Bodies of Work

What is art? It is a question I have to ask on occasion as I live with an artist. It is in the eye of the beholder, some of the stuff I see I would not look twice at, even top name artists are not to everyone’s tastes. Some are labelled outsider artists, those that have no formal training and use the materials that are around them. Their work is often pushed to the side, treated as a curio, but what happens if you seek out and explore these artists? Will you discover a genius, or perhaps you will become the art itself?

Winston Kemper is a recluse living in the backroom of a little used Church. The locals think him harmless with his collecting ways, making a life from the little bits and pieces that they leave behind, but then they do not know his art. It is not just the murals of children cut from magazines and pasted on the walls; it is the angels in the barrels he keeps at the back of the church. Angels that used to be young woman. Angels that now live inside him and talk about him.

Outsider art has somewhat of a bad reputation, and in the case of Bodies of Work by Clay McLeod Chapman it is richly deserved as Winston is murdering young woman and hiding them in barrels as part of his piece known as ‘The Butterfly Girls’. As the years pass and the woman’s corpses rot, Winston is unaware that they talk to each other, they talk about their lives, they talk about him, they talk about his art, and they talk of revenge.

The style of Bodies is what makes the book, this is horror in the Transgressive style, even for the horror genre it is leftfield. We have the main character, Winston, but he is almost passive within his own story, driven by desires that he cannot even fathom. The other characters are his victims, a sisterhood who remain in the ether, discussing Winston and is art. It is through these ghosts that we learn about Winston. It is odd, but effective, something that separates this novel from other serial killer stories.

This is not a story about good and evil, although Winston’s acts are inexcusable. Some of the book explores his childhood and what makes such a broken man. These parts hit as hard as any other. Is he even aware of what he is doing? From the perspective of Winston, he believes he is following a higher calling. Here it is the Butterfly Girls who take the reins, their influence increases as Winston’s old age and facilities take a hit. Can they save one last victim and get their revenge? Or do they want the art to be completed?

With its Transgressive style, even for horror fans Bodies is not the simplest novel to follow. A protagonist who is monotone, and group of squabbling muses are all we have to make sense of the tale. It does make sense, but also it does not, and that is how the book is supposed to be. This is a tale that explores madness, evil, and art; how can you possibly do this in a normal way and truly get a glimpse into it. The book is almost outsider writing, a style and tale chosen by McLeod Chapman to reflect the character at the heart of the story. If you are a fan of Transgressive fiction and enjoy horror, who will enjoy the twisted nature of this book and the challenges it presents.