Ports of Entry: William S. Burroughs and the Arts

by Robert A. Sobieszek, William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs, the Beat iconoclast turned cultural icon, has been practicing a postmodern voodoo alchemy, via his cut-up and fold-in techniques, that accurately reflects our fragmented, discontinuous experience of a universe that is fluid, undetermined, tangential, and absurd. His novels, once banned and condemned, have over the years earned him membership in the American Academy and Institute for Arts and Letters and the title Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France.
Now Robert A. Sobieszek, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's curator of photography, demonstrates how Burroughs's creative practice extends to and permeates most of the arts, how his work has paralleled and in some cases anticipated significant developments in painting, assemblage, music, sculpture, video, and film. Sobieszek discusses and offers illustrations of Burroughs's extensive body of visual art - including his collages, photomontages, sculptural assemblages, shotgunned paintings, and text-image works - as well as the work of artists with whom Burroughs has either collaborated or had an affinity, including Brion Gysin, Keith Haring, Philip Taaffe, and Robert Rauschenberg.

Genres: Art, Criticism, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Nish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me be blunt and state that I do not like Burroughs' visual work. It is extensive and diversifies into collages, photomontages, sculptural assemblages, shotgun paintings and text-image works. There is a lot to chew on and my difficulty classifying this book (see my paranoid tagging) lies in Burroughs' promiscuous aesthetics. His writing is brilliant with its cinematic, nonlinear prose and his visual work is a "logical extension" of his written work. His conspirator, Brion Gysin, remarked that "literature is 50 years behind visual arts" and Burroughs attempted to rectify that. The familiar themes that inform his work, control, addiction, sex, transcendence, are all here. His work, ultimately, is more interesting to read about than view. Fittingly ironic considering the fascism of the word virus and his attempts to bypass the monopoly of The Word by thinking in pictures; his visual work an attempt to produce technologies that are finally subsumed by The WORD!

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. A few stale parts maybe, but reading some of Burroughs' thoughts on the relationship between art and literature was excellent. Burrough's ideas about his cut-up experiments, and the concepts he gleaned from them about the functionalities and processes of language and communication are striking, enlightening, and for me, life changing.

If you've shied away from Burroughs' writing because of its harshness, sexuality or nonlinearity, or if you're just skeptical about the hype, this is a good doorway into W.S. B's best ideas.

The art itself is for the most part mildly interesting (there are some great, worthwhile pieces) but the ideas and processes surrounding some of the works are stunning.

[Sere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who knew that William Burroughs was also a visual artist?

Together with Brion Gynsin he spent a couple of decades exploring cut ups and applying that technique to writing. Perhaps Gynsin was his biggest influence in life (more so than Ginsberg and Kerouac).

Burroughs said himself that he didn't know how to draw; his art is penetrating, insinuating, grabby, ghastly and at the same time full and completely empty of meaning. Exploring the relationship between word and image he influenced a streak of other visual artists too: Rauchenberg, Hirst, Haring, Basquiat, and many many many more. Some of which also collaborated with him.

There's a strong element of chance in all his work (as in anybody's lives) and he lets his craft take shape on its own. Always working to 'make the Pass' to free himself from constructs of whichever kind.

Burroughs' "Shotgun series" makes me think of his wife's murder: after 10 drinks he shot her in the head trying a William Tell stunt.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this in Lawrence, KS at the opening of the exhibit back in the '90s. It's a great companion for the show and contains many beautiful and mysterious plates in full color. The narrative is also well-written.