Alexis Amann
Azazel and the Bearded Ladies (detail), 2008, Acrylic, gouache on paper
With Azazel and the Bearded Ladies I had a picture of some friends of mine wearing fake beards and I just knew they needed to be combined with this femme demon that was all lips and eyeballs named Azazel. That’s a quote from Neil Gaiman’s version of the Hebrew demon Azazel in his Sandman comics, something about being a big black mass of eyes and lips. I guess he was floating in my mind for the past decade or so and somewhere along the line, he became a she—you know how that can happen!
Azazel was originally the scapegoat demon, but in my work I see her as more benevolent, just hanging around, like maybe that part of things that you forgot about but aren’t sure how you could’ve forgotten about her. She ends up being very different from the original Azazel. She is sort of on the edge of both safety and danger, like she could either sit around with you and trade Lisa Frank stickers or show you the horrors of life and death, but with her those things would somehow not be so different.
She seems very protective to me. I think she’s a lot about femme survival and humor and friendship and creating a dynamic femme identity. So of course she hangs out with the Bearded Ladies.
Many of your paintings involve bearded ladies, mermaids, and harpies. What interests you about these hybrid bodies? What about the relationship between hybrid beings and non-hybrid beings?
Oh hybrid ladies! They are magical and scary and part animal—well at least the mermaids and the harpies are part animal. They exist in both the animal and human world, and also in neither world. The bearded ladies are just true in themselves, in being ladies in beards. One is sort of more femme and one more masculine, but the beards aren’t really about butch or femme or male or female identities—they are masculine-ish and costumey and point to something more strange and theatrical. I think they are soft and sinister at the same time. They remind me of Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes because they create a kind of dark magic with their beards that has to do with being both things at once. It’s not that they are in drag, really, although they are a little bit, it’s that they are somehow touching something else that is magical and otherworldly to me. Drag is pretty magical to begin with, but they seem to have a bit of the sideshow old-timey air about them too. The beards seem to attract nasturtiums as well. (more of the interview at bitch magazine)
(Source: alexisamann.com)
(i know that this has already been on your fabulous website before, and i was just tickled when i found it—after having already fallen in love with this lovely tumblr and all the gorgeous images and stories on it—but i’m resubmitting it because i wanted you to know who i am, what else i do (see other submissions), and that i love love love this site. you can repost it or not. i had put a password on the video (and some others from that series—Revolting Queers—because they were getting a lot of plays from questionable places. but i took the password protection off of this one again because i wanted it to be able to be watched on FuckYeahBeardedLadies! xo)
title: untitled from Revolting Queer series
medium: 9-channel video installation
submitted by kelley meister
title: jesse sparkles
medium: performance still
submitted by kelley meister
title: untitled (boobs)
medium: pencil and oil pastel
submitted by kelley meister
title: ron
medium: lithograph and monoprint
submitted by kelley meister
title: untitled
medium: pen
submitted by kelley meister
title: la femme de la mer
medium: pen
submitted by kelley meister
title: benchpress burlesque
medium: lithograph and monoprint
submitted by kelley meister
