Untitled, No. 5 1951

Forrest Bess made this oil painting on Masonite. He was a Texan fisherman, who served in WWII, and spent his life attempting to illustrate his own complex theories about the human body. Bess's ideas drew from his lived experience as a gay man in mid-twentieth-century America, and he used art to explore themes of sexuality, gender, and spirituality. He believed that the unification of male and female within a single body was the key to immortality. Here, we see an abstract form against a dark ground, which may be one of Bess’s many variations on the male and female symbol he saw in a dream. These symbols provided a visual language for Bess to articulate his beliefs and desires, offering an alternative to the social norms of his time. Bess once said, “I paint from my dreams… I am not an artist. I am a dreamer who paints.” This painting invites us to consider the ways in which personal experiences and desires can shape artistic expression, especially for those living outside of societal norms.