Excerpt:
...Duf's story has all the characteristics of the definitive
Outsider: born in 1920, his father a violent drunkard,
his childhood and early adult behaviour by turns unruly
and withdrawn, he was shut away in an asylum in 1940.
About eight years later his pockets were discovered
to be stuffed with crumpled drawings: he was given better
materials by his doctor, and then set about producing
an astonishing bestiary of imaginary creatures. He gave
little or no explanation for them, but occasionally
referred to unpronounceable mythical figures, a few
of which are recognisably voodoo.
Chief
amongst these is the monstrous and polymorphous 'Rhinoceros',
dozens of variations of which exist, along with appropriately
deformed versions of their name. Trunk, limbs and every
other feature seem to live an independent life of their
own: they metamorphose into leafy, ocular, or fishy
shapes, with ragged, hirsute edges. Duf's baroque zoology
is grotesque and savage, with an emphatic and brutal
sexuality; yet at times its wild invention has an almost
satirical feel to it. In page after page, both in monochrome
and colour, Duf rehearsed endless variations on his
mythical beast, which bore no resemblance to any actual
animal, but instead embodied a distilled beastliness,
in every sense of the word.