Volume 8–4 (Low Res).pdf - U&lc

20
bat are we to
make of Vali Myers? People who have
come upon her unexpectedly have
screamed at the sight. Even those of
us enured to funky, flaky, punk-rock
freaks with pink-green hair and phosphorescent
fingernails, have stopped
dead in our tracks, confronted with
this apparition. Her burnt-orange
hair blazes like a flame about her
head. Her kohl-blackened eyes are
punctuated by little star tattoos on
her cheekbones. And a spidery embroidery
pattern is also tattooed
about her lips and chin. She dresses
in flowing capes, with amulets and
pendants dripping like vestigial organs
from her neck, ears and limbs.
ali Myers first
came to our attention through a book
of her work, Vali Myers Drawings,
1949-79, published by Open House
of London, in 1980. Even a casual
browse through the pages puts you
on notice that a singular mentality
is at work here.The Foreword,written
by Ed van der Elsker, and the Introduction
by George Plimpton—two
men who know her well—bear that
out.The details of her life are as surreal
as her art.
She was born in
1930, in Australia, and raised there
in quite a normal household with
two sisters and a brother Her mother
was a violinist; her father, a marine
officer. She attended a bushschool
in the outback where,we are told, she
neglected her lessons, but filled her
exercise book with doodles, drawings,
and a profusion of private visions.
She studied dance, and at 19 was
actually the lead dancer with the
Melbourne Modern Ballet Company.
But her restless spirit propelled her
to Paris in 1949, and it was there
that her life was turned around.
THE WORLD OF VALI MYERS