Classic Fishing Artwork?

[fishweewee]

“The Plug Ho”

circa 2001
Artist unknown, but widely attributed to “Bloocrab”
Digital watercolor medium

On Loan From the Wee Wee Collection

Little is known about the artist who bore the nom de plume “Bloocrab,” much less the aesthetic influences in his life. Rumor has it that he resided in and took up his craft on the northeastern seaboard of the United States in the early 21st century. However, we feel the setting in this piece likely pays homage to the decadent Berlin cabaret scenes of the 1930’s and early 1940’s (which appears to be the impetus for much of the artist's so-called "bloo" period). We would note that this oeuvre was discovered posthumously several years ago hidden in a container of Old Bay Seasoning.

I find this to be a deeply moving piece despite its ambiguous sexuality.

The bright and garish colors accentuate the whorishness of the subject – but they bear some further explanation. The red “slutty” association is patently obvious. The yellow in the plug bag slung so carelessly over the shoulder is analagous to urinary excreta and further accentuates the banality of the subject’s state of mind. The brownish earth tones present in one of the plugs hints at coprophilia but we believe this is unlikely (in the contemporary literature there is a cryptic reference to "floater" but we are unsure of its meaning). The subject is brightly and gaily adorned – for he is juxtaposed on the drab, melancholy background which serves as the metaphor for every day life.

We feel that the confinement of the subject within narrow margins is a deliberate act on the part of the artist – the subject is yearning to break free from the exigencies of mundanity but cannot, thus rendering his circumstances all the more tragic. The plugs tucked away safely in the bag (a subtle sexual overtone in and of itself) were presumably acquired through ill-gotten means– and some believe the act of plug thievery represents the subject lashing out at the world which has so deprived him of bourgeoisie ego-realization -- or the fulfillment of a perverted class-struggle by-proxy -- rather than the manifestation of some fetishized pathological addiction. Others take away a more bawdy interpretation - that each plug purloined and secreted away into the plug sheath is a metaphoric completion of the sex act.

The subject’s grasp of the “bar” may strike some as an overtly onanistic modality. However, it is our understanding that the pose simply provides foundational grounding upon the firmament of the universe, and here is where, ironically, the subject finds succor. That the pole extends upwards and out of the picture suggests possibilities without bound. But is this escape within reach?

The "bar" motif generates no small amount of controversey within the literary community. If salvation is at hand, then why is the subject averting his gaze, almost cavalierly? An alternative theory posited by critics and scholars alike is that the subject may simply have had an endless phallic fixation on all things that are longer than they are wide, thus perpetuating his existential purgatory.

Or, he might have spotted another plug to ho.

Inasmuch as we would want to be sure, we will sadly never know.