Although considered by most scholars to be more of an Abstract Excretionist than a Depressionist, Pollykaka's work nonetheless deserves a place in the Museum because of the nature of his subject matter, which was always relentlessly downbeat.

He first gained notoriety in grade school when his finger painting, "The Neighbor's Dog Pooh" led to his suspension and the subsequent disinfection of the art classroom and display area. He was dismissed from the Parkinson's School of Art in New York in 1947 as a result of his thesis project, "A Brown Study." In 1951 the American Kennel Club rejected his commissioned work, later entitled "Squatting Bulldog from Below and Behind," as an insult to the nobility of canines everywhere. In 1956 he was banned from displaying any works within the city of New York after the scandalous "Thanksgiving Dinner: The Morning After," and the Board of Environmental Protection/ Solid Waste Management Division withdrew sponsorship of his office mural, "Renaissance of the Dump" once they had seen the preliminary sketches.

Undeterred by these rejections, Pollykaka pursued his unique vision in Paris, producing "Le Lavement Hebdomadaire"¹ and the definitive "Vespasienne, Fleuve Jaune"² for which his visa was revoked and he was badly beaten by annoyed beggars and street people.

Upon his return to the United States he could find employment only in a pet store owned by a distant relative, until the subject painting, "Movement #2" was displayed in a local anarchist gallery, at which point he found himself unemployed again and recovering from a beating by PETA members. This is believed to be his last work, as he soon afterwards died in Obscurity, a small town in upstate New York, while trying to pry the lid off a septic tank for a watercolor sketch. 

 

------------------------------

¹"The Weekly Enema"
²"Public Pissing Facility, Yellow Stream"

 

BACK          NEXT