A week or so ago Scott sent me this link to a flyer for an exhibition of William S. Burroughs' Unseen Art.When I reached the Riflemakers gallery on Beak Street (Soho) last Friday lunchtime I discovered that the show had packed up at the end of last year, but after I rang the bell the gallery manager took me up to a store room where the last of the Burroughs pieces were still awaiting sale.
In the early 90s Burroughs and his friends used to gather to practice their marksmanship in his yard, and on a suggestion from one of the group, the author decided to draw his own targets.
Even though he denied any talent for representative draughtsmanship, and most of his more visible artwork is abstract in nature, these bullet-ridden Western baddies are actually quite characterful. This one is perhaps not the most 'animated' in the catalogue and is priced at £10,000 which may explain its year-long confinement to a store room. It does however feature the 'magic' number 23, one of the novelist's great obsessions.
I was also shown this more abstract work painted on a segment of barn door, also perforated with pellet holes. The gallery wants £20-30,000 thousand pounds for it.
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