John Fare
John Fare(sometimesJohn Charles FareorJohn FaheyorJohn Faré) is a fictionalperformance artistwho allegedly used robotic surgery to remove parts of his body onstage as part of his act. His final performance was allegedlysuicide by beheading.The story originated in 1968 and is generally considered anurban legend.[1][2][3]
Sources for story
[edit]The original version was "The Hand" by N.B. Shein, published inInsect Trust Gazettein 1968.[4][5]In November 1972, Tim Craig published an embellished version of Shein's original story in reply to a letter to the editor ofStudio International.[6]The reader was inquiring about an artist named Fahey who ended his career by having his head amputated onstage.[7][8][9]
In Craig's embellished version of Shein's original, John Charles Fare was born in 1936 in Toronto and attendedForest Hill College.In 1959 he moved to London to study architecture at theBartlett School of Architecture,but soon left to live inCopenhagen.He was briefly held in a mental health facility for exposing himself in public at performances. After his release, he was re-arrested for gluing objects to a car. The car's owner, musician and inventor Golni Czervath, did not press charges and befriended Fare. The two developed a robotic operating table with painter Gilbert Andoff. The first performance was a lobotomy on Fare in June 1964. All performances were performed on a Friday. By the time Fare performed at the Isaacs Gallery in Toronto on 17 September 1968, he "was short one thumb, two fingers, eight toes, one eye, both testicles, and several random patches of skin." The amputated parts were preserved in alcohol. That evening, he had his right hand amputated. Fare's body was fitted with small microphones, which transmitted his pulse and breathing frequency in a distorted fashion. Craig said Fare had performed six more shows between 1968 and 1972.
In 1985Danny Devoswrote to Isaacs Gallery founderAvrom Isaacsenquiring about John Fare and his supposed performance in 1968. The response included a statement in writing that the story of John Fare "has no factual basis," adding "there was no such person as John Fare as far as I know."[10][11]
Response
[edit]The story was reprinted in afanzinemade in collaboration with the bandCoilin 1987.[11]That publication included more correspondence with Isaacs, who said, "I know of no such person as John Fare. In the sixties I had a series of mixed media concerts in my gallery, and out of this came the myth of John Fare. Every five years or so, someone rediscovers the myth and writes me a letter such as yours."[11]Fare's alleged performance was emulated during aNocturnal Emissionsconcert in London in 1997.[12]Writing about the event, a British music journalist recounts: "Fare cuts an eccentric figure. He wears trousers made from zips and has a diagram of a brain tattooed onto his shaven scalp. The performance artist placed his left hand on a chopping board with the fingers spread. Fare’s assistant, Jill Orr, is partially sighted and she slammed an axe between her boyfriend’s pinkies with increasing speed. Eventually the axe severed Fare’s little finger. This was the end of the performance art element within the evening’s entertainment".[13]Fare has been mentioned in connection withbody art,[14]industrial culture,[15]and the practices ofRudolf SchwarzkoglerandBob Flanagan,and, like other performance artists, has been seen as a successor of theChristian martyrs.[16]He has also been mentioned in theGuardianin connection with the German artistGregor Schneider[17]Critic Audrone Zukauskaite examined the durability of this legend inArt Liesmagazine.[18]ArtistsGabriel Lester,Mariana Castillo Deball, "the estate of John Fare," René Gabri, Mario Garcia Torres, and Juozas Laivys explored themes of the story in a 2007 Gallery GB Agency exhibit in France.[19]While Lester acknowledged Fare was "an apparition, an artist thought to have existed," he said Fare embodied the culmination of romantic myth of the artist cursed, "someone who has probably never existed, and yet lives forever."[19] Christopher Priestwrote the short story "The Head and the Hand" with a similar plot in 1972.
References
[edit]- ^Cramer, Florian (2006).Sodom Blogging: Alternative Porn and Aesthetic Sensibility.C'Lick Me: A Netporn Studies Reader.
- ^Drake, Temple; Kerekes, David (2004).Headpress Guide to the Counter Culture: A Sourcebook for Modern Readers,page 28. Headpress,ISBN9781900486354
- ^Parfrey, Adam (1990).Apocalypse Culture,Volume 1, pages 95-96. Feral House, 1990ISBN9780922915057
- ^Shein, N.B. (1968). The Hand.Insect Trust Gazette,No. 3, pp. 1-4.
- ^Boston, Richard (1970).The Press We Deserve,p. 127. Routledge & K. Paul,ISBN9780710068217
- ^Craig, Tim (November 1972). Correspondence.Studio International(#949), pp. 160–161.
- ^Apocalypse Culture,Adam Parfrey, Feral House, 1991, 2nd ed., pp. 95–96.
- ^John Fare
- ^Shirley R. Steinberg, Priya Parmar, Birgit Richard - 2006 Contemporary Youth Culture: An International Encyclopedia: Volume 2 - Page 317
- ^Isaacs, Av (February 15, 1985)Personal correspondence.ViaDanny Devos(November 16, 1985).The Myth of John Fare.
- ^abcA Coil Magazine,on line, accessed 11-III-2007.
- ^Noctunrnal Emissions (2005).NIGEL AYERS / ANDREW LILES Four Compositions. Created for an imaginary performance by the legendary John Fare.Pipkin CDR (2005)
- ^Stewart Home inD>Tourmagazine, December 1997. Cf.[1].
- ^Schröder, Johannes Lothar. Identität - Überschreitung - Verwandlung. Happenings, Aktionen und Performances von bildenden Künstlern. Münster: LIT, 1990
- ^Jugend Kultur Archiv – The Industrial Culture scene
- ^AnyBody's Concerns 6(2003)
- ^Houses of horror,Gordon Burn,The Guardian,September 22, 2004, accessed on line 11-III-2007.
- ^Zukauskaite, Audrone (2008)John Fare - The Scandal of the Missing Body (Parts).Archived2011-07-21 at theWayback Machine,ArtLies,Issue 57, 2008
- ^abLesauvage, Magali (2007).The Last Piece by John Fare, curated by John Fare Estate.ParisART(French)
