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Subj: American "Acid Novelist" Brings Home Expatriate Treasure Date: Wed, Feb 12, 1997 7:58 PM PST From: fargone@popalex1.linknet.net News Release--For Immediate Distribution--2/12/97 Novelist and psychedelic renegade Todd Brendan Fahey, wit the aid of his father, a Los Angeles-area health care executive, has purchased from the Amsterdam art gallery Anton Heyboerwinkel what is believed to be the bulwark of The Logbook of the Ship _Henry David Thoreau_, an obsessive and intimate mixed media project of an expatriate American artist/mystic known pseudonymously as Viktor IV before his drowning death in Amsterdam in 1986. While on assignment for _Smoke_ magazine last November, Professor Fahey, author of the incendiary underground LSD novel _Wisdom's Maw_, claims he was "directed" to a particular shop on Prinsengracht, a canal street in downtown Amsterdam; after entering the shop, he was immediately struck by the idiosyncratic force of the works of a particular artist. "It was as if I were being beckoned into Aladdin's Castle from way out in some super-mall parking lot," says Fahey, of his experience. "I will never be able to put it into words; but there was a pull, a connection, and then, after studying the many Logbook pages for several days in this shop, there came a long moment of illumination." Fahey describes this "illumination" as an ecstatic vision, in which he claims to have understood the mystical emphasis of much of the Logbook drawings. "It's not entirely bizarre," says Fahey, who is currently completing his Ph.D. coursework in English at University of Southwestern Louisiana. "Allen Ginsberg had an experience one day, in his early twenties, where he heard and witnessed, or believes he did, the voice and personage of the mystic poet William Blake. Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote the poem `Kubla Khan' completely whacked in an opium trance. I was using psychedelics pretty heavily during the writing of `Fear & Loathing in Amsterdam' for _Smoke_, and feel as if I were privileged for a few days to some kind of Source. I had many things happen to me in Amsterdam--very powerful moments of insight and registrations of the cosmic flow of things--and during one of these moments, it was impressed upon me from without, that I should bring back to the U.S. these Logbook drawings of Viktor IV." Born Walter Karl Gluck, the artist Viktor IV traveled to Amsterdam in the early 1960s and settled there, leaving on a ship he christened the _Henry David Thoreau_, after the philosopher who he claimed as his chief inspiration and muse. A burly, rugged figure, Viktor IV was recognizable amongst the quiet Amsterdam populace as the barefoot American hippie artist who dressed in black, loved cats and young women, and worked tirelessly on deeply personal and largely non-commercial projects aboard his canal-bound ship. A master scuba diver, Viktor IV drowned in June of 1986, while performing underwater repairs to the _Henry David Thoreau_. Todd Brendan Fahey, a novice art collector, perceives in the Logbook pages the artist's fascination with the "ecstatic vision." In this way, he compares the drawings to the poem-paintings of American surrealist Kenneth Patchen. "There is that same relentless focus on the All-At-Once, that so characterizes the experiences of mystics in every religion and culture. The rich, interconnectedness of all things. That is what Viktor IV is expressing in these pages. And that is what I was feeling for much of my stay in Amsterdam; as much as I was really out of my head most of the time, I was, in another way, very grounded." Unconcerned with commerce, Viktor IV created hundreds of these Logbook drawings in the original, with no known professional reproductions, from between 1966 and 1976, after which he turned his artistic vision to clockmaking. The bulk of individual pages of The Logbook of the Ship _Henry David Thoreau_ is held by the Fedor Museum and the Stejdilik Museum, in Amsterdam, where the adopted artist is revered as a free spirit. Viktor IV visited the United States only a handful of times after emigrating to Amsterdam, and is believed to have held only one American gallery exhibition in his lifetime. Professor Fahey hopes to arrange a traveling exhibition of his 34 pages from The Logbook of the Ship _Henry David Thoreau_, by the artist Viktor IV. Interested museums and art galleries in major American cities should contact Fahey at the following address: Todd Brendan Fahey c/o Far Gone Books P.O. Box 43745 Lafayette, LA 70504-3745 (318) 261-1946 Dutch and European media should contact: Georges or Couzijn Simon Anton Heyboerwinkel Prinsengracht 578 020 624-7691 1017 KR Amsterdam The Netherlands The award-winning Far Gone Books/_Wisdom's Maw_ Web site: http://www2.linknet.net/fahey/fargone ************************************************************ The Konformist is interested in accepting articles, opinions, free subscriptions, and advertising. E-mail us at Robalini@aol.com, or call (310) 967-4195. The Konformist is a subsidiary of Sterling Operation Solutions, the trouble-shooting problem-solvers for all business needs. We charge on a sliding scale based on the difficulty (and legality) of the proposed solution. Call (310) 967-4195 for further information. Hey kids, don't forget to enter the "Rockin' To Armageddon Sweepstakes", sponsored by The Konformist, the Official Internet Investigative Journal of the 1997 Academy Awards. (Okay, it's not official, but we're anti-authority anyways.) Right down the day, month, year, and time of the end of the world, and, as a tie-breaker, your nominee for the anti-Christ. The winner will receive a t-shirt stating, "I CameClosest To Predicting The Apocalypse, And All I Got Was This Crummy T-Shirt." You will also receive a free one year supply of Twix candy bars. Also, this is a free magazine, but we'll still take your money if you want. Please send cash, check, money orders, and credit card numbers (Visa, Master Card, American Express, or Discover) to: Robert Sterling Post Office Box 24825 Los Angeles, California 90024-0825 ************************************************************ Rob's Place A SITE IS DEDICATED TO SPIRIT, TRUTH, PEACE, JUSTICE, AND FREEDOM http://www.vom.com/rc/home.htm Robalini's Note: This is another Rob. I have no interest in spirit, truth, peace, justice, and/or freedom. I do have an interest in making money.