Proudly exhibited across the walls were illustrations of naked men, and lots of them. More naked men than we at SUPERSWEET have ever seen in our lives, staring back at us with cheeky winks, letting it all hang out, before indulging in many a homoerotic activity with magazine illustrations entitled “Physique”  and “Sir Gay”. Was this level of nakedness really appropriate for a first date? Guess anything goes in the art world...

We discover our Rolf-a-like used to be a nude model and muse. Real name Ronald Wright, he ventured into London’s West End in the early‘50s and befriended a multitude of theatre darlings before posing as the ‘body’ of ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev for a waxwork at Madame Tussauds. Throughout the ‘60s, Ronald was at his peak, the now nude model became an entertainer and started ‘performing’ at clubs and private parties with his new famous friends.

As we were deep in thought about Ronald performing in clubs and modelling nude, we came across a peculiar glass tabletop bestrewn with countless handwritten letters. Love letters for us already? Upon closer inspection, these weren’t declarations of love but people requesting healing for their pets. Yes, you heard us, right. Not only is Mr. Perfect an artist, nude model and muse, he is also an AMINAL HEALER. Sorry girls, looks like we bagged ourselves the last decent guy left.

Some contained locks of hair belonging to sick animals. One woman wrote to Rolf on a piece of cucumber, asking him to heal her pet dog who was “chocking”. She asked if he could “get whatever was in the dog’s mouth out”. Surely, by the time he had received the letter; the dog would have either stopped ‘chocking’ or died. Right? Or perhaps the cucumber slice was proof of successful regurgitation?

Some excitable random interjects with “aaarh, who’s baked me a cake?”

It’s none other than Ronald ‘Rolf’ Wright, our prospective true love thanking the old lady who’d baked him a carrot cake AND a Victoria sponge. We scowled at the elderly woman enticing him away like a ginger-bread witch. We edged closer to our potential prince to get a better look and as he turned to face us, we were awestruck.

Our Rolf lookalike was better than the real thing: Dressed in scuffed black shoes and a painfully boring beige suit, his ill-fitting jacket positively drowned him, and those trousers far too short for his already stumpy legs.  He gazed right at us, his bespectacled eyes meeting ours from across the room. As he strolled toward us, we could hear the faint sound of didgeridoos in the background. It was at that moment we embraced the feelings we had been fighting all afternoon. We were finally ready to declare the truth: We had fallen in love with a Rolf Harris doppelganger and his homo-erotic animal healing art...and we didn’t care who knew. 


FLESH: THE GREAT ILLUSION - An exhibition celebrating the life and work of Ronald Wright
Exhibition dates: 3rd June –  27th June 2010
Opening times: Thursday-Sunday 12-6pm
First Thursdays late opening –  3rd June 6-9pm
Artist-in-conversation: 2pm, Saturday 12th June
Visit the Schwartz Gallery for more information here.



Words: Navneet Gill
Images courtesy of The Schwartz Gallery