Ossigeno

61 Muse of Lucian Freud, who painted him in a historical series of portraits, Leigh Bowery was, in Boy George’s words, “modern art on legs”, overflowing creature that transformed into art the matter that he was best at mastering: himself. Performer, fashion designer, refined intellectual in clubs and outrageous club celebrity in the streets, pre and post-mortem icon. In his wife’s words, “the clothes he designed after he started posing for Lucian were made on the basis of his body. His belly didn’t worry him any longer. He pulled it upwards to make it look like breasts”. Musa di Lucian Freud, che ne dipinse una storica serie di ritratti, Leigh Bowery era, nelle parole di Boy Ge- orge, “modern art on legs”, creatura debordante che trasformava in arte la materia che meglio padroneg- giava: se stesso. Performer, stilista, raffinato intellettuale nei club e oltraggiosa club celebrity nelle strade, icona pre e post-mortem , nelle parole della moglie “gli abiti che disegnò dopo avere cominciato a posare per Lucian erano fatti a partire dal suo corpo. La pancia non gli dava più pensieri. Se la tirava su per farsi il seno”. 4° Leigh Bowery Lucian Freud, Leigh Bowery (detail), 1991 oil on canvas, 50.8 x 40.6 cm courtesy: MoMA Museum of Modern Art, New York s t a g e n a m e