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August 2010
MORE HARRY BUSH !
The more I involve myself in Harry's art, the more I feel compelled
to champion his efforts. Now that a book has been published that
was made possible by Harry's last moment 'give away', I’m
challenged to amend some of the opinions of it's author and others.
Harry led a fine life, I think. Stationed in England, he began
his military career, a cute sandy-blond guy with an endearing
gap-toothed grin. Later on he settled down in San Juan Capistrano
and gardened, had a koi pond, helped his sister who lived nearby
and was comfortable enough, never caring much for accumulating
'stuff' . His military pension was sufficient. When he enrolled
in art classes in the local community college, he was an outstanding
success and received much adulation. As happens to many smokers,
he developed emphysema and as time went on it robbed him of his
energy. Toward the end it was difficult to get up the stairs to
his drawing room, and when he wrote and drew letters for me, he
used the kitchen table. He mentioned his problems in passing and
did not avoid the fact that he would not improve. Aside from his
'exotic' art, he lived a simple clean life.
As far as I can tell, almost all the people now eulogizing and
critiquing Harry are from milieu in which he was never comfortable.
His art is thus judged by their personal experiences and perceptions.
None of them, as far as I know, had a career in the military.
They laud him in many ways, using words like black humor and sarcastic
wit, nubile boys, youth fixation, etc. I'm left to wonder if the
reader isn't left with the impression of Harry as an old gruff
pedophile whose only saving grace was that he drew masterfully,
and that simply is not true.
Harry said he drew young boys because of their innocence. But
then, in determined and continued protest to the gay Hollywood
culture around him, he illustrated that innocence corrupted. I
never wanted to see corruption, and it was always difficult to
see Harry's fine youths in compromising situations, whether encouraged
or forced. Harry didn't shy away from showing it however. And
when he showed the publishers his work they loved it, thinking
it was great fun, that he was one of them, doing these visual
'jokes'. It was a kind of gimmick. But they weren't jokes to Harry,
although he himself sometimes rued them as such. They were documentation
of a gay life in which he had no inclination to participate.
As a show dancer in my youth, I lived that life and it's exactly
as Harry shows it. My experience on stage had me aware of the
sordid stuff going on offstage - the lecherous, the addicted,
the unequipped, the perverse, the power/money/sex hungry and the
unattractive. Token stars are fronted and it's all audio/visually
perfect, but there's selling of souls and ugly background noise
and sleaze. Harry wasn't sleazy and didn't sell his soul. He was
a military man and an artist. How was he to fit in that Hollywood
scene?
When I go thru Harry's work and edit it to save, my predilection
is to make it as I like it to be: spot-lighted clean and fun and
showing mostly innocence. Harry had no problem with me playing
with his art. We'd swap drawings back and forth until we hit on
a solution to a problematic pose or clever idea. Big envelopes
would go back and forth in the post with taped up sketches that
he trusted me to send back. Some he drew for me to have and keep.
He took nothing and gave all he could, even returning a set of
drawing pencils that I sent him when he could no longer enjoy
getting out of the house.
Was he happy when others mishandled his art, when visitors arrived
only when they wanted something, when other artistic acquaintances
passed on, when his sister died, when neighborhood boys stoned
his koi, and when finally tethered to oxygen? He wasn't and who
among us would expect to find him at that late stage otherwise.
But does that give anyone the right to report that he lived in
filth or give the impression he suffered low self-esteem or wasn't
a fine person? I've known few as fine.
Well, just wanted to put it out there:-) Have a good one! Tom
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