaulding Fuller? I don't remember. Whatever my intentions, I recall my trembling fanboy hands shoving them in the faces of the Gore Shriek artists and my mouth involuntarily soliciting their professional opinions...
And this is why the Gore Shriek artists and the Gore Shriek legacy will always be close to my heart! They didn't laugh. They didn't even smirk. They studied my embarrassing scribbles with what appeared to be thoughtful scrutiny for several minutes. And they immediately responded with their authoritative advice. I'll never forget Greg Cappullo suggesting that if I learned to recreate the folds and wrinkles of clothing, my drawings would really spring to life. He proceeded to grab the Daredevil panel he had been working on and quickly gave me a lesson in how joints tend to pull fabric and how clothing folds create the illusion of gravity. He also wrote down the title of a book that he highly recommended to all aspiring artists, Drawing On The Right Side Of the Brain. I bought it later and read parts of it but never actually followed the course of lessons it describes. You should check it out some time.
Later that day I watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on a big screen and almost had a religious experience. Appropriately, I also met Chas Balun who signed my copy of the recently released Gore Score (NERD!!!) and presented his hilarious slide show of gore. Heading back to our hotel room that evening with throngs of exhausted fans, including obnoxious horror rockers the Serial Killers, I also met the editor of Deathrasher 'zine from New Haven, CT and learned the true meaning of "fast music". But that's another story...LONG LIVE GORE SHRIEK!!!!
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Mutilation Graphics
Starlog 1993...Whoa! Here's another gem from the archives of embarrassment! An interview I did back in 1993 while I was silkscreening for Mutilation Graphics in New York. At the time it was my good friend (and MG founder) Neil O'leary's policy to send a free t-shirt to any zine, no matter how small or obscure, that ran an ad for Mutilation Graphics. This led to the following interview which appeared in a tiny unknown xerox cartoon zine out of Fall River, Massachusetts called 'Charette's Eye View'. Yeah it's pretty stupid, but what were YOU doing in 1993?
Jim Charette: For those unfortunate few who've never heard of Mutilation Graphics could you explain just what it is and what you do?
Dennis Dread: Mutilation Graphics represents the cold slimy underbelly of modern civilization. Specifically, but not exclusively, American society. We stir up all the filth, rotting debris, flotsam, and jetsom that sinks straight to the bottom of the sea of humankind and throw it back in our own faces for the delight and disgust of all the world. Our specialty is T-shirts however, thanks to the persistent and generous support of our infernal bredren & sistren, we are expanding our line of uncompromisingly bizare high/low quality & inexpensive products. Our newest catalog is our biggest and ugliest yet and includes lots of new designs, color and glow-in-the-dark shirts, the 'World's Most Bizare Collector Card Sets', books, videos, jewelery, and 100% legal drugs. We also love to receive and promote zines so send us what you got!
How many folks are involved?
Hundreds, thousands, millions. When we go down it'll be bigger than Jonestown...bigger than Waco!
[Actually, in 1993 it was just 2 of us. 4 if you counted Neil's mom and dad. 5 if you counted his dog, Nitro. And we did.]
When did you start Mutilation and what made you start it?
Neil "Butch" O'leary is the father of Mutilation Graphics. He started it over 12 years ago, possibly for the same reasons stated above but most likely because he was bored and had way too much time on his hands. He's regretted it ever since.
Does Mutilation actually put food on the table or is it another one of your hairbrained schemes that takes up all of your free time? Is Mutilation keeping you folks from having to be part of "the working world"?
All of us have other projects going on all the time. Mutilation is beginning to feed itself...it's festering. But right now it simply can't support our drug addictions and overwhelming phone bills from 1-900-USA-FUCK and 1-900-HOT-LICK.
I've noticed that you carry the work of a few artists [such as] Spider Webb, Big Daddy Roth. Are you looking to add more folks to that list? Is there anyone you're actively pursuing and are you interested in receiving submissions?
We're actually very selective with the artists we seek out. In addition to Ed Roth and Spider Webb, we also print work by Jeff Gaither (the busiest cartoonist on the planet?!) R.K. Sloane, Teri Corben, Hans Holbein (the 'Dance of Death' woodcuts), William Blake, and John Gacy (who drew the skull logo for Bloody Mess & The Scabs from prison). We have to be selective because for some unexplainable reason the original art designs haven't been our best sellers. We would love to hear from Robert Williams, who has greatly inspired and influenced Mutilation, however he's already printing his work on full color shirts. Everyone should check out his 'Visual Addiction' book or a gallery showing if possible. Also, Joe Coleman's 'Cosmic Retribution' which was recently released by Fantagraphics. Charles Manson has called Joe Coleman "a caveman in a spaceship" and he's just that! Coleman is one of the most introspective, frightening, and competent artists to ever emerge from the underground.
I recently read that if you see a psychotic shirt on one of your favorite famous types, chances are it's one of Mutilation Graphics. How true is that?? You have a lot of well-known customers? Ever get a photo of Hillary Clinton wearing a 'Women of the SS' shirt??
Nobody famous would stoop so low.
[Actually people used to send us magazine clippings of "famous types" wearing our shirts like Vio-lence, The Butthole Surfers, Guns 'N' Roses, Kreator, The Dwarves, Impetigo, and John Waters. We had a huge mailing list of customers including the names of some of you reading this right now!]
One thing I really like about your shirts is the number of images that are sure to offend ('Manson Christ', 'I've Had 21 Abortions', etc) My question is, what would you consider too offensive to be printed?? Where do you draw the line??
All of our designs are chosen for their ability to affect a specific reaction. Most of them are humorous to some degree but most people don't really seem to know if they should laugh or cry. Our designs are almost archetypal in their sheer imbecility so they're great for revealing the strange values and beliefs and taboos of modern society. For that reason it's not a matter of "too offensive" or "too controversial". It's a matter of intentions and it's a question of what our society "is", "was" , and "is becoming". Does that answer your question?
Yup. Your catalog comes complete with a postal warning. Is that a just-in-case sort of thing or the result of some previous hassle you've had?
The postal warning is an attempt to warn people who might be unaware of what's inside. Occasionally we ship out our mailing list to find that people have moved and our catalog falls into the hands of a minister or four year old child. We serve a specific group of people and we don't feel we need to assault everyone with an unwanted catalog. Therefore we suggest they throw it away if it doesn't interest them. In terms of hassles, we've had relatively few. We've gotten our share of hate mail, which we encourage and of which we are very proud, but as of yet we've had no death threats. Just some serious recommendations for therapy.
Are there side projects that the Mutilation staff would like to tell us about? Anything you might be doing collectively or solo efforts that aren't necessarily Mutilation projects?
We hope to continue expanding as I've mentioned. We'll do just about anything for cash. In fact, Neil is available on weekends and he has an incredible foot fetish, so if you've got the $$ give him a call.
Any idea where you'd like Mutilation Graphics to be in, say, 10 years?
Dead.
Anything you'd like to say to 'C.E.V' readers? Advice for successful living, favorite parlor games, blatant self-advertisment, anything?
This entire interview is a blatant self-advertisment! Send for a catalog. Check out our friends at Netherworld of Mt. Vernon, New York. They're great people. Stay away from heroin. Use condoms. Satan loves you. We do too.
Jim Charette: For those unfortunate few who've never heard of Mutilation Graphics could you explain just what it is and what you do?
Dennis Dread: Mutilation Graphics represents the cold slimy underbelly of modern civilization. Specifically, but not exclusively, American society. We stir up all the filth, rotting debris, flotsam, and jetsom that sinks straight to the bottom of the sea of humankind and throw it back in our own faces for the delight and disgust of all the world. Our specialty is T-shirts however, thanks to the persistent and generous support of our infernal bredren & sistren, we are expanding our line of uncompromisingly bizare high/low quality & inexpensive products. Our newest catalog is our biggest and ugliest yet and includes lots of new designs, color and glow-in-the-dark shirts, the 'World's Most Bizare Collector Card Sets', books, videos, jewelery, and 100% legal drugs. We also love to receive and promote zines so send us what you got!
How many folks are involved?
Hundreds, thousands, millions. When we go down it'll be bigger than Jonestown...bigger than Waco!
[Actually, in 1993 it was just 2 of us. 4 if you counted Neil's mom and dad. 5 if you counted his dog, Nitro. And we did.]
When did you start Mutilation and what made you start it?
Neil "Butch" O'leary is the father of Mutilation Graphics. He started it over 12 years ago, possibly for the same reasons stated above but most likely because he was bored and had way too much time on his hands. He's regretted it ever since.
Does Mutilation actually put food on the table or is it another one of your hairbrained schemes that takes up all of your free time? Is Mutilation keeping you folks from having to be part of "the working world"?All of us have other projects going on all the time. Mutilation is beginning to feed itself...it's festering. But right now it simply can't support our drug addictions and overwhelming phone bills from 1-900-USA-FUCK and 1-900-HOT-LICK.
I've noticed that you carry the work of a few artists [such as] Spider Webb, Big Daddy Roth. Are you looking to add more folks to that list? Is there anyone you're actively pursuing and are you interested in receiving submissions?
We're actually very selective with the artists we seek out. In addition to Ed Roth and Spider Webb, we also print work by Jeff Gaither (the busiest cartoonist on the planet?!) R.K. Sloane, Teri Corben, Hans Holbein (the 'Dance of Death' woodcuts), William Blake, and John Gacy (who drew the skull logo for Bloody Mess & The Scabs from prison). We have to be selective because for some unexplainable reason the original art designs haven't been our best sellers. We would love to hear from Robert Williams, who has greatly inspired and influenced Mutilation, however he's already printing his work on full color shirts. Everyone should check out his 'Visual Addiction' book or a gallery showing if possible. Also, Joe Coleman's 'Cosmic Retribution' which was recently released by Fantagraphics. Charles Manson has called Joe Coleman "a caveman in a spaceship" and he's just that! Coleman is one of the most introspective, frightening, and competent artists to ever emerge from the underground. I recently read that if you see a psychotic shirt on one of your favorite famous types, chances are it's one of Mutilation Graphics. How true is that?? You have a lot of well-known customers? Ever get a photo of Hillary Clinton wearing a 'Women of the SS' shirt??
Nobody famous would stoop so low.
[Actually people used to send us magazine clippings of "famous types" wearing our shirts like Vio-lence, The Butthole Surfers, Guns 'N' Roses, Kreator, The Dwarves, Impetigo, and John Waters. We had a huge mailing list of customers including the names of some of you reading this right now!]
One thing I really like about your shirts is the number of images that are sure to offend ('Manson Christ', 'I've Had 21 Abortions', etc) My question is, what would you consider too offensive to be printed?? Where do you draw the line??
All of our designs are chosen for their ability to affect a specific reaction. Most of them are humorous to some degree but most people don't really seem to know if they should laugh or cry. Our designs are almost archetypal in their sheer imbecility so they're great for revealing the strange values and beliefs and taboos of modern society. For that reason it's not a matter of "too offensive" or "too controversial". It's a matter of intentions and it's a question of what our society "is", "was" , and "is becoming". Does that answer your question?
Yup. Your catalog comes complete with a postal warning. Is that a just-in-case sort of thing or the result of some previous hassle you've had?
The postal warning is an attempt to warn people who might be unaware of what's inside. Occasionally we ship out our mailing list to find that people have moved and our catalog falls into the hands of a minister or four year old child. We serve a specific group of people and we don't feel we need to assault everyone with an unwanted catalog. Therefore we suggest they throw it away if it doesn't interest them. In terms of hassles, we've had relatively few. We've gotten our share of hate mail, which we encourage and of which we are very proud, but as of yet we've had no death threats. Just some serious recommendations for therapy.
Are there side projects that the Mutilation staff would like to tell us about? Anything you might be doing collectively or solo efforts that aren't necessarily Mutilation projects?
We hope to continue expanding as I've mentioned. We'll do just about anything for cash. In fact, Neil is available on weekends and he has an incredible foot fetish, so if you've got the $$ give him a call.
Any idea where you'd like Mutilation Graphics to be in, say, 10 years?
Dead.
Anything you'd like to say to 'C.E.V' readers? Advice for successful living, favorite parlor games, blatant self-advertisment, anything?
This entire interview is a blatant self-advertisment! Send for a catalog. Check out our friends at Netherworld of Mt. Vernon, New York. They're great people. Stay away from heroin. Use condoms. Satan loves you. We do too.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Don't Burn The Witch!
'Rosaleen Norton: Australia's Favorite Witch' was originally sent to me several years ago as a small xerox copied article. I had recently interviewed the talented Australian cartoon artist Glenn Smith for Destroying Angels #6 and during our correspondences we learned of our shared reverence for this sadly obscure heathen soul. Glenno soon sent this short essay. I never published the article in Destroying Angels as it has clearly been reproduced elsewhere and is readily available on the internet. But it serves as an interesting introduction and seems perfectly appropriate for reproducing here. The article was written by Glenno's Australian anarchist pal who uses the name Takver, a reference to Ursula LeGuin's novel The Dispossessed. Takver's website is listed below. Check out the insane underground comic art of Glenn Smith while you're at it. Rosaleen Norton was an incredible woman whose bold and uncompromising life has ever more significance in our current climate of fundamentalism, fear, and conformity. Hail the Australian Anti-Christ!
Rosaleen Norton was unique in her time, and sadly, would still be unique today. She was a born mystic and visionary artist when to be such things meant being dismissed by most people as either possessed or insane. To the deadening forces of conservatism and conformity she was the epitome of wickedness, but despite the scandals which regularly erupted around her she carried herself with terrific style and a sense of humour. If she was the face of evil, she was a remarkably nice face of evil.
Rosaleen Norton, "Roie" to her friends, made a suitably dramatic entry to this world during a thunderstorm on the night of October 2, 1917 in Dunedin, New Zealand. She was born with a sinewy strip of flesh extending from her armpit to her waist, and later took this, along with physical peculiarities such as pointed ears and two dark spots on her knee, as signs that she was destined to be a witch.
She was the youngest of three daughters in a solidly Church of England family, her father being an affable merchant seaman named Albert. When she was seven the family moved to Sydney. Rosaleen grew up a solitary child, looking down her nose at other children, preferring spiders. Night was her favourite time, when ghosts were out, and for years she slept in a tent out in the garden. She liked drawing too, ghoulish stuff that got her into trouble with her teachers. When she was 14, the headmistress of her school, Chatswood Girls Grammar, became the first in a long line of people to identify Rosaleen as a corrupting influence on others, and she was expelled.
She studied art for a while, and at the age of 15 had several horror stories accepted by Smith's Weekly, a famously irreverent and lively newspaper which seems to have kept almost all of Sydney's bohemian community in gainful employment at one time or another. She preferred to work as an artist, but during her months there she failed to produce anything conventional enough even for Smith's, , and was let go.
She scraped a living doing odd jobs - kitchen hand, waitress, postal messenger- and as an artist's model for, among others, Norman Lindsay, whose work her own was often compared to. He called her "a grubby little girl with great skill who will not discipline herself." In 1935 she met and married another 17 year-old whose name is only recorded as Beresford, and the pair spent some time hitchhiking around the country from Brisbane to Melbourne. The marriage lasted until after the war.
In 1949 she scored her first major exhibition, at the Rowden-White Gallery at Melbourne University. She had been experimenting with self hypnosis and automatic drawing for years, devising rituals which would put her into a trance state in which she could explore other dimensions. Her paintings and drawings for the most part were depictions of the myriad of gods, demons and other entities with whom she communicated - and caroused - on these journeys. These beings - with god Pan being her personal favourite - were as real to her as the people around her. Rosaleen's swirling, flamboyant compositions, full of grotesque detail and writhing, interlocked forms, were at their best extremely powerful. They were certainly strong meat for 1940s Australia, and Constable Plod, turning up at the 1949 exhibition, predictably found them obscene. The police seized four works. Various academics came to Rosaleen's defence in the ensuing trial, and perhaps surprisingly, the charges were dropped and the police ordered to pay costs. Rosaleen's comment on the affair was "This figs leaf morality expresses a very unhealthy attitude."
A similar reaction greeted the publication in 1952 of The Art Of Rosaleen Norton, a collection of her illustrations accompanied by poems by her young boyfriend, Gavin Greenlees. The book's publisher, Walter Glover, was charged with obscenity and Rosaleen was back in court defending her art in terms of Jungian archetypes. Such arguments notwithstanding, the magistrate fined Glover five pounds and ordered that two pictures, including one of "Fohat", a cheeky looking demon with a snake for a penis, be obliterated from unsold copies of the book.
Rosaleen was by now firmly ensconced as one of the great characters of Kings Cross, the stamping ground of Sydney's prostitutes, criminals, artists and would-be cosmopolitans. Her paintings adorned the walls of its cafes, and visitors to Sydney, whose first trip was likely to be the Cross anyway, began to seek her out. The press had by now come to label her as a witch, and whilst the term never really described what Rosaleen was all about, she revelled in the attention, for a while at least. She certainly looked the part, her eyebrows plucked into high arches, her whole face, framed with jet black hair, a pattern of striking black curves which resembled nothing so much as one of her paintings. She was now being called the leader of a witch cult and whilst the "cult" never seemed to amount to much more than a few friends gathering in her small flat for occult talk and the occasional friendly ritual, this was too good a story for the tabloids to let go. Here is a typical account of a night at Roie's, from the 1965 pot-boiler Kings Cross Black Magic by "Attila Zohar".
"There were about eight or nine cult members present. They all wore hideous masks so were quite willing to be photographed, although they pointed out that there were certain rites which could not be performed before outsiders or cameras."Later Rosaleen Norton changed into her witch's outfit. She was nude except for a black apron for and aft from her waist and a black shawl over her shoulders. A cat mask covered her face, but did not prevent her smoking from a long cigarette holder.
The reporter noticed that the witches did not seem to walk - but rather to "drift silently" on bare feet. Later Roie discarded the shawl, leaving herself bare from the waist up. "Miss Norton has modelled in her time, and she was as unselfconscious with the shawl off as with it on" observed the reporter.
All the witches denied a somewhat facetious suggestion that they were merely people who liked dressing up. They insisted they were serious minded practitioners of the black arts. The reporter persisted and wanted to know what they got out of the cult.
Rosaleen Norton answered for all the witches present when she said "I get a life that holds infinite possibilities and is entirely satisfactory to me on all planes of consciousness."
Little outbreaks of scandal kept the legend of "The Witch of Kings Cross" bubbling along nicely. In 1955 the police picked up a homeless adolescent girl, Anna Hoffman, who blamed her sorry state on one of Rosaleen's black masses. She later admitted that she had made all this up, but not before the newspapers had taken the story and run with it. In the same year the Sun was approached by two men offering allegedly pornographic photos of Rosaleen and Gavin Greenlees performing unnatural acts. These, it transpired, had been taken as a joke at one of Rosaleen's birthday parties. All the notoriety had proved too much for Gavin Greenlees, it seems. He had been diagnosed as schizophrenic in 1957 and institutionalised. Juiciest of all was the sage of Sir Eugene Goosens, The British-born conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a friend of Rosaleen's and participant in her rituals. In March 1957 he was caught at Mascot Airport trying to smuggle into the country a whole swag of goodies including banned books, ritual masks and "1,166 pornographic photographs". Sir Eugene was given a hefty fine and returned to England in ignominy. This was not the sort of behaviour expected of a conductor at all.
Rosaleen Norton began to drop out of the public eye in the 1960s. Suddenly her behaviour didn't seem so strange anymore - who wasn't into the occult revival? In the June 15, 1967 issue of Australian Post, journalist Dave Barnes gives an account of a visit to the increasingly reclusive witch. He describes how he and a colleague started their search at the flat she had occupied at the height of her fame in the '50s, questioned a few less than helpful locals, and eventually located her front door through which they dropped a request for her to ring their office so an interview could be arranged. The following day they were invited into Rosaleen's dark, 10 foot by 6 foot room, adorned with "giggling masks, a Satan statue, gongs and strikers, snakes and growing creepers". They found her in an apparently cheerful mood, playing up her reputation for all it was worth. As they reported "She produced a little box and said "look, these are real bat's feet, there are not many of them about and I wear them for ear-rings, attractive aren't they?"
Politely ignoring their more flippant questions, she told them she enjoyed TV shows like The Munsters, The Addams Family and Bewitched, suggesting their makers may know a thing or two about how witches really operate. She was particularly interested in how the journalists tracked her down, and at what time. Puzzled, they told her they left their office just before 4pm and dropped the message through her door at 4.45pm. This made her laugh. Later, back in their office, they found that Rosaleen's call in answer had been logged in at 4pm the previous day - before they had actually delivered it. Game, set and match to Rosaleen.
Rosaleen Norton's health began to fail in the '70s. She was diagnosed with colon cancer and in 1979 admitted to the Sacred Heart Hospice for the Dying. One of her friends during her last years was Richard Moir, who published a memoir about her in 1994. Moir draws a distinction between Roie, the private person he knew, and the Rosaleen Norton persona she created for the public, and paints a vivid picture of her final days.
"When I arrived at the hospital I was ushered into the visitors lounge room, strange I thought, as Roie couldn't walk.
I waited in the lounge room for some time patiently, suddenly Rosaleen Norton appeared physically standing on both legs, welcoming me, escorted by two sisters. The vision I beheld was, mind blowing.
Rosaleen Norton (not Roie) standing there in full garb, her hair flaming back, carefully arranged in her look. Her make-up had been very carefully applied, the face powder, the Rosaleen Norton full eye makeup and eye brows, the red lipstick. It was the Rosaleen Norton as I had always remembered he- but even more so.
She stood for only one minute... The last words Rosaleen Norton ever said to me were "Darling; I can't stay too long, I just came to say hello. Ah! I must go Darling." And with her head in a proud position Rosaleen Norton was escorted away out of my sight forever."
Rosaleen Norton died on 5 December 1979, surrounded by nuns, but needless to say, a pagan to the last.
© Takver
www.takver.com
www.glennoart
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
DREAD!
Dennis Dread proudly stakes a claim among the questionable heritage of subversive art that encompasses gory horror pulps of the 50's, degenerate underground comix of the 60's & 70's, the DIY anti-graphics of 80's hardcore punk and metal, and the heathen proclivities of 19th century volkisch symbolists. Born at home in 1972 in New York's folklore-rich Hudson River Valley, near Sing Sing Prison and Sleepy Hollow, he enjoyed a childhood of monster movies and home-made comic books and at the age of 18 began silkscreen printing for the infamous terrorist t-shirt company Mutilation Graphics. Dennis held his post at Mutilation Graphics for four years while working on his drawing skills and studying literature and comparative mythology at the State University of New York at Purchase. Following several cross-country drawing sprees, Mr. Dread jumped off a freight train passing through Portland, Oregon and the City of Roses has served as his headquarters ever since. Dennis Dread's visceral and obsessively detailed ballpoint pen drawings have appeared on numerous national and international metal and punk records, including work for such extreme-noise luminaries as Autopsy, Abscess, Phobia, Engorged, Abigail, and Machetazo. Dennis also edits and self-publishes the long running underground art magazine Destroying Angels. His writing has been published in Runa, a journal of Northern European occult traditions published in England by Ian Read. When he is not hunched over a drawing table howling at the moon, Dennis can be found assisting homeless youth on the streets of Portland, Oregon where he earns his professional title as a street outreach worker.
Past public exhibits include:
Invasion of the Monster Men (group exhibit) Gallery Bink 10/2001
Live By The Pen, Die By The Sword! (solo exhibit) Medusa Gallery 5/2002
Intermission (group exhibit) Optic Nerve Arts 12/2004
Heathen Art (group exhibit) Optic Nerve Arts 8/2005
Candy Apples & Razor Blades (solo exhibit) Counter Media 10/2005
Zombies! (group exhibit) MF Gallery 1/2006
Halloween Show (group exhibit) MF Gallery 9/2006
Spill The Beer of Christ (solo exhibit) Optic Nerve Arts 6/2006
Entartete Kunts (curated group exhibit) Optic Nerve Arts 6/2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)