William S. Burroughs
b. 1914 d. August 2, 1997
We were lucky enough to meet Burroughs and first exhibit his work in 1996.
Having grown up in the punk rock scene, we were always into the subversive and people of independent thought. Burroughs and the beat movement fell into that criteria.
I believe it was a REsearch magazine that first brought it to our attention that William Burroughs did artwork along with his writing. It made sense with all of the photos we had seen of Burroughs and his camera.
So we called him up and went to visit in Lawrence, Kansas. Art had been going on with William for as long as the writing, but the attention always seeming to go to the later.
Our visit with him was amazing with him drinking pepsi and vodka and showing us his Brian Gysin pieces with such tenderness, while we drank right along with him in his candy apple red 1920’s Sear’s-kit home.
When we asked how he felt about having an exhibit of his artwork in Waxahachie; his reply was “it was as good ‘a place as any.”
We have enjoyed showing his pieces many years. The catalog for retrospective of his artwork "Ports of Entry" organized by the Los Angeles Museum of Art listed us as William Burroughs' last gallery exhibit.