A former Mr. Mondrian, three-time winner of the Mr. Mondrian pageant (a Mondrian lookalike contest (not Mondrian the painter but rather the paintings of Mondrian (“The title Mr. Mondrian is bestowed upon the man who looks most like a painting by Mondrian, the man whose physical form most embodies the essence of Mondrian’s work. Mr. Mondrian symbolizes balance and a certain kind of truth...”)) (the pageant was, and continues to be, sponsored by The Friends of Mondrian, some of whom were actually friends of the late painter himself, others merely (the word “merely” hardly seems appropriate) champions of the painter’s work (“champion” an understatement, to say the least--I have seen Friends of Mondrian burst into tears during the singing of the pageant’s theme song, “Behold, Mr. Mondrian”))), at once lost in senility and an Oriental laundromat, a maze of noisy machines (washers, dryers, extractors) and piles of dirty laundry thrown helter skelter, stumbles, becomes upset and confused (it is too much for him to bear, he who had once been composition personified), and begins to lash out, screaming, kicking machines, overturning laundry carts, shouting obscenities (the din only exacerbated by the Chinese voices raised in response), and, as his rampage gains momentum (he is now pummeling a double-load Bendix with his bare fists), The Friends of Abstract Expressionism crown him Mr. Pollock, symbol of something altogether different.
Peter Cherches is the author of two volumes of short prose: Condensed Book and Between a Dream and a Cup of Coffee, as well as several limited-edition artist’s books. His work has recently appeared in the anthologies Poetry 180 and Up Is Up, But So Is Down: New York's Downtown Literary Scene, 1974-1992. His fiction and short prose work has been featured in a wide range of magazines and journals, including Harper’s, Semiotext(e), Transatlantic Review, Fiction International, and Bomb. Sonorexia, the avant-vaudeville music-performance group he co-led with Elliott Sharp in the 1980s, appeared at such legendary venues as The Mudd Club and CBGB. Cherches is a two-time recipient of New York Foundation for the Arts fellowships in creative nonfiction. He blogs about food and travel at petercherches.blogspot.com.