One of the showstoppersin his sometimes-hilarious menagerie is titled Siamese Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing. His transvestite wolves are wrapped in a sparkling new ewe, a livingfleece, and tout classic proverbial flattery as they change wardrobes to gofrom day to evening wear by cleverly accessorizing. Woodruff’s poem about theconjoined wolves is “to let your imagination go wild, bah bah, goodbye!”
Wandering along theparade route, the spectator encounters another challenging character Dainty Desiree. Desiree representsWoodruff’s appraisal of 19th-century Romantic painters who were often intriguedwith Oriental imagery. Wearing garlands in her hair, dragonfly wings in a bowaround her waist, and orchids with ostrich feathers sprouting from herderriere, Desiree carries a tiny box with a deep, deep bottom filled byuntranslatable, enigmatic Eastern sayings. Listening closely, one can faintlyhear her tunes of yesteryear played on reedy pipes and finger cymbals.
Organic imagerypermeates his mixed-media-on-paper pieces: tangled roots frame his characters,carrots and polka dot mushroom caps are special, flowers bloom abundantly, andWoodruff’s studies of human anatomy are unique. A multi-breasted drum majoretteBambi-Lynn twirls a torch baton,kicks high, and exhorts Americato team spirit as the fertility goddess of the pageant. The critter in the nextframe tries to look under her mini-skirt through clouds of cigar smoke anddangling mirrors. An orange Shiva figure Flower-Boycontemplates a peony that resembles the skull in Hamlet. What has Woodruff wrought with characters shackled to eachother like pets? Many things when one let’s imagination go wild.
More of his charactersreveal the heartache he feels over the loss of his friends to AIDS. Some likethe Man of Lettuce are satirized asmedically dangerous to Woodruff’s many friends. He even portrays hints of himself in some frames. Freak Paradecan be viewed by googling “Thomas Woodruff” and on theHaggerty’s Web site, www.marquette.edu/haggerty.
