Back to top
253.
Jack Smith as Norebo w/fly.
Original colour Cibachrome photograph (1968; printed later). Titled and SIGNED on the verso by Ira Cohen. 29.5x21.3cm.
Years after taking the photograph Cohen told his close associate, Ira Landgarten (also a photographer, who printed many of Cohen’s photographs, possibly including this one), that the original title of this portrait of Jack Smith (whose film, “Flaming Creatures”, had earlier inspired Cohen’s own work) was “ ‘Norebo’ (‘Oberon spelled backwards), ‘Prince of the Venusian Munchkins’, because he wanted to play the role of Oberon in Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
The large fly Cohen refers to in the title was found by him in Gordon’s Novelty Shop (52 W 29th St., NYC; closed some years ago), as was the octopus tentacle and the rubber pointed ears Smith is wearing, all of which Cohen painted in fluorescent colours, the latter to match Smith’s face.
Fine. Featured as a full-page colour plate in “Into the Mylar Chamber” (Lopen, Somerset: Fulgur Press, 2019).
