It might interest readers of this site to know that the work of visionary artist Forrest Bess (1911-1977) is on exhibit at the Menil Collection in Houston until August 18, 2013. His unusual iconographic paintings, shown with great success in New York in the 1950s and 1960s, were part of a larger vision, part of which that called for him to become a psuedo-hermaphrodite, and in 1960 he operated on his own genitals.

Here's the description from the gallery guide:

"To perform this transformation, Bess created an incision in the underside of his penis just above the scrotum. He believed that this new opening would allow the bulbous section of the urethra to accept another penis, and that this would be a transcendental experience, a way to gain full access to the world of the unconscious and its truths. Bess held a deep and sincere belief that this surgery and the balancing of male and female within himself was the key to regeneration and eternal life."

There's so much more to his work and his remarkable story, but I'll leave it at that. Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area.

For those interested, his works can be seen online at http://www.forrestbess.org/paintings.html

My guess is, our pal here got hold of some bad acid...What a delusional wacko Sheesh Jackie

butterflyjack (imported) wrote: Sat Jul 20, 2013 6:31 am My guess is, our pal here got hold of some bad acid...What a delusional wacko Sheesh Jackie

I concur (that's a fancy way to say "Yeah! What he just said!"). I just checked out the website and it looks to me like this guy was a total Vincent Van Gough wannabee. He tried to imitate Van Gough's style in most of the paintings I saw there, but he clearly lacks Van Gough's flair and use of colors. I am thinking the attempted surgery on himself had less to do with his own psyche and thought and more to do with another attempt to emulate Van Gough's self mutilation (cutting his ear off).