Event 3 - FORREST BESS: SEEING THINGS INVISIBLE

On December 6th, I went to visit the Bess exhibit at the Hammer Museum. Quite honestly, I did not find his art very intriguing but his life story and how it relates to our class resounded with me.

Why did I post the picture above? While serving in the army, Bess admitted that he was gay. As a result, he was beat and sustained a traumatic brain injury. After this brain injury, Bess began to see visions and hallucinations. And from my understanding, it was these sights which stimulated Bess' artistic career.

While not exactly the same situation, Bess reminds me of the many famous artists who reportedly suffered from neurological issues that affected their art. One of the most famous examples is Van Gogh. I talked about Van Gogh in the Medtech and art week. I see a strong connection between Bess and that week.

Bess' head injury allows him to perceive things differently than most people. This affects his artistic style, much like the artists who had neurological issues.His injury, I believe, is analogous to drugs that have the capability of changing perception. Hence, the pyschadellic art above, influenced by drugs. His brain altering injury permanently changed how he sees things. His subconscious and his dreams become visible to him, much like lucid dreaming.

A great example of this is Sticks. Bess drew this piece shortly after he discovered that his parents did not really want him as a child. This "vision" came to him that night and he drew it shortly after. In the artwork, Bess is represented by the black line. He does not belong with the rest of the other popsicle sticks.

Bess, in a very sick way, had an advantage artistically due to his head injury. Much like my blog on how I discussed the advantages of taking drugs as an artist, Bess was able to perceive things differently than most. He had a "natural" drug if you will. Connecting science and art, many scientists actually do neurological studies on many artists and study the effects of drugs and disease on artists. Studies have already shown how artists brains are differently constructed than normal people which allow them to perceive things differently. Drugs only exacerbate that fact. Artists like Bess are invaluable to science. Perhaps the secret to why artists are artists lies in the brains of artists like Bess.

This made me think about a scary possibility. Some artists are willing to take drugs to help them perceive things differently and inspire them. What if we were to find the parts of the brain which influence the creative side? Would people be willing to under go surgery or other enhancements to gain an advantage? We've already seen people willing to self-mutiliate in the name of extreme art. We've also seen people break legs and push the limits of the bodies for those slight advantages. What makes them stop here? At what point does science begin to hurt art?