Essays On Bob Flanagan

My desire to write this article started several years ago. As someone with cystic fibrosis I spend quite a lot of time in hospitals.I had been admitted for a two-week period after contracting MRSA.

My desire to write this article started several years ago. As someone with cystic fibrosis I spend quite a lot of time in hospitals.I had been admitted for a two-week period after contracting MRSA.

The objects in the hospital referred to by Kaufman were pieces of artwork from the back catalogue of Flanagan/Rose, as well as editions created specifically for the exhibition.

These included Flanagan's own version of the popular 1990's US children's toy the in which the original figure with transparent skin showing its organs is modified to include a penis as well as sperm, faeces and mucus oozing from the orifices of the doll.

The screens showed the specific body parts undergoing SM style torture and climaxed in the head of Flanagan's penis being nailed to a plank of wood.

(1982) is a wall made of 1800 images of Flanagan's face.

The photographs document a process in which Rose hit Flanagan with fifty implements.

Using a shutter-release cable, Rose took an image of Flanagan's face as he was struck.

In the art practices of Flanagan and Rose, personal life experience and their relationship are a significant challenge to the dominant cultural discourses surrounding the distinctions between art and life.

They began a life together which would disrupt the boundaries between art and life.

They lived in a full time BDSM relationship in which Flanagan, the submissive partner, did all the household chores and served Rose.

Flanagan, like me, suffered from cystic fibrosis and eventually died from the disease in 1996 at the age of 43, making him one of the longest living survivors at the time.