Forrest Bess

As part of an ongoing internal debate regarding the relationship of sexuality and enlightenment, I have recently been acquainted with and intrigued by the personal trials of the artist Forrest Bess.
Seemingly tormented by the notion of becoming a whole, spiritual being he was obsessed with his theory of self-inflicted genital mutilation (a sort of anatomical manifesto) as a means to achieve this goal.
Forrest Bess, "a painter and bait shrimp fisherman from Texas, had devised a grand theory involving symbolism, androgyny, and immortality."
Some of his works are now on view at the MCA as part of the painting exhibition Constellations