750.000 $-overskægget (og -fipskægget)

Der er nogle få afgørende, gode grunde til at være millionær - auktionsreportage fra The Guardian:

"One of Marcel Duchamp’s reproductions of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, on to which he pencilled a beard and moustache, has sold for €632,500 ($750,000) at Sotheby’s in Paris.
It was part of the sale of a collection of surrealist works owned by American Arthur Brandt, with 110 pieces fetching €3.9 million, including commission.
However, some standout pieces, including a work by Francis Picabia, which was estimated at €700,000, did not find a buyer.
Duchamp’s version of the Mona Lisa was one of nine works in the sale by the French artist, who is seen as the father of conceptual art.
The Mona Lisa works are entitled L.H.O.O.Q, which in French sounds like the phrase “elle a chaud au cul”, roughly translated as “she’s horny”. It had a presale estimate of €400,000 to €600,000.
The version that sold late on Saturday was created in 1964 after the original 1919 so-called “ready made” piece."

Moustacheudødelighed

(fra Guardian-artikel)

"Experts who exhumed the body of Salvador Dalí to collect samples for use in a paternity claim have revealed that the enigmatic artist’s trademark moustache still graces his face almost three decades after he died.
Narcís Bardalet, the embalmer who tended Dalí’s body after his death in 1989 and helped with the exhumation on Thursday night, said he had been delighted to see the surrealist’s best-known feature once again.
“His moustache is still intact, [like clock hands at] 10 past 10, just as he liked it. It’s a miracle,” he told the Catalan radio station RAC1.
Dalí is buried in a crypt beneath the museum he designed for himself in his home town of Figueres, Catalonia.
His remains were disinterred to help settle a long-running paternity claim from a 61-year-old fortune-teller who insists she is his only child.
Bardalet described the moment he had laid eyes on Dalí. “His face was covered with a silk handkerchief – a magnificent handkerchief,” he told RAC1.
“When it was removed, I was delighted to see his moustache was intact … I was quite moved. You could also see his hair.”
He said Dali’s body resembled “a mummy; it was like wood”, adding that it was so hard that experts had to use an electric saw rather than a scalpel to collect bone samples.
Bardalet predicted Dalí’s body would last a good while longer. “The moustache is still there and will be for centuries,” he said."

Anti-duchampisten Trump

- fra artikel i Washington Post om Trumps ansættelsesæstetik:

"Trump’s closest aides have come to accept that he is likely to rule out candidates if they are not attractive or not do not match his image of the type of person who should hold a certain job.
“That’s the language he speaks. He’s very aesthetic,” said one person familiar with the transition team’s internal deliberations who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “You can come with somebody who is very much qualified for the job, but if they don’t look the part, they’re not going anywhere.”

 

John R. Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, at the elevator at Trump Tower on Dec. 2 (Justin Lane/Bloomberg News)

Several of Trump’s associates said they thought that John R. Bolton’s brush-like mustache was one of the factors that handicapped the bombastic former United Nations ambassador in the sweepstakes for secretary of state.
“Donald was not going to like that mustache,” said one associate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak frankly. “I can’t think of anyone that’s really close to Donald that has a beard that he likes.”
Trump was drawn to Tillerson and 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney for secretary of state because of their presence and the way they command a room when they walk in."

Ugens overskægsanalyse

(fra yndlings-B/C/D-filmanalytikere Jacob Lillemose & Karsten Wind Meyhoffs lille, patos-tætte Space Poetry-bog En engel af sten. Charles Bronsons vision:

"Bronsons forankring i en arbejderkultur udtrykkes på legendarisk vis i hans overskæg. Film efter film insisterer Bronson på dette overskæg. I alle varianter fremstår overskægget som en del af den fysiske signatur. det er overskæg, man husker. Et overskæg, hvsi prægnans kun kan sammenlignes med Jack Nicholsons øjenbryn og James Coburns smil. Ingen anden skuespiller har i filmhistorien vist en så overlegen parade af dette det mest maskuline skæg som Bronson. Kun skuespillere som Burt Reynolds og Tom Selleck kommer tæt på. Det er antitesen til Clark Gables feminine og velplejede overskæg. Bronsons overskæg har ikke en særlig tæt masse og er ofte forbavsende sjusket. Adskilt i to dele på midten som et kattedyrs knurhår er der noget primitivt over det. Noget tilfældigt. Det vokser indefra, dybt indefra, og er ikke modtagelig for pleje. Det er et emblem på en manglende forfængelighed, men også en aseksuel gestus i modsætning til Reynolds og Selleck, der bærer deres prægtige overlæber som markører for virilitet og seksuel styrke. Bronsons skæg er en markør for identitet. Han svarer som Gud i tornebusken: "Jeg er den, jeg er.""

Jeg er ikke øjenbryndigter

jeg vil gerne skrive et
digt om øjenbrynbenet,
men jeg er ikke øjenbryn-
digter, jeg er moustache-
digter, selvom jeg aldrig
kommer til at gro et moustache,
og hvis jeg gjorde, ville det
være komplet usynligt, men
jeg vil ikke skrive et digt
om en bævrende moustache-
overlæbe, jeg vil skrive et
digt om det lillebitte udspring
over øjenhulen, som øjen-
brynet hviler på, men det
kommer jeg aldrig til at skrive,
lige så lidt som jeg kommer
til at gro det moustache, der
alligevel bare er en grum,
sammenvokset parodi på de
anderledes poetiske øjenbryn

Marianne og Marcel er kærester

I Marianne Larsen nye inderligt excentriske "parabel"-samling Hvis en morgen en hittevoksen, der udkommer i næste næste uge (ligesom Ramslands roman) og som jeg læste stjerneøjet i toget til Kolding, er der en parabel om Marcel Duchamps L.H.O.O.Q., som jeg ikke har drømt, for den er der igen i dag:

Fritsvævende overskæg, der sætter horisonter i bevægelse, kald det måger, kald det hentydninger til hilsner fra Mona Lisas dun på overlæben til alle tider, der vågner omkring dig.
Når det er gjort, lad så det mågede give skrigende lyde fra sig..
Identifcér blandt disse lyde sætningen: "liiv iiiv iiiiiv iiiiv!"
Lad denne ordlyd være en opfordring til at leve videre.
Imødekom opfordringen og udsend egne fritsvævende overskæg, der sætter horisonter i bevægelse, kald det måger, kald det hentydninger til hilsener fra Mona Lisas dun på overlæben til alle tider, der våger omkring.

- Denne tekst vil for fremtiden være kendt som Den mågede Larsen-fortolkning.