Week #4, Unbearable Lightness IV

Dusti Bongé, Untitled (Yellow Keyhole Person and Red Ball)), 1952, mixed media on paper, 11” x 8 ½”.

This fourth example of Dusti Bongé’s weird and wonderful surrealist Keyhole People exemplifies how whimsical she could be in her creative presentation of these creatures. Once again, this figure is an extremely unusually proportioned biped with skinny limbs and an oversized trapezoidal “head” with a hole in it. **

Although the exact meaning or essence Dusti may attribute to her Keyhole People is purposefully elusive, it seems that depending on the particulars of the work, they can be interpreted in very different veins. At times they convey a rather somber take on the human condition, one of desolate souls in an uncertain world. At other times they appear as positively joyful creatures, surrounded by colorful patterns and stippling, and seizing their proverbial day.

This keyhole character is clearly the latter. IIs bright yellow presence leaps off the page even as it casts a dark shadow behind if. With its tiny legs bent and arms up in the air, the creature seems to be dancing or skipping along. He is holding up a red ball that dissolves into a red ribbon swirling down, and then in turn dissipates into red stippling at the start of a semi-circular swath of black polka dots. The red stippling follows along with the dots, curving around a strange-looking tree, and off into the distance. This curving swath of black and red appears much like a path, which our character is ready to follow wherever it may lead.

Another joyful aspect is this one. Despite being the only humanoid in this picture, unlike so many of Dusti’s other keyhole scenarios where she gathers them in small groups, this is not a lonesome creature. He is accompanied in the sky by one of Dusti’s tell-tale little surrealist birds.

** He bears a vague family resemblance to Gumby or Sponge Bob