First published: Summer 2000
Duf's story has all the characteristics of the definitive Outsider: born in 1920, his father a violent drunkard, his childhood and early adult behaviour by turns unruly and withdrawn, he was shut away in an asylum in 1940.
About eight years later his pockets were discovered to be stuffed with crumpled drawings: he was given better materials by his doctor, and then set about producing an astonishing bestiary of imaginary creatures. He gave little or no explanation for them, but occasionally referred to unpronounceable mythical figures, a few of which are recognisably voodoo.
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Chief amongst these is the monstrous and polymorphous 'Rhinoceros', dozens of variations of which exist, along with appropriately deformed versions of their name. Trunk, limbs and every other feature seem to live an independent life of their own: they metamorphose into leafy, ocular, or fishy shapes, with ragged, hirsute edges.
Duf's baroque zoology is grotesque and savage, with an emphatic and brutal sexuality; yet at times its wild invention has an almost satirical feel to it. In page after page, both in monochrome and colour, Duf rehearsed endless variations on his mythical beast, which bore no resemblance to any actual animal, but instead embodied a distilled beastliness, in every sense of the word.
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This is an article extract; read the full article in Raw Vision #31
