
I think what I love so much about this photo is the ambiguity of every element of the man in the centers. His grimace fails to convey any of the usual sort of emotion; take a look at any photo and Jeremy’s flicker and you will not find a facial expression so artless. What could his teeth bearing mean? Is it like an ape, begging for it’s life, or challenging the photographer? Now scan down to his shoulders- they are neither thrown back to approximate regal bearing, or slumped casually in repose- rathery seem to find themselves stuck, as if he was unsure of what to do with them, and so they slump, thrust out but lowered, both submitting and pushing out- now follow down his arms, (which they hang there, like he isn’t sure that he has them), his hands are clenched like paws, whereas the girls have splayed fingers (as is the normal thing to do). Finally, his one hand appears to be grabbing his pants, the other hovering uselessly.
One wonders who this person is, what there life is like- who are they? That answer is even more depressing than the photo. This man is an otherkin- i.e. a person who believes themselves to be something other than human. In particular, he believes that he is also a dragon who has a family living in dragon-world in which he is a teacher. On his deviantart profile (which I’ve provided a link to below) he has diaries of his dragon life- one of them recounts christmas day with his dragon wife.
Besides that, there is also photo’s he takes (with no particular compositional effect), and his strange computer art of buildings. There is his one painting; a rainbow on a blue background with a cloud.
According to his profile, his family is abusive and cruel to him, and he is trying to gain independence. It is always hard to know what is true on the internet. Maybe it is exaggerated; maybe it is self-pitying, or maybe he is abused.
There are aristocracies in the world; of beauty, intelligence, talent and charisma. Many of the readers of this blog, and the various people involved with it belong to some of these. They probably have not considered it much, taking it as there right there natural gifts. It is the people of these ranks who are documented; they document themselves, they document each other.
One of the features of the internet has been to publicize those who in a previous world would never have been publicized. None of us would ever have encountered DragonFan except through the internet; if you met him in person, you would likely stay away.
Do not try to escape this by talking about outsider art: outsider art still belongs within this system, as our capability of recognizing the brilliance of outsider art excuses it’s oddities. What is far sadder is those outsiders who do not posess the art to go inside; who’s work is shallow and silly, and without the sort of substance that makes a piece of art worthwhile, let alone enduring.
http://dragonfan.deviantart.com/