ic-3. “The monster is one who lives in transition. One whose face, body

and behaviours cannot yet be considered true in a predetermined regime of knowledge and power.”

—Paul B. Preciado, Can the Monster Speak?, 2020, trans. Frank Wynne

These drawings are inspired by baroque caricatures that poke fun at people’s wigs. Exaggeratedly voluminous and teeming with life, these wigs were designed, in part, to hide hair loss caused by syphilis. The works also pay tribute to the illustrator Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard, also known as Grandville (1803–1847), who specialized in human satyr figures with animal heads. He illustrated La Fontaine’s Fables (1838 edition), and the Surrealists considered him a precursor to their movement.

These three monstrous, delicate, mutating beauties are exquisite corpses. Swallowed by their extravagant wigs and absorbed by their inflated egos, they carry both the grace and weight of their inner universe. Together, they represent the central characters of the mythology of Bang Bang Baroque: abundance, confrontation, and egocentrism. Energetic Pessimist is the attentive, (over)compensating protector; Let All Canons Fall is alert, confident, and provocative; The Narcissist is nervous, boastful, and haughty. One bird brings you every harvest in the world; the other, a battlefield. The third shows off its mirrors and its beauty mark. It also wears Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain (1917), which, for a time, was falsely attributed to Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. Howes envisions a history of art in which a woman has created this iconic work, and a man, her muse, has appropriated it.

Exhibition History

• The Time it Takes
  2024
  Musee d'art de Joliette
  Joliette, CA