William S. Burroughs

X-Ray Man

1992, signed by Burroughs and dated
Limited Edition, one of 178 numbered copies
Two-colour screenprint, 1992.
27.9x20.3 cm
NY/St. Louis: Lococo-Mulder Fine Art, 1991

This image appeared on the front cover of Sonic Youth's album, "NYC Ghosts & Flowers" (2000).

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William S. Burroughs II (1914 – 1997) was a major postmodernist American writer and spoken word performer. He is a primary figure of the Beat Generation, best known for his novel Naked Lunch (1959).

During the last decade of his life in Lawrence, Kansas, he began prolifically creating visual art. He first developed a technique for creating abstract compositions by shooting at spray paint cans with a shotgun. These splattered and shot canvasses were first exhibited in the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York City in 1987. He went on to form a more comprehensive visual art practice using ink, spray paint, collage and unusual things such as mushrooms and plungers to apply paint. Burroughs' work has since been featured in over 50 international galleries and museums including the Royal Academy of the Arts, Centre Pompidou, Guggenheim Museum, Los Angeles County Museum, and Whitney Museum of American Art.