I have chosen to base my exhibition on William S. Burroughs’ Immortality. This piece by
Burroughs read as a deep investigation into capitalism and the extreme lengths that we humans
will go to preserve and maintain our relationship with the human body, and our place in the
world. And very importantly, this is a capitalistic pursuit as we have been so conditioned to
think of ourselves in the Marxist way as ‘labor.’ When Burroughs said: “the key word is
extraction,” I’m zeroing right in on capitalism. I’m thinking about David Harvey and his idea of
Accumulation by Dispossession. The idea that I’m focusing on here that extraction isn’t just
natural resources, minerals or even land, but the human body and the human spirit and the labor
that is extracted and derived from it. In a quite literal sense, we extract body parts from the dead
for transplants and research. The industrial prison complex leverages corrupt political agendas
and laws to extracts black and brown bodies from our society. Corporations in times of great
crisis extracts the sweat and blood of soldiers under the ideological colonialism of America to
gain control all over the world. What this idea has done, in my opinion is shape the way that we
view ourselves and of course, our bodies. I have asked myself: “is my finger Ryan?” “Is my
face Ryan?” “Is my body Ryan?” “Who is Ryan?” “Why am I Ryan and who is looking to gain
financially from my personhood?”
So, for this exhibition I have focused of works of art: performance, photography, painting and
music that investigates the idea of the body, self-possessing its kinetic energy, replicating its
beauty, demonstrating its vulnerability, and pulling, cutting and taking it apart in pieces. Pursuits
in direct conflict with the notion of capitalism that says we must be producing at all times, or our
value decreasing.
Works in this exhibition:
Frank Diaz by Robert Mapplethorpe: The kinetic energy of a buff male arm recoiling with a
knife. I think of cutting, I think of movement, I think of taking back one’s agency from the
hegemonic power structure and to move as one wishes. I think of the strength of the arm. This
isn’t a violent photograph, its sacred.
Spatial Concept, Expectations by Lucio Fontana: Here we have the cut. Fontana famous for
cutting his canvas to cut into the art world. Cut into ideas around art as a commodity. This idea,
this act, is as an act in solidarity with an anti-establishment, an anti-capitalistic show of rebellion.
These canvases are a mutation of what came before. Burroughs: “Immortality is prolongedfuture, and the future of any artifact lies in the direction of increased flexibility capacity for
change and ultimately mutation.”
Cut Piece by Yoko Ono. I think Yoko is asking: who does art belong to? Granting agency to
audience members to cut from her clothing, they become owners of the art too. The body is
involved too. We take things away sometimes to create more than what is lost.
Edith by Sarah Lucas. This Sarah Lucas sculpture deals with the reality of our existence through
talking about what is human: waste, vomit, piss, etc., Lucas creates a sculpture that mimics
someone throwing up in a toilet. Burroughs: “the body's reaction to an invading organism.” We
see legs, we see a waist…we see only body parts, and we build in what is not there to create the
whole person.
Back of the Neck / Untitled Anatomy by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Basquiat was in an accident as a
young child and given a copy of Grey’s Anatomy during his recovering. So much of his work
looks into body parts, separating them, conjoining them, describing them. As a queer black man
in NYC during one of many racist and homophobic periods in the city’s history, Basquiat’s black
body, and the black bodies others, became a focal point in his paintings to translate his
experience and the fetishization around his being. Basquiat was a target, as where all black and
gay men. Burroughs: “Personal immortality in a physical body is impossible, since a physical
body exists in time and time is that which ends.” Perhaps Basquiat saw his immortality located
in his paintings and for the body to become immortal, they must be IN the paintings.
Study for Self-Portrait 1964 by Francis Bacon. Bacon’s works violently contorts, mutilates,
removes, blends, and maims body parts giving the allusion of almost being in a psychotic
episode of grand proportions. This painting specifically joined Bacons’ portraiture of Lucien
Freud’s body with his own face. It fits so perfectly with Burroughs line: “You are other people
and other people are you.”
Untitled 1973 by Ana Mendeita. This photograph depicts Ana themselves in a ridge between
two rock fully allowing flowery type growth to come up between (the crevasses in) and around
her arms and legs. I think of extraction, how her body is placed right where one could imagine a
rock being extracted looking for ore or gold or silver. It is a beautiful metaphor for the
extraction of the human body. Burroughs: “The key word is extraction.”
Talking by Philip Guston. Guston’s late work relies heavily on the painter’s relationship to his
own aging body. Cigarettes are a common theme and along with the watch are a grave
indication of all the time that has passed, and how little of the future is left. I think of when
Burroughs talks of the “cancerous lung.”
Self-Portrait with Fried Eggs by Sarah Lucas. This photograph is a self-portrait of Lucas with
two fried eggs placed on top of her chest. Eggs being a metaphor for sex, fertility, birth and of
course death. I think of Burroughs’ line: “He can switch eggs in an alley...”
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. Included not just because Burroughs is
ON the cover of this legendary Lp, but because of how it deals with concepts around aging and
the capitalistic notions of self-perceived usefulness in “When I’m Sixy-Four.”
Mister Heartbreak by Laurie Anderson. Burroughs in on this record reading the lyrics on the
closing track Sharkey’s Night.
Vitalogy by Pearl Jam. On this record is an incredibly beautiful song called “Immortality.”
Singer Eddie Vedder is a huge Burroughs fan, so I included it as a nod to them both.
Burroughs read as a deep investigation into capitalism and the extreme lengths that we humans
will go to preserve and maintain our relationship with the human body, and our place in the
world. And very importantly, this is a capitalistic pursuit as we have been so conditioned to
think of ourselves in the Marxist way as ‘labor.’ When Burroughs said: “the key word is
extraction,” I’m zeroing right in on capitalism. I’m thinking about David Harvey and his idea of
Accumulation by Dispossession. The idea that I’m focusing on here that extraction isn’t just
natural resources, minerals or even land, but the human body and the human spirit and the labor
that is extracted and derived from it. In a quite literal sense, we extract body parts from the dead
for transplants and research. The industrial prison complex leverages corrupt political agendas
and laws to extracts black and brown bodies from our society. Corporations in times of great
crisis extracts the sweat and blood of soldiers under the ideological colonialism of America to
gain control all over the world. What this idea has done, in my opinion is shape the way that we
view ourselves and of course, our bodies. I have asked myself: “is my finger Ryan?” “Is my
face Ryan?” “Is my body Ryan?” “Who is Ryan?” “Why am I Ryan and who is looking to gain
financially from my personhood?”
So, for this exhibition I have focused of works of art: performance, photography, painting and
music that investigates the idea of the body, self-possessing its kinetic energy, replicating its
beauty, demonstrating its vulnerability, and pulling, cutting and taking it apart in pieces. Pursuits
in direct conflict with the notion of capitalism that says we must be producing at all times, or our
value decreasing.
Works in this exhibition:
Frank Diaz by Robert Mapplethorpe: The kinetic energy of a buff male arm recoiling with a
knife. I think of cutting, I think of movement, I think of taking back one’s agency from the
hegemonic power structure and to move as one wishes. I think of the strength of the arm. This
isn’t a violent photograph, its sacred.
Spatial Concept, Expectations by Lucio Fontana: Here we have the cut. Fontana famous for
cutting his canvas to cut into the art world. Cut into ideas around art as a commodity. This idea,
this act, is as an act in solidarity with an anti-establishment, an anti-capitalistic show of rebellion.
These canvases are a mutation of what came before. Burroughs: “Immortality is prolongedfuture, and the future of any artifact lies in the direction of increased flexibility capacity for
change and ultimately mutation.”
Cut Piece by Yoko Ono. I think Yoko is asking: who does art belong to? Granting agency to
audience members to cut from her clothing, they become owners of the art too. The body is
involved too. We take things away sometimes to create more than what is lost.
Edith by Sarah Lucas. This Sarah Lucas sculpture deals with the reality of our existence through
talking about what is human: waste, vomit, piss, etc., Lucas creates a sculpture that mimics
someone throwing up in a toilet. Burroughs: “the body's reaction to an invading organism.” We
see legs, we see a waist…we see only body parts, and we build in what is not there to create the
whole person.
Back of the Neck / Untitled Anatomy by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Basquiat was in an accident as a
young child and given a copy of Grey’s Anatomy during his recovering. So much of his work
looks into body parts, separating them, conjoining them, describing them. As a queer black man
in NYC during one of many racist and homophobic periods in the city’s history, Basquiat’s black
body, and the black bodies others, became a focal point in his paintings to translate his
experience and the fetishization around his being. Basquiat was a target, as where all black and
gay men. Burroughs: “Personal immortality in a physical body is impossible, since a physical
body exists in time and time is that which ends.” Perhaps Basquiat saw his immortality located
in his paintings and for the body to become immortal, they must be IN the paintings.
Study for Self-Portrait 1964 by Francis Bacon. Bacon’s works violently contorts, mutilates,
removes, blends, and maims body parts giving the allusion of almost being in a psychotic
episode of grand proportions. This painting specifically joined Bacons’ portraiture of Lucien
Freud’s body with his own face. It fits so perfectly with Burroughs line: “You are other people
and other people are you.”
Untitled 1973 by Ana Mendeita. This photograph depicts Ana themselves in a ridge between
two rock fully allowing flowery type growth to come up between (the crevasses in) and around
her arms and legs. I think of extraction, how her body is placed right where one could imagine a
rock being extracted looking for ore or gold or silver. It is a beautiful metaphor for the
extraction of the human body. Burroughs: “The key word is extraction.”
Talking by Philip Guston. Guston’s late work relies heavily on the painter’s relationship to his
own aging body. Cigarettes are a common theme and along with the watch are a grave
indication of all the time that has passed, and how little of the future is left. I think of when
Burroughs talks of the “cancerous lung.”
Self-Portrait with Fried Eggs by Sarah Lucas. This photograph is a self-portrait of Lucas with
two fried eggs placed on top of her chest. Eggs being a metaphor for sex, fertility, birth and of
course death. I think of Burroughs’ line: “He can switch eggs in an alley...”
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. Included not just because Burroughs is
ON the cover of this legendary Lp, but because of how it deals with concepts around aging and
the capitalistic notions of self-perceived usefulness in “When I’m Sixy-Four.”
Mister Heartbreak by Laurie Anderson. Burroughs in on this record reading the lyrics on the
closing track Sharkey’s Night.
Vitalogy by Pearl Jam. On this record is an incredibly beautiful song called “Immortality.”
Singer Eddie Vedder is a huge Burroughs fan, so I included it as a nod to them both.
