Man Enough to be a Woman is a direct allusion to the autobiography of rock, punk, drag and eventually transsexual Jayne County. Wowed by the music and crude lyrics of Wayne County and the Electric Chairs, Verhoeven confessedly becomes drawn to the Jayne County history, her “distorted androgyny and confused sexuality” as well as “Jayne’s crass bravado, theatrical stage antics and ballsy male stance on life. It’s a pretty tragic desperate journey but with little choice. Loads of millage to reap from and draw.”
As the fruit of intense, five-year research, you may expect lots of surrealist drawings, wall-drawings, sculptures as well as print work at Man Enough. Yet, this is not a blatant display of Verhoeven’s obsession. MU is offering a total art installation experience - “a theatrical journey” in Verhoeven’s words—combining elements from Verhoeven’s never-before-seen works with a retrospection of her exhibited works in the past five years. A part of De Witte Dame is now transformed into a feminine cross between a latex cabinet of curiosities, a Victorian boudoir with a real bath and a stencilled punk bunker!
And, as your guess has it, “Man Enough to be a Woman” is strictly about women, women and women, from the beautiful and sensual to the femme fatale. In conversation with MU, Verhoeven unfolds her passion for drawing women’s portraits: